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SWC PhD Students Sarah and Jai
PhD Applications Now Open

Launch your career in neuroscience

Apply by 3 November
Scientist looking down a microscope symbolizing innovation
Innovation

Nurturing translation and tech transfer

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Our mission

Discovering how the brain gives rise to behaviour

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Scientist adjusting experimental set-up
TRANSFORMATIVE TRAINING

Creating future leaders in neuroscience

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Two neuroscientists collaborating next to a screen with a brain on
RESEARCH CULTURE

Interdisciplinary collaboration on the brain

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Blog

Is the grass greener? Exploring how the brain decides when to move on

How do you decide whether to persist with what you’re doing or switch to something else? Neuroscientists believe that the answer to this question may lie in a canonical computation in the brain that guides behaviour under uncertainty. To explore this possibility, SWC Senior Research Fellow Dr Michael Bukwich has been studying how animals allocate more time to foraging in locations where they can acquire more resources.

17 September 2025
Blog

Centralising training in animal research

Training in animal research is often complex, as facilities must meet strict legal and ethical requirements as well as ensure staff competence and animal welfare. At the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, a centralised framework for training is tackling this challenge, bringing together standardised tools, digital platforms, and close collaboration between researchers and animal care staff.

1 October 2025
Q&A

Ready, set, go

You never forget how to ride a bike. But how does the brain store these kinds of memories? And how do new skills not overwrite older ones? These questions are driving the work of Dr Nuo Li, Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Duke University. In this Q&A, Li talks about his work and its implications for understanding how we learn new skills, and his hopes for helping people with movement disorders.

25 September 2025
Young children riding bikes, overlaid with "SWC Speaker Series"
Q&A

What can rodent societies teach us about our own? Insights from neuroscience

What can rodent societies reveal about the neural basis of social decision-making? In this Q&A, SWC Seminar speaker Dr Gowan Tervo discusses his innovative research using “Rat City” to explore how animals make decisions in complex social environments. 

22 September 2025

Why join SWC?

Career development is personal, and it can look different for different people. As SWC expands there are lots of opportunities to become involved and carve out a meaningful career path with us. We’re proud to be a place where talent is recognised and developed.

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Events & Seminars

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10
Oct
13:00
-
14:00
Ground Floor Lecture Theatre
SWC Seminar: Competition in brain development and a novel approach to neural coding
By:
Dr Michael Stryker
UCSF
View event
16
Oct
13:15
-
14:15
Ground Floor Lecture Theatre
SWC Seminar: A network mechanism for perceptual learning
By:
Dr Carl Schoonover and Dr Andrew Fink
Allen Institute and Northwestern University
View event
6
Nov
13:15
-
14:15
Ground Floor Lecture Theatre
SWC Seminar: Region-Specific Roles of GABAA Receptors in Hippocampal Memory Processing and Network Dynamics
By:
Dr Elif Engin
Harvard Medical School
View event

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