FENS Forum 2026 — At a glance
Barcelona, 6 July 2026 — The FENS Forum 2026, the largest neuroscience conference in Europe, launched today, Monday, 6 July 2026 in Barcelona, Spain. For five days, the Forum will welcome over 8,000 participants from around the world, continuing its role as the premier meeting point for the neuroscience community in Europe and beyond.
After 14 years, the Forum returns to a city and country with long-standing contributions to neuroscience and scientific collaboration. The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) together with the Spanish Neuroscience Society, are delighted to welcome and connect researchers from across all areas of brain research in this inspiring location.
“Hosting the FENS Forum in Barcelona for the second time places Spain at the heart of the European dialogue on the brain, reinforcing the role of science as a driver of innovation, international collaboration, and better outcomes for society,”
- Dr. Eva Ortega-Paíno, Secretary General for Research at the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, Spain
A defining feature of the FENS Forum is its unique scientific breadth and focus on new research, covering the full spectrum of neuroscience under a single roof, from molecular and cellular mechanisms to systems neuroscience, cognition, and translational and clinical research. This multidisciplinary scope reinforced by over 5,000 poster presentations fosters collaboration and innovation across fields.
“Neuroscience is one of the most exciting branches of science driven by the desire to understand the organ that controls almost all body functions. This endeavour is important in itself, but it also has the potential, on many levels, to generate new insights that may ultimately help address one of the world’s major health challenges: brain disorders. We need to communicate all of this in an open, and impactful way to society and to policymakers. The FENS Forum underscores this shared commitment,”
- Professor Ole Kiehn, FENS President, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Scientific programme highlights
The FENS Forum 2026 scientific programme spans the full breadth of contemporary neuroscience, highlighting key conceptual and technological advances that are reshaping the field.
In cancer neuroscience, groundbreaking work on gliomas is transforming understanding of brain tumours, revealing how they can integrate into neuronal circuits and actively influence neural activity and disease progression. This emerging view is redefining the relationship between cancer and the brain.
In human language neuroscience, research on speech processing is providing unprecedented insight into how the auditory cortex encodes complex auditory information such as words and phonemes, with important implications for the development of speech neuroprostheses and brain–computer interfaces.
A major focus of the programme is the rapid expansion of single-cell, spatial, and multi-omic approaches, which now allow researchers to map the brain at cellular resolution while preserving spatial and temporal context. These technologies, including spatial transcriptomics and RNA velocity approaches, are being widely applied to understand brain organisation and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Next-generation neurotechnologies are also a central theme, enabling brain function to be studied at unprecedented resolution and scale. These include functional ultrasound imaging, high-throughput connectomics, spatial transcriptomics, brain organoids, multimodal neuroimaging, and implantable neural probes. Together, these tools are fundamentally changing the questions that neuroscience can address.
The programme will include plenary lectures addressing fundamental principles of brain organisation and development, including how neural circuits are assembled, how synaptic plasticity is regulated, how cortical maps emerge and refine during development, and similarities and diversities of the neuronal implementation of behaviours in different species.
Finally, the program will contain symposium talks and poster presentations covering discovery science and conceptual advances of almost any corner of neuroscience.
Why brain research matters: societal and economic impact
Brain research is increasingly central to addressing some of the most pressing health and societal challenges in Europe and globally. Brain disorders affect approximately one in three people during their lifetime and are among the leading causes of disability and poor health worldwide. In Europe alone, they are estimated to cost approximately EUR 800 billion annually, making them among the most significant economic and healthcare burdens.
Against this backdrop, advancing neuroscience is not only a scientific priority but also a societal necessity. Understanding nervous system function, development and health has direct implications for tackling neurodegenerative diseases, mental health conditions, developmental disorders, and brain injury. As neurotechnologies and computational approaches may accelerate discoveries, the potential for translation into diagnostics, therapies, and brain–machine interfaces continues to grow.
FENS Legacy Programme: connecting science with society
A central pillar of the Forum is the FENS Legacy Programme, developed together with the host society, the Spanish Neuroscience Society, and Barcelona City Hall to extend the impact of the conference beyond the scientific community. In the lead-up to the Forum, initiatives across Barcelona and Spain have focused on strengthening public engagement with neuroscience. It has impacted and involved more than 20,000 citizens across the country.
Activities include public lectures by leading scientists, a travelling Cajal exhibition, and participation in outreach events such as the Barcelona Science Festival, bringing neuroscience closer to society and highlighting its relevance to health, technology, and everyday life.
The Early-Career Training Programme supported 30 early-career researchers to undertake research visits in host laboratories across Spain and Portugal, before participating in the Forum. The initiative strengthens scientific mobility, training, and international collaboration.
Industry and exhibition
The FENS Forum 2026 is hosting more than 1 5 0 exhibitors from industry, research and nonprofit sectors, showcasing the latest technologies, tools, career opportunities, and innovations driving progress in brain research.
About the FENS Forum
The FENS Forum is Europe’s largest neuroscience conference. Held every two years, it brings together thousands of researchers, clinicians, industry representatives, and early-career scientists to share advances in brain research and foster collaboration across disciplines.
More information: fensforum.org
About FENS
The Federation of European Neuroscience Societies represents 43 neuroscience societies across 33 countries and more than 25,000 scientists, promoting neuroscience research, education, and outreach to advance understanding of the brain and improve human health.
The official website of the FENS Forum 2026 is fensforum.org .