Visceral Mind: Functional Neuroanatomy Summer School - Entry

1-5 September 2025

Visceral Mind is an immersive, five-day residential summer school dedicated to functional neuroanatomy. Designed for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in cognitive neuroscience and related fields—as well as clinical, medical, and allied health professionals—it offers a unique blend of lectures, patient case conferences, hands-on practical sessions, and dissection labs using human brain tissue. Led by distinguished scientists from Bangor and across Europe, the programme attracts participants from around the world, providing an unparalleled opportunity to deepen expertise and engage with leading minds in the field.

This course is run annually, usually in the first week of September. 

Registration includes:

• 6 nights accommodation (B&B) in ensuite rooms at Bangor University
• Course & bench fees including all lectures, patient interviews and practical classes
• Lunch and refreshments
• Conference dinner and evening entertainment
• North Wales Excursion

Visceral mind is brought to you by the School of Psychology and Sport Science and the North Wales Centre for Human Anatomy (NWCHA). The NWCHA boasts state-of-the-art resources for human anatomy education. This includes traditional cadaveric material alongside 3D physical models and cutting-edge virtual dissection technology.

Learn more about the NWCHA

Course Faculty

Oliver Turnbull

Programme lead for Visceral Mind

Prof Turnbull has long standing interest teaching neuroanatomy through drawing, and also painting, brains. His research interests are in emotion and its many consequences for mental life. These include: the neuropsychology of emotion regulation, emotion-based learning and ‘intuition’; the role of emotion in false beliefs, preserved emotion-based learning after amnesia; and the neuroscience of psychotherapy. He is the author of a number of scientific articles on these topics, and (together with Mark Solms) of the popular science text ‘The Brain and the Inner World’. He is a Professor of Neuropsychology in Bangor University.

Oliver Turnbull's Staff Profile

Richard J. Binney

Deputy Programme Lead for Visceral Mind

Dr. Binney is a Reader at Bangor University. He is a neuropsychologist/neuroscientist who researches the way the human brain stores and uses our knowledge of people, objects, and words. He has particular interests in frontotemporal networks. Further, he tries to understand how these abilities break down following brain injury or disease (e.g., in dementia). He uses behavioural measures such as reaction times, accuracy scores and subjective ratings, in parallel with brain imaging and brain stimulation techniques.

Richard Binney’s Staff Profile

Martyn Bracewell, Bangor University 

Rudi Coetzer, Bangor University

Paul Downing, Bangor University

Stephanie Forkel, Donders Institute

Kami Koldewyn, Bangor University

Nils Muhlert, Manchester University

Sophie Perry, North Wales Brain Injury Service

Cathryn Roberts, North Wales Brain Injury Service

Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, L’Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière

Guillaume Thierry, Bangor University

Alan Watson, Cardiff University

What will you study on this course?

Nothing compares to the transformative experience of dissecting the human brain—seeing and exploring its intricate three-dimensional structure. Designed for postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers in cognitive neuroscience, as well as clinicians and allied health practitioners, this course integrates functional neuroanatomy with real-world clinical case studies. Through hands-on dissection, drawing classes, lectures, and patient interviews, participants gain a deeper understanding of brain function and pathology.

Highlights:

Patient Case conferences

Students will witness interviews and examination of neurological patients with focal brain lesions, experiencing clinical examination techniques and in a way that brings neuroanatomy to life for students of psychology and neuroscience.

Hands-on Brain anatomy sessions

Students will have multiple opportunities for hands-on dissection of real human brain tissue, and to learn specialized techniques. They will also have time to explore a vast library of prosections including the hemispheres, the skull, meninges and vasculature.

Lecturers and presentations, including:

Our internationally renowned, expert faculty deliver a series of interactive lectures and practical classes, including on the following topics:

• Illustrating the Brain: learning anatomy via drawing classes
• The brain in 3D: making the link between neuroimaging and tissue prosections
• The visual system, the social brain, the limbic system, basal ganglia, the brain stem, and more.
• Anatomy of white matter and tractography
• The skull, meninges, and vasculature

VIEW AN EXAMPLE TIMETABLE

1-5 September 2025

Visceral Mind is a 5-day residential course delivered on our Bangor University campus North Wales.

Registration Fee includes:

• 6 nights accommodation (B&B) in ensuite rooms at Bangor University
• Course & bench fees including all lectures, patient interviews and practical classes
• Lunch and refreshments
• Conference dinner and evening entertainment
• North Wales Excursion

Cost

• Including accommodation: £900
• Excluding accommodation: £700

Applicants must fulfil the following criteria to be eligible for this functional neuroanatomy course:

• postgraduate, postdoctoral and early career researchers studying cognitive neuroscience and related disciplines.
• clinical, medical and allied health practitioners with membership of an overseeing professional or statutory body.

Applications for 2025 Now Closed

Applications for the 2025 Visceral Mind Summer School have now closed.

However, if you would still like to attend, you may submit your details to be added to our waiting list in case of late cancellations. We will contact you if a place becomes available.

join the waiting list