Last week the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre took part in Brain Awareness Week, a global campaign to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. Staff and students at the SWC volunteered to deliver talks and hands-on activities to a range of audiences and highlight the research that is carried out here. 

On 10 March 2017, we joined Movement for Hope and several other UCL departments to present Rewired: the Brain, Art and Innovation. This public engagement event was packed with novel research, innovative technology and patient-advocates and artists.

The event aimed to raise public awareness of neurological conditions using cutting-edge arts, technology and neuroscience research. Some of the topics included neuro-technology, artificial intelligence, live dance and documentary featuring conditions such as Motor Neuron Disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis. 

Proceeds of the ticket sales goes to charity to support people with brain and spinal cord illnesses.

Members of the SWC Public Engagement Network took part in an inspiring evening featuring connections between neuroscience, art and health. Group leader Dr Adam Kampff presented a talk on enhancing intelligence with virtual reality, while others engaged audience members with our research, using a QR code stuck onto our squeezy brains.

On 16 March 2017, the SWC invited children from year 5 & 6 of All Souls Primary School in Fitzrovia to find out more about how the brain works. The children took part in a range of hands-on activities including jelly brains and an electrophysiology experiment.