Programme

Download the Conference Proceedings

 

Day 1 (12th March 2026)

12:00

Reception & Registration (Room: Foyer)

Coffee, Drinks and Snacks provided

13:00Welcome (Room: Aula)
Welcome Address of the President – Prof. Dr. Eva-Martha Eckkrammer
Welcome Address of the Secretary General of the UniGR - Cornelia Schmidt
13:30Presentation of the ICAN of the University of Trier – Florian H. Kasten
Presentation of the neuroscientific research topics and infrastructure of ICAN at the University of Trier
13:45Keynote: Caitlin Ware, PhD, Université de Lorraine :
"Neuroplasticity, Subjectivity, and Emotional Regulation in Second Language Acquisition"
14:30 Coffee Break (Room: Foyer)
15:00

Research overview of the institutes and networks in the Greater Region (Room: Aula)

Liege: Christophe Phillips, Christina Schmidt (GIGA CRC)

Kaiserslautern-Landau: Daniela Czernochowski (Center for Cognitive Science), Volker Scheuss (Neurobiology)

Lorraine: Ariane Bazan (Interpsy Lab)

Luxemburg: Christine Schiltz

The partner universities of the UniGR will present the focus of their neuroscience research and methods in short presentations.

16:30Scientific Posters Session (Room: Foyer)
Scientific poster contributions by young scientists on various topics of cognitive neuroscience
17:45End of day
18:00Dinner with random table allocation (Room: Dining Hall)
20:00Evening City Tour of the Medieval Trier (approx. 90 min.)

Day 2 (13th March 2026)

9:00

Funding and Collaboration Opportunities in the Greater Region (Room: HS I)

Cornelia Schmidt, Secretary General UniGR – Programmes of the UniGR/European funding programs for cross-border collaboration

Lorraine Brindel-Schild, Intereg B Contact Point Germany – An introduction to the Interreg Program of the European Union

Daria Sambuk, Research Support Office, Trier University –  Joint funding lines of national research funding organizations

11:00Scientific Speed Dating“ (Rooms: HS I, Conference Room I & II)
1:1 exchange of researchers with similar interests/methods. Researchers are matched on the basis of previously completed questionnaires and present their research with a short “elevator pitch”.
Moderation: Florian H. Kasten
12:30Lunch (Room: Dining Hall)
13:30

Scientific Talks I (Room: HS I)

Laura Renz (Saarbrücken) - Neural Correlates of Attention and Immersion during cinematic experience

Juan-Pablo Robledo (Lorraine) - Advancing cross-domain interpersonal neural synchrony in social neuroscience. A pilot case of joint musical improvisation and conversation

Anastasiia Lavrenova (Kaiserslautern-Landau) - Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Retrieval Suppression: The Role of Trait Anxiety and Negative Affect

Christoph Geißler (Trier) - The role of cortical α and β synchronization for maintenance of action plans in complex tasks

15:00 Coffee Break (Room: Foyer)
15:30

Scientific Talks II (Room HS I)

Tanja Maritzen (Kaiserslautern-Landau) - Intersecting deficiency impairs cortico-striatal neurotransmission and causes repetitive behaviors in mice

Mayur Bhamborae (Saarbrücken) - Machine Vision for Contactless Neurocognitive and Affective State Monitoring

Leah Pingen (Trier) - Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation enhances stimulus-response binding effects – evidence from drift diffusion modeling

16:30

Round tables : Potentials for cooperation in the Greater Region

The participants will meet in various focus groups and discuss ways of intensifying research cooperation in the cognitive neurosciences in the Greater Region.

Group 1 (Lecture Hall): Common Research topics in the Greater Region

Group 2 (Conference Room II): Research Infrastructure in the Greater Region

Group 3 (Conference Room I): Exchange Programs Teaching and Research in the Greater Region

17:15 Closing (Room: HS I)