Although scientists have been studying the brain for decades, it remains an unanswered mystery. In view of the strategic significance of its theoretical significance and application prospects, western countries and China have respectively launched their brain projects. The establishment of the cognitive and brain science research platform will not only promote the development of education, science and technology, tourism and entertainment, smart cities, and artificial intelligence, but also improve the medical and health standards in Macao SAR. In 2018, the new leadership of UM made a strategic decision to establish a unique campus-wide program to harness and enhance the multidisciplinary research and educational skills of the entire university in cognition and brain sciences. This program was named the Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (CCBS). 

The CCBS consists of four platforms: neuroimaging, brain intervention, cognition and behavioral data collection and high performance computing platforms. The four platforms complement each other and realize the integration of multi-dimensional and large-scale data acquired from brain imaging, eye movement, behavior, physiology, clinical, etc., which can help reveal the neural cognition mechanism, guide the brain intervention, and achieve the treatment of brain disorders. The CCBS is the newest center in UM, which grew out of a program made possible by several research groups from Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, and Faculty of Science and Technology.