History and Foundation of ANS
The Australian Neuroscience Society was founded in 1971 as an informal collection of interested Australian neuroscientists. It held annual meetings with a central theme from 1972-1980. At the 1979 "Neurotoxins" meeting at Flinders, it was decided to form a proper society. At the 1980 Canberra meeting, a formal society was created with a council, which met for the first time on Thursday 7th Feb 1980. At the tenth annual meeting held at Flinders University in Jan 1981, the constitution of the Society was accepted and the Society became incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory during that year. Annual meetings have been held since 1980, usually in late January, early February. Abstracts were published by Elsevier in Neuroscience Letter Supplements 1982-1989, and are now published by the Society itself (1990 and continuing).
Special TINS Issue
A special issue of Trends in Neurosciences celebrating neurosciences in Australia and focussing on ANS was published in February 1992 15(2).
Affiliations of ANS
One of the earliest actions of the newly formed ANS Council in 1980 was to affiliate the ANS as a corporate member of the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO). This was reported at the Jan 1981 AGM. It affiliated with Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) upon its formation during 1985 (ratified at the Feb 1986 AGM). ANS was also a founding member society of the Pan Oceanic Neurochemistry Society in 1993. ANS is also affiliated with the Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) and Asian Pacific Society for Neurochemistry (APSN).
Association with IBRO and Asian Neuroscience Community
ANS has been an active member of IBRO since ANS was founded in its present form in 1980. The President is a member of the Governing Council. IBRO formed the IBRO Pan Asian-Oceanic Commission for Neuroscience in 1982 with the aim of improving communication between neuroscientists in the Asian-Pacific region. The Commission was responsible for organising annual Workshops on Neuroscience in the region. In 1989 and 1990, UNESCO and IBRO jointly sponsored visits by young Asian neuroscientists to Australia to participate in the annual ANS meeting and by Australian neuroscientists to several Asian countries on lecture tours. Promotion of neuroscience in the Asian Pacific region by IBRO continues through its Asia-Pacific Regional Committee (see http://www.ibro.info/Pub_Main_Display) which has included at least two ANS members elected by IBRO since it was established in 1999. This Committee distributes IBRO support for Congresses and meetings as well as participating in the selection of IBRO Fellowships and Travel Awards. The Federation of Asian-Oceanian Neuroscience Societies (FAONS, see: http://www.faons.org/) was set up in 1996 with the President of ANS or their representative serving on its Council. FAONS holds a Congress every four years.
Previous ANS scientific meetings and attendance
2007 - joint meeting with IBRO, Melbourne (2300 registrants)
2006 – Sydney (865 registrants), see: http://www.sallyjayconferences.com.au/ans/
2005 –Perth (752 registrants), see: http://www.sallyjayconferences.com.au/ans/
2004 - Melbourne (886 registrants)
2003 - Adelaide (704 registrants)
2002 - Sydney (587 registrants)
2001 - Brisbane (578 registrants)
2000 - Melbourne (578 registrants)
1999 - Hobart (528 registrants)
1998 - Canberra (532 registrants)
1997 - Newcastle (471 registrants)
1996 - Adelaide (559 registrants)
1995 - Perth (492 registrants)
1994 - Sydney (549 registrants)
1993 - Melbourne (>500 registrants)
1992 - Adelaide (389 registrants)
1991 - Dunedin, New Zealand (>60 registrants)
1990 - Brisbane (320 registrants)
1989 - Melbourne (340 registrants)
1988 – Canberra
1987 - Newcastle (223 ANS registrants + 46 ASANZ registrants)
1986 – Perth
1985 – Adelaide
1984 – Canberra
1983 – Melbourne
1982 – Sydney
1981 - Adelaide (>200 registrants)
ANS Joint Meetings
ANS hosted the 13th Meeting of the International Society for Neurochemistry in Sydney in July 1991. It has held joint meetings with other societies on several occasions, including with a number of Australian societies jointly in Canberra in 1988, with the APSN in Brisbane in 2000, ISDN in Sydney 2002, and the International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne in 2007.
ANS Sponsored Boden Conferences
Have included:
2004 - Visual cortex: A variety of viewpoints
1998 - Synaptic transmission
1997 - Retinal biology and retinal diseases
1993 - Muscle afferents and motor control
1991 - Innervation of blood vessels
1990 - Regulatory peptides
1989 - Processing of information in the auditory and tactile systems
1984 - Chemical transmitters in the nervous system