Changes on the horizon for Europe’s Human Brain Project

Nature : The ambitious €1 billion ($1.1 billion) Human Brain Project (HBP), which is funded by the European Union and involves hundreds of researchers, aims to better understand the human brain and its functions, create an artificial brain, and develop new supercomputing techniques. Despite having just been launched in October 2013, however, the project is already experiencing problems. On 26 February , its board of directors voted to disband its three-person executive committee after receiving complaints from more than 150 leading neuroscientists who were unhappy with the committee’s decision to cut cognitive and systems neuroscience from its initiative. A mediation committee was appointed to analyze the situation. In its final report, which has been sent to the HBP board for approval, the mediation committee not only recommends reinstating cognitive and systems neuroscience but also making changes to the HBP’s governance.