Apply to be a Keynote Dinner Speaker

The UVA Brain Institute seeks two neuroscience trainees from any School or Department at the University to deliver remarks during the opening night dinner of the 2024 UVA Brain Symposium. The dinner will be held on the evening of Tuesday, May 21st in the Dome Room of the Rotunda. The topic of the talk is “the future of neuroscience.” The selected trainees will be asked to deliver a 10-15 minute address describing their enthusiasm for what the future of the neuroscience field will hold during their career and beyond (TED-talk style, not an intensive data presentation). The audience will include the symposium speakers, including visiting and local faculty, UVA neuroscience faculty and staff, UVA leadership, and other community guests. After the application process, the two selected trainees will be asked to work together to integrate or connect their talks so that, combined, they comprise a cohesive presentation.

Eligibility Guidelines

• Current UVA graduate students or postdoctoral researchers at the time of the symposium (5/21-5/23/2024).

• Postdoctoral trainees should be within 4 years of earning their PhD degree.

• Trainee must agree to attend the entire Brain Symposium.

Application Timeline

• Deadline for applications: March 29th, 2024 (11:59pm EDT)

• Anticipated selection decision: April 15, 2024

• Selected trainees partner to work on talk: April 15 - May 20

• Talk rehearsal with Brain Institute staff: Week of May 6

• Date of dinner & talk: May 21, 2024 at 6:30pm

Application Instructions (2 steps - both are required)

1. Submit the following via email to BrainUVA@uvahealth.org:

   1. In the body of the email include: your name, preferred email address, School & Department, current role, year of graduation (future or past)

   2. As a single, combined PDF attachment include:

      1. Written summary of proposed talk (250 words or less). The full talk transcript will be requested after selection.

      2. Applicant biosketch or CV

      3. 1-paragraph recommendation from faculty mentor

2. Submit a 2-3 minute video pitch of your talk via Flip video platform.

   1. You will need to register/login to Flip, but this can be done through your UVA gmail account or another gmail account. Once you’re logged in, hit the pink ‘Record’ button. You may have to enable access to your camera and microphone to record through Flip. If you prefer not to do this, you have the option to upload a pre-recorded video. Within Flip, you are able to re-record if needed.