• Official launch of Meeting of Minds

• First European Citizens' Convention on Brain Science - Brussels 3 to 5 June 2005

• The Information Brochure 'Food for thought and debate on Brain Science'

• Scientists about the present and future of Brain Science

Meeting of Minds - the first European public consultation on Brain Science - has been officially launched and will kick in with a European Citizens Convention from 3 to 5 June. Throughout 2005 and into early 2006 citizens from nine European countries will suggest what they think should be done with our new-found knowledge of the brain. They will debate the ethical, social and legal implications with international experts. The citizens' conclusions on the use of new technology, medicines and techniques will be offered to policy-makers at the European, national and transnational level.

Find out more about Meeting of Minds on our website.

The programme can be downloaded on the website. Press here.
For an overview of the whole Meeting of Minds trajectory press here.

Would you like to attend the closure of the Convention? You are welcome to join us as from 14.00 on Sunday 5 June at Concert Noble, Rue d'Arlon, 82, 1040 Brussels. The Closing ceremony takes place from 14.30-15.30 where citizens will present the key common questions on brain science to the pubic. This will be followed by a Questions and Answer session. Please inform us by Friday 3 June if you would like to attend, by sending an e-mail to Séverine de Potter (Depotter.s@kbs-frb.be) or phoning +32-2-5490291.

The Information Brochure can be downloaded in English on the Meeting of Minds website.

At an international workshop organised by the King Baudouin Foundation and the Rathenau Institute on 22 and 23 April 2004 in Amsterdam, 25 scientists and stakeholders from various disciplines exchanged views and information on issues raised by brain science which should urgently need to be discussed by Europe's citizens. The discussions concerned the far-reaching scientific and social consequences of the brain sciences.

Book Connecting Brains and Society
The present and future of Brain Science. What is possible? What is desirable?
All formal sessions, including the plenary discussions of the Amsterdam workshop, were recorded and edited for this book. The second part of this book contains a summary of all the social issues raised by the brain sciences, taking them up in a more systematic way and in greater detail. Both the workshop and the book are a collaborative initiative of the Rathenau Institute and the King Baudouin Foundation and form a first step in the Meeting of Minds initiative.

You can download the Book (in English) here or via the Rathenau Institute.

Videotaped interviews of experts at the Amsterdam Workshop
Seven experts invited to the workshop in Amsterdam, have given us their views on what they consider to be pressing issues for citizens to debate upon. The video-taped interviews can be viewed on the Meeting of Minds website.