A brief history of the Australasian Neuroscience Society

ABSTRACT

The collective efforts of Australasian neuroscientists over the past 50 years to forge a binational presence are reviewed in this article. The events in the 1970s leading to the formation of an informal Australian Neurosciences Society are discussed in the context of the international emergence of neuroscience as an interdisciplinary science. Thereafter, the establishment in 1980 of the Australian Neuroscience Society, subsequently renamed as the Australasian Neuroscience Society (ANS), is described. The achievements of ANS—including its active role in developing national, regional, and global cooperation to promote neuroscience—are chronicled over successive decades, followed by a discussion of the future challenges facing the society and its associated neuroscience institutions.

KEYWORDS:

• Australasian Neuroscience Society
• Australia
• history
• New Zealand

Acknowledgments

We thank Sarah Dunlop, Julian Heng, Sam Farr, and James Vickers for assistance with preparation of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial or nonfinancial disclosures to make.

Notes

¹. Charles de Brosses coined the term Australasia (as French Australasie) in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756), derived from the Latin for “south of Asia” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australasia, searched 3.08.2021).

². In Australia, the term Australasia is taken to include Australia, New Zealand, and the neighboring islands of the Pacific. In New Zealand, it is generally taken to mean just Australia and New Zealand. It is with this latter meaning that the term is used in the title of ANS.