Brain Awareness Week 2022 #UoBBAW

The University of Birmingham will be hosting a celebration of brain research this year, in honour of Brain Awareness Week 2022. We'll be showcasing our amazing academics' groundbreaking research through a variety of public engagement activities on Saturday 19 March at the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) and on Sunday 20 March at the ThinkTank Museum.

Sunday 20 March at the ThinkTank: Meet the Expert

Memory and the Brain

• Led by Dr Catarina Ferreira, Evaluation, Research and Data Officer, Aimhigher, University of Birmingham

Brain basics (for up to 10 yo)

In this series of activities you will learn about the basics of the brain: what are the building blocks of the brain, what parts of the brain do what, why does our brain need to be squiggly…? You will be able to move around, paint, or connect the dots to figure this all out!

Can you make your memory better? (10+ yo)

In this series of activities, you will be able to test your memory and see how well you can remember things under different conditions. This will tell you a lot about how your memory works, and will help you understand different strategies you can use to remember things better. 

Using Fruit-flies for Brain Discovery

Led by:

• Professor Alicia Hidalgo, School of Biosciences
• Marta Moreira, School of Biosciences Reseach Technician
• Anna Parsons, School of Biosciences PhD Student
• with the participation of all Birmingham Drosophila Labs 

Come and discover with us the amazing brain of the fruit-fly Drosophila and why and how it is pushing research boundaries. We are scientists from the University of Birmingham using the fruit-fly to understand how the brain is formed, how it changes throughout life, how it works, how it enables us to make our daily life decisions, as well as what happens in brain disease and how we can learn to promote regeneration and repair. There will be displays demonstrating how we use fruit-fly genetics to address those questions, investigate cell biology and neural circuits in the brain. We'll show how fruit-flies enable us to link genes, neural circuits, brain health, disease and behaviour. We will show you a large fly and fly brain that will open your eyes to genetics and how the brain is built. We will teach you how to make your own fly brain! Come to talk to scientists and ask any questions you may be curious about!

Medical neuroscience: Neurodegeneration, brain trauma, tumours and trials

Led by:

• Dr Daniel Fulton, Institute of Inflammation and Ageing
• Dr Victoria Wykes, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences 

Unlock the secrets of medical neuroscience with neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, clinicians, clinical trialists, and allied health professionals from the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trusts.

Our experts will be available to answer your questions on brain injury and disease, and offer insights into neuroscience research, neurosurgery, brain-related medicines and trials. A range of hands on activities will help you discover how brain fluid protects your brain, why the brain is divided into grey and white matter, how neurones and other brain cells connect together to form circuits, and how different areas of your brain serve different functions. In addition,  students from the Medical School will be on hand to help school children learn about the STEM-related degree courses available at the University of Birmingham.