International Neuroethics Society (INS)

This grant supported the 2023 INS Neuroethics Essay Contest, a free scholastic activity open to secondary and postsecondary students, postdocs, and trainees throughout the world. The contest encourages students and trainees to examine ethical concerns in research, law, and policy related to the mind and brain.

INS organizes the essay contest in collaboration with the International Youth Neuroscience Association. In 2023, the contest included four submission categories—Academic, General Audience, High School, and a new Video Essay Category, which accepted submissions in seven languages with English subtitles. Winning and honorable mention authors will receive cash prizes, travel stipends to attend INS’s annual meeting, and opportunities to publish their work.

The essay contest is open to any student or trainee regardless of their research area, discipline, location, or residency status. Over its nine-year history, the contest has received submissions from authors based in 38 countries. With this grant, INS devoted more staff time to reaching out to and establishing relationships with students, trainees, and supporting professionals who are from under-resourced communities and underrepresented populations to ensure that a diversity of voices and cultural perspectives are represented in the essays.

This grant supported the Dana Education objective to support sustained informal education that aims to strengthen knowledge of neuroscience and its connections to society and empower people of all ages to use that knowledge in their every day lives.