The IRCN Retreat 2025 was held on October 23 and 24 in Odawara city, Kanagawa. This annual get-together is a core event designed to promote scientific exchange and collaboration among IRCN members across diverse disciplines. This year, the retreat welcomed around 110 participants, marking the largest attendance in the IRCN history. Participants included Principal Investigators (PIs), Core Managers, Affiliated PIs, early-career researchers, and students as well as visiting fellows from both Japan and abroad.
The two-day program began with an opening talk and overview by Director Takao Hensch, followed by the “Team Science: Mission & Highlights” session, in which leaders and collaborators from five key IRCN research projects, namely Intrinsic Activity, Neuromodulation, Predictive Coding, Critical Period, and Social Learning, introduced their latest progress and future directions. The session also featured an engaging Q&A segment, where participants actively exchanged ideas and perspectives across disciplines.
In the evening, Flash Talks and Poster Session featuring 49 presentations created a lively atmosphere for scientific dialogue, where participants enthusiastically exchanged ideas across laboratories and career stages. The day concluded with networking event over dinner by which the IRCN community deepened its connections.
On the following day, the “AI Incubator” session featured talks from the Ishii, Takahashi, and Tanaka laboratories, highlighting advances in computational neuroscience and AI-driven brain science. In addition, invited researcher Dr. Caleb B. Bell, a cofounder of Kanjin Therapeutics, Inc., gave a special talk on “What Makes a Good Startup Idea”, sharing his idea of startups and potential directions emerging from IRCN. This talk, focusing on entrepreneurship, was a new initiative for IRCN and provided inspiring insights that connect directly to the vision of the future of IRCN.
Subsequently, the sessions “Next Generation Science: Young Researchers Roundtable” and “Grant Proposal for Fusion Research” encouraged forward-looking discussions toward interdisciplinary collaboration and new research initiatives. In the final segment, 15 fusion research proposals were presented by participants, who passionately proposed their concepts to apply for Retreat Brainstorming Awards.
IRCN Retreat 2025 was highly appreciated by participants as an invaluable opportunity to engage with diverse researchers and explore new scientific possibilities beyond laboratory boundaries. The enthusiasm and energy shared throughout the event underscored the growing strength and unity of the IRCN research community.
