M. R. Bennett AO is Emeritus Professor of Neuroscience and University Chair at the University of Sydney, Founding Director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute, and Chair of the Mind and Neuroscience-Thompson Institute. He is the author and co-author of numerous books, including The Idea of Consciousness, History of the Synapse, History of Cognitive Neuroscience, and Stress, Trauma and Synaptic Plasticity. He is past President of the International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience and of the Australian Neuroscience Society.