Body of research
January 2007The School of Psychological Sciences hosted a conference on body representation in mid-January, the first of four such meetings to stimulate research and promote collaboration in the area.
Dr Ellen Poliakoff organised the event, which was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and supported by the Neuroscience Research Institute.
“The way we represent our body is fundamental to many areas of psychology and neuroscience, yet it is often taken for granted,” she said. “This meeting brought researchers from many different perspectives together; from those addressing our interaction with tools and the space around us to those investigating how missing limbs or brain damage affects patients’ body representation.”
Over the two days, speakers from Oxford University, University College London and the Universities of Liverpool, Southampton, Birmingham and Nottingham took the stage, alongside colleagues from The University of Manchester. International speakers from the Universities of Barcelona, Bologna, Utrecht and Lyon and the Institut Jean-Nicod in Paris were also in attendance, to give presentations on their work and network with UK researchers.
There was an emphasis on encouraging young researchers to present their work, and a poster prize was awarded jointly to two PhD students. The keynote speech, about phantom limbs and out of body experiences, was given by Professor Peter Brugger of the University of Zurich, and the delegates were treated to a wine reception followed by dinner on Manchester’s ‘curry mile’.
