British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN) Annual Conference 2026
The British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN) Annual Conference has been running for over 20 years and is a leading forum for researchers in cognitive neuroscience at all career stages. Hosted in 2026 by the University of Sussex, the meeting brings together researchers to share knowledge, present cutting-edge findings, and network across the UK and international cognitive neuroscience community.
The 2026 conference takes place at the Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront, seconds from the beach and close to central Brighton. The programme includes a keynote address, Early- and Mid-Career Prize presentations, symposia, contributed talks, data-blitz sessions, and poster presentations spanning perception, memory, attention, decision-making, and related domains.
Conference dates: Wednesday, 2 September – Thursday, 3 September 2026
Location: Holiday Inn Brighton Seafront, Brighton, United Kingdom
Host institution: University of Sussex
Format: In-person (keynote, symposia, talks, data-blitz & posters)
Local organising committee chair: Charlotte Rae (University of Sussex)
BACN Annual Conference 2026 — University of Sussex Event Page
Preliminary Programme (not finalised)
The document below is the preliminary programme for BACN 2026. Session timings, speakers, and content may change before the final programme is published.
Preliminary Programme Overview
The preliminary programme features a keynote address by Professor John O'Doherty (Caltech, USA), alongside career talks including the Mid-Career Prize Winner symposium in honour of Jonny Smallwood and an Early Career Prize Winner talk by Camilla Nord (University of Cambridge).
Five symposia are planned, including sessions on how the brain processes real-world experiences, replicability of influential EEG findings (#EEGManyLabs), a tribute to Wolfgang Klimesch's contribution to cognitive electrophysiology, the role of sleep in health and cognition, and the episodic–semantic distinction. Symposium speakers include researchers from Cambridge, UCL, Sussex, Oxford, Nottingham, Essex, and international institutions.
Conference registration includes access to all sessions, lunch, and refreshments. An optional evening social in Brighton on Wednesday, 2 September offers a buffet dinner, music, and dancing at a central Brighton venue. Early bird registration closes on 24 July 2026.
Accepted Poster Presentation
Citation: Kazazi, F. (2026, September 2). Real-life Virtual Reality Scenarios in Different Attention Tasks: Behavioural, Oculomotor and Multimodal Evidence. Poster presentation (accepted) at the British Association for Cognitive Neuroscience (BACN) Annual Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.
Title: Real-life Virtual Reality Scenarios in Different Attention Tasks: Behavioural, Oculomotor and Multimodal Evidence
Presenter: Dr. Fjorda Kazazi
Presentation type: Accepted poster presentation
Presentation date: Wednesday, 2 September 2026
This poster presents multimodal evidence from real-life virtual reality scenarios used in different attention tasks, combining behavioural measures with oculomotor and additional physiological data. The work examines how ecologically valid VR environments can reveal attention-related processes that laboratory paradigms may not fully capture, contributing to cognitive neuroscience approaches that bridge experimental control with real-world relevance.
Key Dates & Links
- 2–3 September 2026: BACN Annual Conference, Brighton
- 24 July 2026: Early bird registration deadline
- 2 September 2026: Optional evening social, Brighton
- Event page: sussex.ac.uk/collaborate/events/bacn
- Registration: BACN 2026 Registration
- Enquiries: Charlotte Rae, Chair of the Local Organising Committee — c.rae@sussex.ac.uk