UDP Internacional

6 May 2024

After a two-week visit to the UDP, which included a seminar on humanization in health, Australian researcher Aina Puce met with campus authorities in order to evaluate future collaborations in the area of social neuroscience.

During the meeting, the academic from the Department of Psychology and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington spoke with the general director of International Relations, Anoek van den Berg; the dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Antonio Stecher; and the teachers Francisco Parada and Alejandra Rossi, among other authorities.

In this context, they investigated the possibility of generating joint work regarding two aspects: the translation of a book and the feasibility of an agreement with Indiana University Bloomington.

Anoek van den Berg explained that the link with Aina Puce arose several years ago and expressed that this meeting sought to take the relationship with Bloomington University to a “much more institutional” level.

“Apart from the public seminar on humanization of health, the guest participated in an activity with teachers of Medicine and Architecture, in which a crossover was made between art and neuroscience, because the guest is also an artist and photographer. So, there are a series of products that are going to come out, precisely, from an interdisciplinary perspective,” she said.

In turn, Aina Puce highlighted the level of the UDP and valued her stay on campus: “The University is very impressive, very young and has an excellent reputation. “It has been very rewarding to be here and visit and network with other faculties.”

For his part, the dean of the Faculty of Psychology, Antonio Stecher, valued the visit of Dr. Aina Puce: “On the one hand, it allowed us to strengthen and project collaborative work at the teaching level, which had been developing from the joint teaching of a course on ‘Social Neuroscience’ with the Faculty professor, Dr. Alejandra Rossi. This is a very important course to enhance the globalization of the UDP Psychology curriculum and to provide our students with high-quality and training experiences. where they can meet and interact with students from other countries and practice English,” said the university authority.

In that sense, the Dean stated that “Professor Puce’s visit will allow us to continue promoting and strengthening this course, gradually expanding its call to more Psychology students and, eventually, other UDP majors such as Medicine.”

“Along with teaching, Professor Puce’s visit allowed us to strengthen lines of collaboration in the field of scientific research in Neuroscience that will, without a doubt, be a great contribution to the academic development of our Center for Studies in Human Neuroscience and Neuropsychology (CENHN), as well as the consolidation of this area of research in the Doctorate of Psychology, in addition to teaching and research, very interesting and innovative possibilities of collaboration were opened in the field of links with the environment regarding the. issues of humanization of health care and the potential of using art for this purpose, issues on which Professor Puce has also reflected.

Finally, Dean Stecher indicated that, for the Faculty of Psychology, these visits are very valuable, above all, because they allow the development of a significant agenda of conversations and exchanges of knowledge. “There is no doubt that the visit of Professor Puce, in the terms that it took place, and the intense and multiple instances of meeting and collaboration with the Director of the CENHN, Francisco Parada and the researchers of the Center, with academics of UDP Medicine and of the FAAD, and with the General Directorate of International Relations of the UDP and its director Anoek van den Berg, will bear very valuable results for our University,” he commented.

Scientist Aina Puce has significant experience in the area of social neuroscience. She has a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and co-author of magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) techniques that study brain activity in non-invasive ways.