OUPS Annual Psychology Conference 2014: 'The new neuroscience - friend or foe?'

Every year OUPS holds an applied psychology conference, inviting top psychologists to talk on a specific area of psychology. The aim is to provide delegates with the opportunity to hear a number of experts in the field presenting up to date research on a specific area of psychology. It aims to present a range of different perspectives on the topic and provide a forum for informed discussion.  

These OUPS conferences have a reputation for attracting speakers of international standing and are attended by a range of delegates including undergraduates, graduates, academics and practitioners. The Conference is open to anybody who has an interest in the particular topic and not just to Open University students and tutors. Students attending the OUPS mini Summer Schools, which are run in parallel at Warwick University, are welcome to attend some of the conference talks with no extra charge.

The Annual Conference for 2014 will be on July 4th  -6th at Warwick University on 'The new Neurosciences - friend or foe?' The conference is designed to stimulate discussion on the social relevance of this rapidly-developing science. Some questions to be discussed are:

• Is the all hype about neuroimaging justified?
• Is it misguided to hope to find the answers to our problems by probing the brain? Do they not lie in the social environment?
• As we build up more-and-more knowledge about the working of the brain does this change our image of us as humans?
• Is psychopathology best treated as a brain disorder?
• What are the implications of genetic determinism?
• What are some of the implications of evolutionary psychology in the context of the new neurosciences?
• Does neuroscience prove that free-will is a myth? What are the ethical implications of associating complex mental and behavioural traits with activity of particular parts of the brain?
• Is consciousness produced by the brain? If not, what are the implications of this?

Speakers who are now confirmed for the conference are:  

 - Frederick Toates (Open University): Introduction to conference

 - Lance Workman (Bath Spa University), author of the widely respected textbook Evolutionary Psychology

 - Gina Rippon, Professor of Psychology, Aston University

 - Raymond Tallis, celebrity and best-selling author (including Aping Mankind: Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity)

 - Morten Kringelbach, Professor of neuroscience, University of Oxford, director of Hedonia.

 - Simon Thorpe, cognitive scientist, paranormal commentator, director CNRS laboratory, Toulouse, France

 - Iain McGilchrist, author of best-selling The Master and his Emissary

 - Adrian Raine ( University of Pennsylvania) author of The Anatomy of Violence

 - David Lorimer, Scientific and Medical Network, author of Thinking Beyond the Brain: A Wider Science of Consciousness

Further details and booking information can be found here:

http://www.oups.org.uk/events/annual-conference