Our group meets virtually each month to share updates and opportunities, and to feature talks by one or two members who present their work and insights; recordings from these meetings are available below.
Upcoming Meeting(s)
March 2026 NCWG Meeting - Mechanisms of Environmental Neuroscience
March 19, 2026 at 8 am PST
Our next NCWG meeting will feature a talk by Prof. Simone Kühn, Director of the Center for Environmental Neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany. She will discuss mechanisms through which physical environments shape brain structure and function.
Past Meetings
February 2026 NCWG Meeting - Gene-environment interactions and neurodegeneration
February 9, 2026
The meeting featured a talk by Prof. Mohamed Salama, Professor of Global Health and Human Ecology at the American University in Cairo and a recipient of Wellcome’s Gen-IMPACT award. He spoke about gene–environment interactions in the development of neurodegeneration. We also heard about the ClicBrain project from the Global Brain Health Institute and the Global Brain Care Coalition from Harvard University.
January 2026 NCWG Meeting - Heat, Sleep, and Mental Health
January 12, 2026
This meeting featured a talk by Dr. Kelton Minor, Associate Professor of Planetary Behavioral Data Science at the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Minor shared his work on how rising temperatures are affecting sleep, mental health, and behavior, and walked us through approaches to developing brain health indicators for the Lancet Countdown.
December 2025 NCWG Meeting - Air Pollution, Climate Change, and Brain Health in South and East Asia
December 11, 2025
This session featured members of our South and East Asia Neuro Climate Working Group (SEANC-WG), who presented national insights on the brain health impacts of air pollution and climate change across the region, from India to Bangladesh and Malaysia. We also reviewed our key achievements from 2025 and shared an exciting new project announcement.
October 2025 NCWG Meeting - How Nature Restores Our Minds
October 27, 2025
This session featured Prof. Marc Berman, Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Environmental Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. Dr. Berman shared his pioneering research on how exposure to nature and urban parks impacts our mental health, offering insights into how built and natural environments shape cognitive and emotional well-being.
September 2025 NCWG Meeting - Epidemiological Insights into Climate Change and Mental Health
September 22, 2025
This session featured Dr. Robbie Parks, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health at Columbia University, who shared his cutting-edge epidemiological research on the links between climate change and mental health.
August 2025 NCWG Meeting - Microplastics in the Brain
August 25, 2025
This session featured Dr. Elizabeth Ryznar, who shared about her work on microplastics and their impact on brain health.
July 2025 NCWG Meeting - Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Dementia
July 9, 2025
This session featured Drs. Larry Junck and Ali Saad from NICHe (Neurologists Interested in Climate and Health), who shared insights on Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Dementia.
June 2025 NCWG Meeting - Climate Change and Mental Health in Guinea-Bissau
June 16, 2025
This session featured Dr. Claudia Santos, a climate change and development specialist at Upstand, who spoke about the impact of climate change on the mental health and resilience of migrant women in Guinea-Bissau.
May 2025 NCWG Meeting - How to Leverage Neuroscience for Climate Action
May 12, 2025
This session featured Dr. Kris de Meyer, the Director of the Climate Action Unit at University College London, who spoke about leveraging neuroscience for climate action.
April 2025 NCWG Meeting - Economic Insights into the Mental Health Effects of Air Pollution
April 22, 2025
This session featured Dr. Tamma Carleton, an Assistant Professor of Agricultural & Resource Economics at UC Berkeley, who shared insights from her work as an environmental economist on the mental health toll of air pollution.
March 2025 NCWG Meeting - The Intergenerational Impact of Climate Trauma
March 10, 2025
This session featured Prof. Yoko Nomura, a Professor of Psychology at Queens College, CUNY, who shared about her work on the intergenerational neurodevelopmental impacts of climate disasters.
February 2025 NCWG Meeting - Built Environment, Climate Change, and Brain Health
February 10, 2025
This session featured a presentation by Julie Hiromoto, FAIA, Partner and Director of Integration at the architectural firm HKS, along with two short talks by Viola Follini, Senior Project Manager at C40, and Dr. Sherif Goubran, an assistant professor of sustainable architecture at American University of Cairo, exploring how the built environment and urban planning shape the brain health impacts of climate change and how thoughtfully designed living spaces can be part of the solution.
January 2025 NCWG Meeting - The Neurobiological Basis of Climate Anxiety
January 13, 2025
This session featured a presentation by Dr. Joshua Carlson, Professor of Psychological Sciences at Northern Michigan University, who shared his research on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying eco-anxiety. We also heard from Dr. Kim Doell about her new project on how heat impacts cognition, and Ilayda Tuter about her insights into youth climate anxiety in Turkiye.
December 2024 NCWG Meeting - Climate Trauma and Mental Resilience
December 02, 2024
This session featured a presentation by Dr. Jyoti Mishra, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego, who spoke about her community-partnered work on climate trauma and resilience in California.
October 2024 NCWG Meeting - Climate Change and Mental Health Policy
October 29, 2024
This session featured a presentation by Dr. Alessandro Massazza, a senior policy and advocacy advisor at the United for Global Mental Health, specializing in mental health interventions in adversity settings. Ale spoke to us about mental health and climate change policy.
September 2024 NCWG Meeting - Effective Communication and Policy Recommendations for Climate Change and Brain Health
September 23, 2024
This session featured a talk by Clayton Aldern, a senior data reporter at Grist and the author of Weight of Nature, who spoke about effective strategies for communicating the intersection of climate change and brain health to a broader audience.
August 2024 NCWG Meeting - Social and physical exposomes in brain health, aging, and dementia
August 26, 2024
This session featured a talk by Dr. Agustin Ibañez, an award-winning neuroscientist and the Director of the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Chile, on exposomes and their role in brain health, aging, and dementia.
July 2024 NCWG Meeting - Climate Change’s Impact on Mental Health
July 22, 2024
This session featured a talk by Dr. Emma Lawrance, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford and the Director of the Climate Cares Centre, who gave us an overview of climate change’s impact on mental health.
June 2024 NCWG Meeting - The Effects of Heat on Cognition, Emotions, and More
June 24, 2024
This session featured a talk by Dr. Kim Meidenbauer, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Washington State University, who shared about her cutting-edge research on how heat impacts cognition, emotions, and more.
May 2024 NCWG Meeting - The Impact of Air Pollution on Children’s Brains
May 20, 2024
This session featured a talk by Prof. Frederica Perera, Professor Emerita of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University, who shared her decades-long research on the impact of air pollution on children’s brain development.
April 2024 NCWG Meeting - The Impact of Climate Change on Brain Health
April 22, 2024
Our inauguration session featured an introduction by Dr. Kim Doell, a group leader at the University of Konstanz, who gave us an overview of the state-of-the-science in the field of climate change and brain health.