Brain Awareness
We celebrate Brain Awareness Week in March each year, hosting events that include people of all ages from across the region. Your brain is your mind is you. Just as there are no limits to the many facets of ‘you’, there is no limit to the number of ways we can think and learn about the brain. We aim to explore new ways each year, bringing in more and more of you.
- BAW2012
Inside 3D was an exploration of the science behind 3D technology including a movie screening. We celebrated London 2012 with the launch of the IoN Ambassadors programme and a sports themed public lecture discussing the Red Avantage in human competition. - BAW 2011
BrainWave combined talks, hands on activities and a musical performance around the theme of music and the brain at The Sage Gateshead. BrainLab, the interactive part of this event, was also taken to events at Newcastle University and the Centre for Life, giving even more people the chance to see their own brainwaves, listen to auditory illusions and ponder the ability of music to evoke memories. - BAW 2010
In 2010 the Institute of Neuroscience marked Brain Awareness Week with a number of diverse events and activities designed to get people thinking about the brain and neuroscience research in a fun and interesting way. - BAW 2009:
Plants in Mind . A public symposium exploring the fascinating ways in which plants affect the mind, in collaboration with Culture Lab. Napper at the Bridge at Tynemouth Station; artist Annie O'Donnell blends objective science with subjective memory in a light and colour installation. - BAW 2008:
Drawing on Consciousness. Artists, scientists, musicians and philosophers come together with members of the public to talk about what consciousness means to different disciplines; a joint venture with the Culture Lab. Scribing the Soul at the Customs House. Susan Aldworth digs deep into consciousness to produce artworks in print and film. She shows new etchings based on her collaborations with neuroscientists at Newcastle and elsewhere. - BAW 2007:
Brain Damage and Repair. The distinguished neuroscientists Dame Professor Nancy Rothwell and Professor Helen Mayberg give public lectures on radical new treatments for stroke and depression. - BAW 2006:
Seeing Heads at the Hatton Gallery. Three young British artists bring us new ways of seeing heads. Katharine Dowson and Angela Palmer create self portraits based on MR scans of their own brains and bodies. Claude Heath draws blindfolded, feeling his way around heads. Professor David Perrett talks about how we see faces. - BAW 2005:
What’s Inside My Head? Over 600 children from Northeast schools contribute artworks illustrating the thoughts, memories, feelings and biological stuff inside their heads. The original artworks, together with artist Naomi James’ animation based on these, may be seen in our online gallery. Learning materials for a schools workshop on brain awareness are also available.
