Cognitive Science Arena: Brixen (IT), February 6th-7th, 2015

[Massimo Grassi <massimo.grassi@xxxxxxxx>]

(apologies for multiple postings but forward the message to those who 
might be interested)

Dear colleague,

We are pleased to invite you to the third edition of the Cognitive 
Science Arena (CSA). The conference will be held in Brixen (Brixen, 
Italy) in February 06-07, 2015.

The aim of CSA is to set a conference where young scientists can 
disseminate their scientific contributions in a friendly and cooperative 
environment with the participants challenging the scientist in a 
fruitful debate. Along this line, highly innovative research ideas as 
well as “in progress” research are encouraged.

*NEW: POSTER SESSION*
Starting from this edition, due to high demand, we are going to 
introduce the "You will never talk alone" poster-session. The poster 
session will be organized in order to provide attention and feedback to 
each poster. The best poster will receive a certificate and a monetary 
award.

The key-ideas of the CSA are the following:
[1] young scientists only (students, doctoral students and post-doctoral 
students, researchers with a fixed-term contract...);
[2] long time for talks and discussion: 20 minutes talk + 10 minutes 
discussion for each speaker;
[3] dedicated time for each of the posters presented at the conference; 
[4] in progress and high-risk research are welcome;
[5] several anonymous reviewers: at the end of each talk and poster, 
attendees can write their comments, criticisms and suggestions to the 
speaker. Comments will be delivered to the speaker to provide him/her 
with a personal feedback.

Topics include (but are definitely not limited to):
developmental and animal cognition, developmental education, language, 
memory, perception, psychometrics, neuroscience, social and clinical 
psychology, etc.

Abstracts
Participants willing to present a contribution at CSA must submit an 
abstract through the conference website (please, specify "talk" or 
"poster" when submitting). Abstracts will be selected on the basis of 
the principle "first come first served".
*The deadline for the abstract submission is December the 31st, 2014.*

Spirit and mood
The idea of CSA is to reverse the usual format of scientific 
conferences. Young researchers first: they play the starring role (no 
talks or posters from senior researchers are allowed), they pay no fees 
(senior do) and they compete for a prize for the best talk and poster 
voted by the audience.
We would like to bring together the brightest and youngest minds now 
working in cognitive science and to give them a fruitful and cooperative 
environment. For this reason, the scientific committee will be also 
recruited within young senior researchers.

Suggested accommodations
- Youth hostel: http://brixen.jugendherberge.it/ (We reserved the whole 
youth hostel up to January, the 4th: when booking just specify the name 
of our conference).

Registration fees
The CSA has no registration fees for students, doctoral students and 
post-doctoral students. A fee of 50 euro will be asked to senior 
researchers. This fee will be used to cover part (or all) of the 
conference expenses.

Travel grants
This year we can offer a small number of travel grants. These grants 
will be awarded to participants:
- that are not presenting a talk nor a poster,
- that are coming from a place distant from Brixen at least 700 km (for 
participants from Italy) or 150 km (from outside Italy).
If you are eligible for a travel grant, please register filling in the 
form (http://cogsci.altervista.org/registration.php) not later than 
January the 5th, 2015.

“Valiant" and "Painter" Prize 2015
During the conference, the audience votes for the best CSA talk and 
poster. At the end of the conference, the best speaker and the best 
poster presenter will receive a certificate and a monetary award.

Language
The official language of CSA is English. 

Social events
CSA includes two social events. We are planning to arrange for a sleigh 
ride (held the first evening of the meeting: be prepared!) and for the 
"Cheers, cheese & wine" buffet at the end of the conference.

A tip for all
Brixen is well known ski-resort. Enjoy this chance and come to the 
conference appropriately snow-equipped.

Conference website
More information, abstract submission and registration forms can be 
found here:
http://cogsci.altervista.org/

Contacts, info: cog.sci.arena@xxxxxxxxx

The organisers:
Christian Agrillo: christian.agrillo@xxxxxxxx
Demis Basso: demis.basso@xxxxxxxx
Chiara Begliomini: chiara.begliomini@xxxxxxxx
Massimo Grassi: massimo.grassi@xxxxxxxx
Sara Mondini: sara.mondini@xxxxxxxx

Supporting institutions:
- Faculty of Education, UniBZ
- Department of General Psychology, UniPD
- Associazione Italiana di Psicologia - Sezione Sperimentale
- Centre for Applied Cognitive Neuroscience (CeNCA)

See you in Brixen!
The CSA team