Win a prize! Awkward acronyms in cognitive science

BBC News is reporting that Scotland has launched a ¬£40 million neuroscience research project called SINAPSE, short for ‘Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence’.

SINAPSE joins a long list of awkward acronyms in the world of psychology and neuroscience, and I’d like to launch a competition to find the most inventive.

These days, even research projects need a snappy title, and research teams are constantly coming up with ways of fitting the project description into a jazzy sounding acronym.

Some of my favourites include:

NEMESIS: Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Study
CUtLASS: Cost Utility of the Latest Antipsychotic Drugs in Schizophrenia Study
AESOP: Aetiology and Ethnicity of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses
FACETS: Fast Analog Computing with Emergent Transient States
NeuroproMiSe: Neuroprotective strategies for multiple sclerosis

If you know of any awkward, contrived or borderline inappropriate acronyms (I work in a mental health service called SLAM!) for anything mind or brain related, send them in.

They could be for theories, services, departments, projects or events.

Add your suggestions to the comments, or email them to me at V dot Bell at iop dot kcl dot ac dot uk with ‘awkward acronym’ in the subject line.

Points will be given for the most awkward or spectacular, and I’ll send the winner a copy of David Lodge’s excellent book Thinks, a novel about cognitive scientists.

UPDATE: Get your submission in before Monday 20th August to enter!