March NUI Galway Celebrate Brain Awareness Week

University will hold ‘My Amazing Brain’ exhibition and International ‘Brain Bee’ competition

As part of the international Brain Awareness Week, staff and students of NUI Galway’s Neuroscience Centre will hold a public information exhibit ‘My Amazing Brain’ on Tuesday, 12 March in the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway.

Over 300 transition year students from local schools will visit the exhibit to learn more about how the brain and nervous system work. The exhibit will consist of interactive displays where our visitors will learn about the brain in a hands-on way.  For example, there will be stations exploring hand-eye coordination through mirror writing, colour perception, optical illusions, brain waves using EEG and brain cell histology using microscopy.

There will also be lots of general information and a quiz for the students to complete about the brain and brain disorders, via a series of large information posters prepared by the staff and postgraduate students of the NUI Galway Neuroscience Centre. The posters cover a variety of illnesses including: epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, pain, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, brain injury and spinal cord injury.

Additionally, the Galway Neuroscience Centre will hold the first ‘Brain Bee’ competition in Ireland. The International Brain Bee (IBB) is a neuroscience competition for secondary school students. Its purpose is to motivate young men and women to learn about the human brain, and to inspire them to enter careers in the basic and clinical brain sciences. The world needs future clinicians and researchers to treat and find cures for more than 1,000 neurological and psychological disorders. Transition year students from local schools will compete to become the Brain Bee Champion.

Speaking about the events, Dr Una Fitzgerald, Director of the Galway Neuroscience Centre at NUI Galway, said: “The Galway Neuroscience Centre has been a partner in the global ‘Brain Awareness Week’ event for over ten years. Organised by Galway Neuroscience Centre members during March each year, the importance of this outreach activity cannot be over-emphasised. With NUI Galway’s ‘My Amazing Brain’ interactive exhibition and the ‘Brain Bee’ general brain knowledge quiz, we aim to peak the public’s interest in all things relating to the brain and we hope to inspire the next generation brain researchers.”