European Dana Alliance for the Brain

Brain Awareness Week

15-21 March 2004

Brain Awareness Week is a worldwide celebration of the brain that grows more successful every year. It is an opportunity to let people know what is being done to diagnose, treat and prevent disorders of the brain, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, schizophrenia and depression, which affect the lives of millions of people.

Every March, hundreds of public events to inspire interest in brain research are staged as part of Brain Awareness Week, to draw attention to what is being accomplished in scientific laboratories, and provide information about the brain that everyone can understand.

Download an event registration form

Brain Awareness Week is in its sixth year and has become a major international effort to communicate the achievements of brain research.

It is co-ordinated by the European Dana Alliance for the Brain and like-minded partner organisations.

"Brain Awareness Week 2003 was a tremendous success. Hundreds of events took place worldwide," says Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of EDAB, "Please help us to spread the news about the brain even further by participating in Brain Awareness Week 2004."

For information about this exciting initiative, please contact Lisa Cokayne-Naylor on +44 (0) 20 7937 8771 or email edab@which.net.

2003 Events

Please click on the map to find out what happened in your area:

In Austria, 150 schoolchildren attended an open day at the University of Salzburg and toured the laboratories. Brain Awareness Week posters were displayed across the campus.

Scientists from the University of Vienna visited schools and talked about drug addiction, psychiatric disorders and and fuctions of the brain with teenagers.

In Belgium, the Univesite Libres de Bruxelles was hosted a talk on New Tools in Brain Repair, which was given by neurosurgeon Prof. Brotchi.

Over 200 people attended the talk, which was was featured several times on Belgian national radio channel RTBF.

In France, the Société des Neurosciences and the Fédération pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau (FRC) organised events for the public in 20 cities across France. Events included

public forums, interactive exhibitions and visits by scientists to schools.

In Germany, the Deutsches Hygiene Musem in Dresden, held Brainpower: Test Yours, a family day with brian games and information for all ages.

In Mannheim, the Landesmuseum for Technology and Work invited an audience of people aged over 50,

to learn more about the peception of time and the power of memory.

In Hungary, the Hungarian Neuroscience Society co-ordinated a week of events at the Institute of Experimental Medicine in Budapest, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Szeged, the University of Debrecen and the University of Szeged. Events included open days, live radio debates and media briefings. Activities received widespread media attention and there were several reports in national newspapers.

In India, the Little Flower Medical Research Centre in Angamaly held a large public meeting in the hospital auditorium to launch BAW activities. These included poster displays around the town and an exhibition of brain models and brain function in a local park.

The Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran organised seminars to interest students in neuroscience as a career, an audio visual exhibition on the brain, a brain research poster competition and lectures on the brain and behaviour. They promoted these events to the Iranian media by holding a media launch at the university.

In Israel, Tel-Aviv University held a symposium for 500 educators, psychologists, parents and teenagers entitled Brain, Memory and Learning Difficulties. This event was supported by Ort Israel and the Israeli Ministry for Education.

The Israel Society for Neuroscience organised lectures for the public on brain research, which were given by 25-35 university professors from all universities in Israel.

In Italy, the Societa Italiana di Neuroscience co-ordinated events in cities across the country.

Events including conferences, public lectures, round table discussions, school visits and internet competitions were staged in Camerino, Rome, Milan, Pavia, Cagliari, Sassari, Genova, Bari, Macerata and Trieste.

In Japan, the Riken Brain Science Institute in Wako held events for high school children to inform them about the brain and brain research, which they hope will inspire students to study neuroscience and consider it as a career option. These events took place in schools accross the region.

In Poland, people flocked to hear about the Neurochemistry of Love, part of a series of public lectures that were organised by the Institute of Zoology at the Jagiellonian Universty in Krakow. In Warsaw The Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology organised public discussions, live radio debates and school visits.

In Russia there was a programme of events in St Petersberg on topics such as The Brain of a Terrorist, Scientists for Teachers and Parkinson's disease and neuro-transplantation. Events took place at various institutions, including the House of Young Creators, Institute of Experimental Medicine, I.P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Institute of Human Brain and the Petrozavodsk, Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg State and Pedagogical Mastership Universities.

In Spain, events in Alicante were organised by the Club Informacion and the Instituto de Neurociencias. Topics included Understanding the Brain and The Social Relevance of Neuroscience.

There was a conference on Neuroscience and Behavioural Biology at the University Pablo de Olavide in Seville.

In Sweden, Hjärnfonden, the Swedish Brain Foundation, instigated a national programme to introduce neuroscience to schoolchildren, and to teach them about the workings of the brain.

The programme, called Use Your Brain, saw brain researchers visit schools across Sweden and it proved very popular.

The Mental Health Information Centre of South Africa, launched it's events on topics including stress management, Alzheimer's, related dementias and depression, and introducing neuroscience, at a media tea. Memory talks & testing took place in retirement homes and a neuroscience crossword puzzle was published in a national magazine.

In Turkey the Eskisehir Chapter the Neuroscience Society of Turkey and Osmangazi University organised various BAW events.

These included lectures on War, Mental Trauma and Brain and Healthy Aging. Scientists also visited schools in deprived areas.

In the UK, events took place nationwide including AT BRISTOL's Do drugs do in your head? and The Dark Continent of the Brain by Professor Gordon Batho in Durham. There was a week of events at the Science Museum by Imperial College and a lecture about amnesia at the National Museum of Scotland. New partners included the

University of Surrey Roehampton and Glaxo Smith Kline, Harlow.

For information on Brain Awareness Week in Italian, German and French click on the flags below to view pages from the Swiss EDAB site: