Open Minds for Modern Mind Health

Researchers at the early stages of their careers from academia and industry came together at The Glasshouse, Innovate Cambridge for an afternoon of flash talks, open discussions and conversations focused on how AI can advance brain and mental health. The event brought together postdocs, PhD students, startup founders and industry researchers, all working across the brain health AI space and eager to exchange ideas, challenges and perspectives.

The open mic discussions were driven entirely by the attendees themselves. Participants proposed discussion topics, voted on the conversations they most wanted to have, and then collectively led the sessions.

The themes that surfaced reflected many of the major questions shaping the future of the field. One discussion focused on the relationship between academia and industry, including emerging models such as Focused Research Organisations (FROs), which aim to combine the scientific depth of academia with the agility and focused mission of startups. Another explored where AI can meaningfully accelerate progress in brain health, where human expertise remains essential, and what it takes to develop tools that clinicians and patients can genuinely trust. Attendees also discussed funding structures that support innovation without becoming a distraction, as well as the importance of open data and cross-institutional collaboration, sharing practical experiences of both successful approaches and ongoing challenges.

A huge thank you to our flash talk speakers, who each managed to deliver remarkable insight in just five minutes:

🧠 Zahara Gironés Delgado-Urena, From benchmark to bedside: closing the translation gap in brain health AI

🧠 Tracy Wright, Optimising high-performing minds for industry success

🧠 Matthew Cotton, Aggregation dynamics from post-mortem snapshots

🧠 Maya Gavin, Researchers shouldn't spend half their time looking for money

🧠 Dequn Teng, Funding the mind: investment dynamics in the brain health AI startup ecosystem

🧠 Nina Sobierajska, The fUSiON Project: wearable neuroimaging to map neonatal cognitive function

Together, the talks spanned topics from translational AI and neuroimaging to protein aggregation, startup ecosystems and the realities of building a research career today. The breadth of expertise in the room highlighted just how interdisciplinary the brain health AI landscape has become, and how valuable it is to create spaces where these different communities can connect.

A big thank you to the organising committee, Máiréad Healy, Liz Yuanxi Lee, Rachel Sippy, Angela Godoy, Ellen Ashmore Marsh and Alison Wilson, for all their work in making the event such a success. Thank you as well to the C2D3 for partnering with us on an event centred around early-career researchers!