Science through the lens of Past, Present, and Future - Day 2

In 2026, women still take on most of the invisible work involved in managing family households. They plan, remember, and anticipate. We know that carrying this mental load is taxing their mental health – but does it also contribute to the gender leadership gap?

Caring voluntarily for a partner, relative, friend, or neighbor is an incredibly valuable commitment. Yet providing this care can affect our health and work life. We will explore who takes on the role of informal caregiver and how this caregiving affects us individually and our society at large.

Testosterone is often seen as driving teenagers’ impulsive and risk-prone behavior. However, we now know that testosterone shapes developing brain circuits for emotional control. I will discuss how this hormone-brain interaction may influence the development of anxiety and aggression, symptoms peaking in adolescence, and may help identify vulnerability and resilience.

My adult research paints a nuanced picture of psychopathy: cognitive impairments underlie antisocial behaviour. In my developmental research, I study how these impairments might emerge in children. My talk explores which early factors redirect development from adaptive to maladaptive, and how identifying them can help us design interventions for the future.

A talk from our our sponsor, NeurotechEU - Ketamine is an anaesthetic commonly used in human medicine. It can also cause subjective experiences that are close to psychosis and schizophrenic symptoms. My talk will be about how we can use the reason ketamine has these subjective effects to learn more about schizophrenia.

a panel discussion between (some of) our speakers of the evening.