Building Bridges and Cultivating Community
Stanford · Lucca · Stellenbosch
April 15-17, 2026
Neuroethics 2026 is the annual meeting of the International Neuroethics Society (INS) and Società Italiana di Neuroetica (SINe). This year’s event is being organized in collaboration with the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Stellenbosch University Department of Psychiatry, and many other partners. The event has multiple in-person conference locations around the world and opportunities to participate virtually.
Locations
Stanford
April 15-17, 2026
Bechtel Conference Center at Encina Hall
California, United States
Lucca
April 15-17, 2026
IMT School for Advanced Studies (Scuola IMT Alti Studi)
Tuscany, Italy
Stellenbosch
April 15-16, 2026
Stellenbosch University Biomedical Research Institute
Western Cape, South Africa
Schedule
Programming by Day / Location
| Wednesday, April 15, 2026 | Thursday, April 16, 2026 | Friday, April 17, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Stanford (PDT) | Stanford (PDT) | Stanford (PDT) |
| Lucca (CEST) | Lucca (CEST) | Lucca (CEST) |
| Stellenbosch (SAST) | Stellenbosch (SAST) | No in-person programming at Stellenbosch on Friday, April 17 |
Location-Specific Schedules
All Locations
Recordings
Information about recordings will be added here.
Calls
Mentors — Seeking experienced neuroethics mentors for our three 1-hour Pre-Conference Virtual Connection and Mentoring Sessions on April 7-10, 2026.
Research Abstracts — The deadline has passed.
Session Proposals — The deadline has passed.
Theme
Building Bridges and Cultivating Community
The annual neuroethics conference celebrates the international neuroethics community and the importance of building connections across distances, disciplines, perspectives, and between people all around the globe. The development of ethical research, treatments, and technologies cannot occur in isolation — it requires respect, humility, sustained partnerships, and the recognition of shared goals.
This year’s meeting theme — Building Bridges and Cultivating Community — provides an opportunity for discussion of the ethical implications of advancements in brain sciences and technologies, how these developments intersect with the lived experiences of people and their communities, and their potential to impact public discourse and social progress.
The meeting will bring together people to examine critical neuroethics issues and advance frameworks for equitable and culturally-sensitive practices — with an emphasis on listening to and amplifying underrepresented voices. Participants include researchers, scholars, clinicians, technology developers, policymakers, caregivers, advocates, and people with lived experience. Together we will join in dialogue around mindful engagement of neuroethics work in order to support beneficial neurotechnologies and mental health treatments.
This is a critical moment to highlight the importance of community and collaborative approaches to neuroethics. With multiple regional hubs, the meeting is structured to facilitate access, foster trust, and forge connections between people, and strengthen this international community that is dedicated to advancing neuroethics and growing its impact.
Featured Topics
- Community Engagement
- Brain Death + Organ Donation
Sponsors
- Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics
- UCSF Bioethics
- UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences
- Weill Neurohub
- UC Berkeley Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public
- Bertram Loeb Organ & Tissue Donation Institute
- IMT School for Advanced Studies
- University of Pisa
- ERA-NET NEURON
- Cooley LLP
- Penn Medical Ethics & Health Policy
- Penn State Center for Neural Engineering
- McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society
- IRCM
Grant Funding
The conference is supported by:
Project Code: 2020WSCSLZ, Title: PRIN 2020 ‘Hot for Genes – The Role of Brain Gene Expression in Identifying Antisocial Developmental Trajectories and Malleable Risk Factors for Preventive Interventions’, CUP: I57G22000090001
Travel support for authors of winning and honorable mention essays submitted to the Neuroethics Essay Contest is generously provide by the Dana Foundation.
Travel support for the Judy Illes Award for Mentorship in the Field of Neuroethics is provided by funds generously donated by the Synàkos Foundation.
The conference is supported by the Department of Psychiatry at Stellenbosch University. Additionally, neuroethics sessions in day 1 of this meeting are supported by the financial assistance of the This document has been produced with the financial assistance of The Gates Foundation (Investment ID: INV-007175, formerly OPP1191735) through the African Postdoctoral Training Initiative (APTI). APTI is implemented by the African Academy of Sciences, in partnership with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Neuroethics sessions in Day 2 of the conference are supported by Stellenbosch University and the Dana Foundation African Neuroscience Neuroethics and Society Programme for public engagement.
Partners
Convening Partners
- International Neuroethics Society (INS)
- Società Italiana di Neuroetica (SINe)
- Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics
- IMT School for Advanced Studies
- Stellenbosch University Department of Psychiatry
Organizing Partners
Stanford
- Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics
- UCSF Bioethics
- UC Berkeley Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public
Lucca
Stellenbosch
- Stellenbosch University Department of Psychiatry
- Africa Neuroethics Research Group
- SU Neuroethics Working Group
- SAMRC/SU Extramural Unit on the Genomics of Brain Disorders
- Africa Brain Health Network
- African Brain Data Network
Singapore
- Oxford-NUS Centre for Neuroethics & Society
- NUS Centre for Biomedical Ethics
Journal Partners
Committee
US/Canada
- Nicole Martinez-Martin, Stanford University (co-chair)
- Winston Chiong, University of California, San Francisco (co-chair)
- Lea Witkowsky, Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public at UC Berkeley (co-chair)
- Eyal Aharoni, Georgia State University
- Tim Brown, University of Washington
- Anita Jwa, Stanford University
- Kokubo Masatoshi, The University of Tokyo
- Chanel Matney, UCSF Bioethics
- Michelle Pham, Michigan State University
- Karola Kreitmair University of Wisconsin–Madison
- José M. Muñoz, International Center for Neuroscience and Ethics
- John Noel M. Viaña, Australian National University
Africa
- Olivia Matshabane, Stellenbosch University (co-chair)
- Soraya Seedat, Stellenbosch University (co-chair)
- Mohhadiah Rafique, Stellenbosch University
- Buhle Songo, Stellenbosch University
- Michelle King, Stellenbosch University
- Abigail Oppong, independent
- Kirti Ranchod, North-West University / Africa Brain Health Network
- Eberechi Wogu, University of Port-Harcourt, Nigeria / African Brain Data Network
- Barisua Nsaanee, University of Port-Harcourt, Nigeria / African Brain Data Network
- Chinyem Ighodaro, University of Benin / African Brain Data Network
Europe
- Silvia Pellegrini, University of Pisa (co-chair)
- Pietro Pietrini, IMT Lucca (co-chair)
- Federico Pizzetti, Università degli Studi di Milano
- Sofia Bonicalzi, Roma Tre University
- Mirko Garasic, Roma Tre University
- Andrea Lavazza, University of Mannheim
- Elisabetta Sirgiovanni, Sapienza University of Rome
- Federico Zilio, University of Padova
Local Committee Members: Lucca
- Emiliano Ricciardi, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Gustavo Cevolani, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Ruggero Basanisi, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Matteo De Benedetto, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Valentina Elce, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Alessandra Federici, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Gaia Fiamberti, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Giulia Grassi, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca, University of Pisa
- Veronica Mariotti, University of Pisa
- Anna Mazzacurati, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Valentina Moschini, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Sara Palumbo, University of Pisa
- Agnese Scarpellini, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Francesca Setti, IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca
- Dora Giorgianni, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca
- Anna Kutufà, IMT School for Advanced Studies
Asia
- Brian Earp, National University of Singapore (co-chair)
- Tsutomu Sawai, Hiroshima University (co-chair)
- David Lyreskog, University of Oxford
Other Contributors
- Debra JH Mathews, Johns Hopkins University (INS President)
- Marcello Ienca, Technical University of Munich (INS President-Elect)
- Robert Beets, International Neuroethics Society (staff)
Updates
Certificates of Participation and Presentations
All attendees, speakers, and committee members who contributed to the Neuroethics 2027 conference can access certificates of participation and presentations in the following folders specific to in-person attendance and location, presentation type, or activity.
All certificates are titled by participant name. There may be more than one file with the same name — be sure to view and download each one which recognizes a different portion of your involvement. If a certificate that you expected to be in the folder is not, contact staff@neuroethicssociety.org to request it.
Presentation Details Due Before the Conference
Authors of accepted research abstracts must provide details about their research presentation, authors and affiliations. Presentation details are due at your earliest convenience and presentation files for virtual presentations should be uploaded by April 1. This April 1 date is not a hard deadline — you won’t be excluded from the program if your upload comes in after this date.
This provides enough time for staff to make posters, slides, and recorded 3-minute talks for virtual poster presentations accessible on the meeting website in advance of the meeting and in time for the pre-conference Virtual Connection and Mentorship Sessions.
To allow for uploads, the form requires being logged into a Google account. If you are unable to access the form due to this restriction, answer all questions in the Research Presentation Details document and return it by email to INS staff. Only use the document if you cannot use the online form.
Requirements for Speakers and Oral Presenters
Invited panel speakers and research talk presenters must register for the conference. If you are attending in-person, register for in-person with that conference location. If you are participating virtually — even as part of the programming for a specific conference location — you should register for virtual participation.
All speakers must also sign and return the release and disclosure forms to allow for video recording and virtual broadcasting of their session. These forms are available at the bottom of this page and should be returned by email to staff@neuroethicssociety.org at your earliest convenience before the conference.
Registration dates and deadlines
The final day to get the ‘base rate’ for in-person conference attendance at Stanford and Lucca is this Friday, March 20. The final day for the base rate for Stellenbosch in-person attendance is Tuesday, March 31. A modestly increased ‘late rate’ will be effective starting March 21 or April 1, respectively, for these locations.
Final registration deadlines are specific to each conference location and participation format — see the registration page for details.
Please note that when registering you can also select ‘Invoice’ for the payment method to lock in the base rate and an unpaid invoice will be emailed to you that you can then pay later. If you complete and submit the registration form before rate increase you will get the current rate.
- Register for in-person: Stanford in-person / Lucca in-person / Stellenbosch in-person
- Register for virtual: Virtual participation
Base Rates for Registration Extended
We have extended the date through which the base rate will be available for in-person attendees at Stanford, Lucca, and Stellenbosch to Friday, March 20. The modestly increased late rates will start on March 21.
Accepted Sessions and Preliminary Schedules
In the coming days and into next week, the organizing teams at Stanford, Lucca, and Stellenbosch will have several updates and announcements about the scientific program for the Neuroethics 2026 conference and the schedules at their respective locations in April.
- Stanford has a preliminary schedule posted, but times may be subject to change.
- Lucca has a list of accepted sessions which are awaiting confirmation from speakers before they will be assigned to specific times and rooms.
- Stellenbosch is also expected to have a list of accepted sessions next week.
Seeking Mentors for Virtual Pre-Conference Sessions
The Neuroethics 2026 conference will include a set of three 1-hour Virtual Connection and Mentorship Sessions the week of April 7-10. The sessions will be held at different times of the day to optimize opportunities for mentees and mentors in various regions around the world to connect in an open house style format with breakout rooms.
Participants must be registered for the conference to attend as a ‘mentee’ to connect with professionals who have knowledge and expertise in neuroethics and related research topics. An invitation to sign up to attend sessions will be circulated to registered attendees in the coming weeks.
We are currently seeking professionals with neuroethics expertise (mentors) to share with session participants (mentees). This is only a 1-hour commitment to provide advice and mentoring to students and early-career professionals. Volunteer mentors should sign up to host a breakout room at one of the available times. We plan to have two mentors for each breakout room, so be sure to mention if you want to host with another specific person (who should also sign up as a mentor).
Thank you for volunteering!
Presentation Details Due by March 15
Authors of accepted research must provide details about their research presentation to be included in the program. Required details include: all contributing authors, affiliations, and disclosures, as well as demographic details about the presenting author. Presentation details are due no later than March 15, 2026.
Abstract submission period ends
We are no longer accepting research abstracts for Neuroethics 2026 as of February 7, 2026.
Stellenbosch research abstract deadline extension
The deadline to submit research abstracts specifically for the Stellenbosch conference location has been extended to Friday, February 6, 2026 (11:59pm PST). If you would like to present a poster or give a talk at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, please get your submissions in by this date.
The deadline to submit your research if you plan to attend the Stanford or Lucca events in-person, or if you will participate virtually from anywhere in the world, is January 22, 2026.
U.S. Visa Application Requirements
It has come to our attention that the U.S. Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) is now requiring applicants to supply social media account profile usernames and make accounts publicly available as part of their visa application process. The expanded screening of applicant’s online presence was recently announced and now appears to have been deployed for all H-1B and Dependent H-4 applicants as part of increased security measures employed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
For the members of our community who are planning to attend the Neuroethics 2026 conference in Stanford, CA, USA who may be required to complete this visa application process, please be aware of these increased requirements and be sure to start the application process early.
In light of these changes to the U.S. visa application process, the conference organizers encourage session organizers, abstract authors, and prospective attendees to contact us with any changes to your conference participation or scholarly submissions. For all updates and requests, email Robert Beets <beets@neuroethicssociety.org>.
- Session organizers are welcome to make adjustments to their already submitted proposals, including: changing the preferred location, making updates to speaker availability or commitment, or withdrawing your submission from consideration.
- Authors with an accepted research abstract may select to present their work at any conference location or virtually. If you are withdrawing your research abstract entirely, please contact us at your earliest convenience.
- Conference attendees who register and pay will be able to get a full refund from the INS or SINe if their visa application is denied. Discounted early registration rates are available through December 31, 2025.
Abstract Submission Deadline Extended
The final deadline to submit research abstracts has been extended to January 22, 2026. Refer to the call for abstracts for more details about deadlines and key dates.
Early Registration is Now Open
Registration for the Neuroethics 2026 conference is now open and all pricing levels are listed. Everyone must register to participate in-person or online. Discounted early rates are available through December 31, 2025! See the registration page for complete details and pricing.
Session Proposal Deadline Extended
The deadline to submit session proposals has been extended to December 10, 2025. With the later deadline, we will now aim to have decisions about acceptance circulated by December 24, 2025. We encourage all session organizers to submit their proposals at their earliest convenience.
Call for Session Proposals
The Program Committee of the Neuroethics 2026 conference invites members of the international neuroethics research community and other professionals and scholars to submit session proposals to be considered for the scientific program.
Topics may align with the meeting theme or other featured topics, but this is not required. Proposals submitted for consideration are not guaranteed to become part of the program. Accepted proposals will be further developed by the submitting authors working in collaboration with members of the Program Committee.
See the call for proposals for requirements and a detailed timeline.
Calls for Research Abstracts
The convening partners of the Neuroethics 2026 conference invite students, researchers, and professionals from around the world to submit abstracts to be considered for research presentations in April 2026. The conference includes opportunities to participate virtually or in-person at one of several locations around the world.
We welcome research that addresses any topic or issue related to neuroethics and the ethical, legal, clinical, social, and policy considerations raised by brain sciences and technology. Research may align with the theme — Building Bridges and Cultivating Community.
The final deadline to submit research abstracts is January 22, 2026 (extended from January 15). See the research abstracts call for complete details and instructions.
Recent update about the Neuroethics 2026 conference
From INS President Debra JH Mathews on Friday, April 25, 2025 from Munich (edited for web):
“I mentioned previously that INS leadership and the 2026 annual meeting team were working furiously to develop a plan that is both responsive to the challenges of the current moment and helps the Society work toward a model of international engagement, collaboration, and convening that is more sustainable in the face of both political and environmental change. As I noted, we didn’t want to come to the membership with the challenge alone, but also with solutions.
We received two truly excellent proposals for the 2026 annual meeting, and the INS Board ultimately selected the proposal from the collaborative team that includes representatives from the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, UCSF Bioethics, and the UC Berkeley Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public to host a meeting in Stanford, California, in the United States, with the theme: Cultivating Community and Building Bridges.
Recent political events, particularly in the U.S., have highlighted the urgency and the precarity of sustaining an international scholarly community that examines ethical and societal problems in neuroscience — many of which reflect legacies of colonialism, scientific exclusion, and health inequity. We are fortunate to have chosen to meet this year in Munich, but next year we anticipate even greater challenges to sustaining our international neuroethics community. Many scholars from outside the United States have shared that they would be unable or unwilling to travel to the U.S. for a conference next year. At the same time, given new funding restrictions and justifiable visa concerns, many of our U.S.-based members will likely be unable or unwilling to travel outside of the U.S. for a meeting.
Facing these unprecedented challenges to international collaboration will require flexibility. The past decade has shown that academic societies will need to develop more sustainable and equitable models for international meetings, and that is what we are moving towards.
Our plan is to explore a new format based on the work of other academic societies responding to a different existential threat, that of climate change — in particular, new distributed multi-hub models that combine local in-person interactions at regional hubs with virtual connections across those hubs. For instance, one society calculated that moving to a 2-hub model would reduce its carbon emissions by 52%, and to a 3-hub model by 65%.
As such, we are working toward a 2026 meeting that is coordinated with the Bay Area team based in the U.S., but that takes place in a distributed fashion, with a small number of in-person regional hubs and virtual connections across the world. Such a meeting would require a high degree of coordination and cooperation across sites.
While attendees at different sites will have different experiences of the meeting, the goal is for attendees at all sites to have equally valuable and valued experiences. Furthermore, a particular goal for this meeting will be a mentoring program that benefits from in-person interactions with local mentors, and also leverages the broader network of neuroethics expertise that is distributed across sites.
I am incredibly happy to share, too, that with the success of this collaborative meeting in Munich, SINe (the Società Italiana di Neuroetica) has agreed to host the European hub in Italy. We are still working out many details, but will report out to the membership as soon as the plan is finalized.
Lastly, I just want to thank our 2026 program committee co-chairs Winston Chiong and Nicole Martinez-Martin, and Lea Witkowsky, and their full Bay Area team for their thoughtfulness, sincerity, and sense of urgency as we all recognized the need to pivot from their proposed plan to something new. I am deeply grateful to have them as partners in this effort.”
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Learn more about the Annual Meeting
Conduct
All INS event participants are expected to treat others with respect and consideration, and to uphold a professional environment committed to principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
Read the full Code of Conduct.
Reporting Misconduct
Anyone who has a complaint or has experienced or witnessed behavior that violates the INS Code of Conduct, or otherwise merits institutional attention, should speak with INS Executive Director Robert Beets, INS Legal Counsel Fred Dorey, or a member of the INS Board of Directors or Program Committee.
Concerns brought to our attention will be addressed in a timely manner commensurate with the nature of the issue. The INS reserves the right to take any appropriate action regarding unacceptable behavior or activity that violates the standards put forth in the Code of Conduct.
Speaker Resources
Speaker Guide
In-Person Speaker Slide Upload Folders
Slido Q&A QR Codes
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Forms
All invited speakers — including panel speakers and research talk presenters — must sign the release and disclosure forms linked below to allow for video recording and virtual broadcasting of their session. Signed forms signed forms must be returned by email to INS staff <staff@neuroethicssociety.org> at your earliest convenience before the conference.
You can print out and sign the forms by hand, rescan them, and then email the new version. Or you can add a digital or electronic signature to the document, save the updated version, and then email the new version. You may send the signed forms as separate files or one file with the combined form pages.
Speaker Forms
Speaker Release
Speaker Disclosure
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