The Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience (BN) doctoral program in the Department of Psychology is offered in collaboration with the Department of Health Studies and Gerontology (healthy.uwaterloo.ca/hsg/) and the Department of Kinesiology (healthy.uwaterloo.ca/kin/) at Waterloo. It provides students with a breadth of knowledge in the general study of the relations between the structure and activity of the brain and its function in generating integrated, adaptive behavioural responses. Behavioural neuroscientists are most likely to use methods that focus on the role played by large neuronal systems in the orchestration of behaviour. Such methods could include the analysis of the effects of natural (human) or experimental (animal) lesions, electrophysiological methods for recording the summed activity of large numbers of neurons (evoked potentials, EEG) or imaging methods (PET, MRI). The goal of our program is to produce scholars who can take positions as behavioural neuroscientists in academic departments, but some of our graduates have obtained interesting positions in non-university settings (hospitals, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies). Our program has a strong emphasis on individual instruction and on independent study and research.
Research interests of faculty members who participate in the Collaborative Program are listed under Faculty section. Faculty members at Brock University and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health - Clarke Site who are adjunct members of the Department of Psychology also contribute to the program and supervise students. Students will be registered in one of the three University of Waterloo participating departments and will be required to fulfill all the academic requirements of the department of registration as well as those of the collaborative program.
