European Social Club

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About

Born in July 2021, the European Social Club (ESC) initiative aims to foster communication and collaboration between European laboratories interested in the neurobiology of social behaviors. Animals, including humans, are inherently social beings, living in structured communities and engaging in cooperative, interactive behaviors. These complex and continuous social interactions are evolutionarily conserved and shape individual survival and societal well-being. Indeed, behind “social behaviors”, these processes also influence decision making, planning, language, spatial processing, stress, and learning. Dysregulation of social behaviors is associated with many psychopathologies and neurodevelopmental disorders, making the study of their neural underpinnings crucial. But are all these interactions qualitatively the same? Does ‘social interaction’ have the same meaning for different subjects in different contexts? Which core aspects of complex social interactions are really conserved between different species? What mechanisms underlie these complex behaviors?

Since its inception, the ESC has hosted one virtual meeting every three weeks , providing a platform where students can share new findings, innovative tools, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration across European labs.

In addition to these monthly meetings, the ESC organizes biennial workshops to promote deeper scientific exchange and networking opportunities. The inaugural workshop took place in Erice, Italy, in 2023, and the second edition is scheduled for June 2025 in Coimbra, Portugal.

Our aims

To advance the neurobiology of social behaviors with collaboration

To unravel social interactions, and underlying neural mechanisms

To foster exchange through triweekly virtual meetings and biennial workshops

Online triweekly seminars

Monday at 12 Central Europe Time

virtual data club meetings with all participant laboratories

PI of the laboratory introduces the speaker, and manages the timing, questions and answers.
One postdoc, BSc, MSc or PhD student from each lab (or a pair of two speakers sharing the slot) presents their project. This can be the planning of a future experiment to get feedback on design, data for feedback on analyses and interpretation, and/or new tools.
One talk is mandatory for all labs involved.
Only unpublished data are presented (we encourage unfinished work, that can most benefit from feedback, rather than ready to submit preprint levels presentations).
Presentation of about 30 minutes followed by 30 min Q&A and discussion.
It is recommended to keep the camera on.
No recording

The Microsoft Teams is the meeting platform chosen to manage all the events and a link will be created for each seminar.

How to join

contact alessandra.monteforte@iit.it

Our scientific board