Psychobiology Section

Mark A. Wetherell (Chair, Psychobiology Section)

Once again, we returned to the Low Wood Hotel in the Lake District for our Annual Scientific Meeting. This year we had 34 delegates, of which about a third were postgraduate students. The number of delegates makes for a very intimate atmosphere and gives ample opportunity for socialising and discussing research with fellow delegates. The slow increase in numbers in recent years justifies the section’s decision to move from our previous smaller (about 25 delegates) venue; however, there is still space for further increases whilst still maintaining the reputation of the meeting as a friendly and informal forum for psychobiological research.

This year we successfully secured sponsorship for the meeting from AD Instruments and Stratech Ltd. In return the companies were given the opportunity to present to the delegates and were able to demonstrate their products during coffee breaks, etc. This financial sponsorship part funded the conference fees and expenses of our two guest speakers and our undergraduate project prize winner. As a Section we feel that it is an appropriate gesture to cover these costs, especially the undergraduate prize winner; however, these costs usually have to be covered by the Section funds and delegate fees. Unfortunately a move to a larger venue with better facilities is also more expensive and we make a continued effort to keep delegate fees as low as possible. This financial assistance was, therefore, extremely beneficial in reducing the expenditure of Section funds and keeping delegate fees to a minimum and as a result the conference costs were neutral. The success of this year’s sponsorship has highlighted the need to seek similar sponsorship for future meetings and the Section will be actively seeking such sponsors for next year’s meeting.

We were extremely fortunate to have two internationally renowned guest speakers at this year’s meeting. Professor Dave Perrett who presented his extremely interesting work regarding sex and stress hormones and attractiveness and Professor Manfred Schedlowski who taught us all about conditioning the immune response. On behalf of the committee and members I would like to take the opportunity to thank Dave and Manfred for giving up their time and attending our meeting - Their feedback on the meeting was very positive and we look forward to seeing them both at future meetings.

Also presenting to the delegates was our extremely worthy undergraduate project prize winner Charlotte Malcolm (Keele University) who presented her prize winning findings on allocentric topographical memory deficits in a patient with a right thalamic region. This year we had 10 project prize entries, all of a very high standard, demonstrating the quality and breadth of undergraduate psychobiology research in the UK. The prize committee were impressed with all of the entries, especially the level of expertise that was demonstrated in the running and write-up of their projects. However, there could be only one winner - Charlotte’s project was considered to be an extremely well conducted and written piece of research, as was her presentation to the delegates at the meeting. The section would like to thank all the entrants and wish them and Charlotte luck with their future careers - we hope to see them all at future Psychobiology meetings.

Delegate feedback from the meeting was excellent and we look forward to seeing many more delegates in the Lake District next September.

The committee would like to welcome Philip Murphy (Edgehill University) who was elected onto the Section Committee at the AGM. In addition, Brian Tiplady has stepped down from his role as Treasurer and been replaced by Georgia Butler who was previously sharing newsletter editorship with Lynne Dawkins. The committee also extended their thanks to Julia Santamauro, who in addition to her role as PsyPAG rep took excellent care over the maintenance of the section website.

The Section also distributes a twice-annual newsletter to all Psychobiology members. Along with the Section website and email distribution list (which following a few teething problems is now operational), the newsletter serves to deliver information regarding Psychobiology related activity and we would encourage all members to use them to share their views, experiences and notifications of meetings, etc. with other members.