NBIA Colloquium: Kamilla Miskowiak

Speaker: Kamilla Miskowiak (NEAD Center, Copenhagen University)

Title: Cognitive Fitness: Why should we care and what can we do?

Abstract: Cognitive fitness is as essential as physical fitness, yet our brains rarely get the training they need. In this talk, I will reveal how our 86 billion‑neuron brain constantly adapts — and how targeted mental effort can sharpen memory, attention, and resilience at any age. Drawing on research in neuro-plasticity, psychiatry, and real‑life examples such as music training and London taxi drivers, the talk shows how everyday habits can strengthen or weaken our cognitive health. Participants gain simple, science‑based strategies to boost their mental sharpness and build lifelong cognitive reserve in an increasingly under‑stimulating world.

Brief bio-sketch: Kamilla Miskowiak has a degree in Clinical Psychology from Copenhagen University (2006) with a dissertation for which she received the University Gold Medal, a DPhil from Oxford University in 2008, and she became Doctor of Medical Science from Copenhagen University in 2018. She is now Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychiatry at Copenhagen University and Head of the Center for Neurocognition and Emotion Across Disorders (NEAD). NEAD's research focuses on identifying neurocognitive biomarkers, uncover brain mechanisms of cognitive impairment, develop cognitive screening tools, and large scale intiatives to promote cognitive health in psychiatric populations. Kamilla Miskowiak is the author of more than 300 articles in leading journals such as Lancet Digital Health, Nature Communications, and others. She has received more than 40 scientific awards and prizes for her research, including an ERC Consolidator Grant and a Lundbeck Foundation Fellowship.

Refreshments in the NBIA Lounge after the talk!