As part of the international Brain Awareness Week, staff and students of NUI Galway’s Neuroscience Centre are organising a public information exhibit in the Aula Maxima, Quadrangle on Tuesday, 11 and Wednesday, 12 March from 9am to 3.30pm.

Members of the public and children from local schools will have the opportunity to visit the exhibit to learn more about how the brain and nervous system work. The exhibit consists of interactive displays where visitors can learn more about the nervous system in a hands-on way.  For example, there will be various puzzles and tests of hand-eye coordination, visual perception, left/right handedness, creativity and many others.

Approximately 180 million Europeans are thought to suffer from a brain disorder, at a total cost of almost €800 billion per annum. At the event in NUI Galway general information about the brain will be available to visitors with the opportunity to learn more about brain disorders, via a series of large information posters prepared by the staff and postgraduate students of 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.

Information leaflets obtained from brain-related charities and organisations will be on display and available for the public to take away, such as the DANA Foundation, MS Ireland, Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland, Parkinson’s Association of Ireland, Aware (relating to depression), Chronic Pain Ireland, Shine (relating to mental health, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland, Brainwave (the Irish Epilepsy Association).

Microscopes will be available to view brain cells and brain tissue sections for those interested in seeing what a brain cell and brain tissue really looks like. Additional features will include plastic models of the nervous system, and even Play-Doh and colouring books for the very young.

The Galway Neuroscience Centre wishes to acknowledge funding from the National Centre for Biomedical Engineering and Science in NUI Galway, and the DANA Foundation.

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