2 Introduction

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The review board comprised three senior scientists from different neuroscientific research areas (Proffs. Menini, Simon, and Jäncke). Prof. Dr. Anna Menini is currently director of the neurobiological institute at the Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati in Trieste, Italy. Her main research is the neurobiology of olfaction. Prof. Dr. Sidney Simon is professor emeritus from the Duke University in Durham, USA. His lab is well-known for studying the basic neurobiological underpinnings of gustatory neurobiology. Prof. Lutz Jäncke is director of the department of neuropsychology at the University Zurich. He is also scientific director of the University Research Priority Research Program “Dynamic of Healthy Aging”. All three members of the review board have extensive experience in supervising Ph.D. students and in running Ph.D. programs at their universities.
The evaluation of the review board is based on the several documents describing the Ph.D. program, a site visit of the neuroscience institutes from May 9th to 10th in Geneva, and intensive discussion with the review board. As documents the review board has received a comprehensive self-evaluation from the neuroscience doctoral school (Self-Evaluation Report of the Lemanic Neuroscience Doctoral School), a detailed schedule for the site visit, and several papers explaining the general policy for such kinds of evaluations.
The review board conducted the site visit in Geneva from May 9th-10th. During the site visit the review board met various stakeholders of this program (scientific and managing directors, PIs from different labs, several Ph.D. students and alumni of the Ph.D. program). In addition, the review board inspected several labs as well as the new Biotec lab with the new equipment for conducting cognitive neuroscience and clinical neuroscience research.
During the breaks between the different site visit sessions, the review board found enough opportunities and time to discuss and process the different information. This information has been further elaborated by mutual information exchange via email and Skype.