Funding Early Career Collaboration in Neuroscience and Philosophy

Efforts to understand the mind and brain often bring neuroscientists and philosophers into alignment around shared questions, but not always shared approaches. Differences in training, methodology, and vocabulary can limit how researchers engage with one another, making meaningful collaboration between the two fields difficult to sustain. These challenges were addressed at the inaugural meeting of the Society for Philosophy & Neuroscience (SPAN) last May, where participants noted persistent barriers to exchange despite a shared desire to learn from one another.

A new grant from the Dana Foundation aims to address these gaps. The funding supports SPAN in launching a coordinated set of programs designed to strengthen collaboration between the two fields, with a particular focus on early career researchers.

The Interdisciplinarity Through Research Collaboration (ITRC) takes place alongside a structured mentorship program, known as Philosophy & Neuroscience Collaborative Mentorships. Together, the programs aim to reduce barriers and provide insights into how interdisciplinary work can be achieved more effectively. This, in turn, will also support the next generation of scholars working at the intersection of these fields.

The ITRC program funds joint research projects led by teams of philosophers and neuroscientists from across the country. Current projects reflect a range of questions: One project examines neural representations (engrams) in the brain. Another explores how olfactory experiences may influence the sense of body ownership, combining experimental neuroscience with philosophical analysis of perception and embodiment. A third investigates how different species perceive color beyond the human-visible spectrum, integrating ecology and computational neuroscience with philosophical questions about perception across organisms.

The mentorship program pairs early career researchers with mentors in both philosophy and neuroscience to support the development of interdisciplinary projects. It provides sustained guidance to help participants navigate cross-disciplinary questions and build the skills needed for long-term collaboration. Current projects focus on understanding perception and behavior across species, and examining how different approaches in neuroscience can be combined to strengthen how research is conducted and interpreted.

By supporting sustained collaboration and training early career researchers, SPAN’s programs aim to improve how insights from both philosophy and neuroscience are developed and shared. As these initiatives move forward, they will also generate practical knowledge about how research can be structured and sustained over time, helping to inform future efforts at the intersection of these two fields.