Successful STiCS Dragon’s Den

The 2022 edition of 'Special Topic in Cognitive Science' (STiCS), a first-year course in the Research Master in Brain and Cognitive Sciences (MBCS), was successfully completed with the so-called Dragon's Den. In a five-minute pitch, students present their interdisciplinary interventions for wicked problems related to neuroscience. Interdisciplinary scientists of mind and brain. As our world becomes more integrated, it becomes essential that future generations of scientists and scholars have experience in interdisciplinary research, critical and creative thinking, and communication of scientific ideas to the public and various stakeholders. Throughout the STiCS course, students with different disciplinary backgrounds learn to work together to practice interdisciplinary collaboration in a more organic and sophisticated manner. Over the first term, students break down their wicked problem according to the Design Thinking method: they do research from multiple disciplines, identify stakeholders and, ultimately, set up an interdisciplinary framework for their research question. Over six days in January, students then brainstorm and refine interdisciplinary interventions for their real-life issues.