Summer School of Primate Cognitive Neuroscience 2026

Twenty-four graduate students and postdocs working on primate systems neuroscience from institutions around the world attended the 2026 edition of the Primate Cognitive Neuroscience Summer School (PCN 2026). The Summer School was held at the beautiful location of the Gustav Stresemann Institute in Bad Bevensen from the 27th of July until the 7th of August. Students considered the Summer School a great success and went back to their home institutions with a broader network of like-minded early-career scientists and faculty, and a current understanding of the topics covered in primate systems neuroscience.
During these two weeks, students were exposed to three main thematic pillars: sensory cognition, motor cognition, and decision-making. They participated in lectures by 17 distinct faculty members from the DPZ and institutions based in Germany, France, the USA, and Canada. Having such a diverse range of faculty allowed us to cover a wide breadth of interdisciplinary topics ranging from sensory transduction all the way to group-level social interactions and from single-neuron to population-level electrophysiology, and including important dimensionality reduction methods. 
At PCN 2026, students and faculty had plenty of opportunities to interact formally in the conference room as well as during poster presentations. But also informally: during meals together and in the many social events. One personal highlight was a canoe outing on the neighboring river Ilmenau, in which we bonded over The Beatles, beatles, and (not) capsizing our canoes. Later on, students enjoyed a guided tour of the DPZ and its neuroscience labs. Overall, the Summer School participants, students and faculty alike, built up – what we hope will be – long-lasting connections that will transcend borders and will enrich primate cognitive neuroscience for many years to come. We already look forward to hosting the next edition of the Summer School in 2028.