Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
11
Year:
2022
Type of Events Held:
- Lecture/Briefing
- Online/Virtual
- Other
- Social Media Campaign
- Other: Podcast show
- Other: and a video about the brain entitled 'The Brain is Kind of a Big Deal'
Target Audiences:
- Elementary school students (1-5)
- General Public
- University students
Approximate Number of People Reached:
258 registrants to our webinars; 149 views to episode 1 of our student-led podcast; 10 views to episode 2 of our student-led podcast; 172 views to episode 3 of our student-led podcast; 176 views to episode 4 of our student-led podcast; 982 views on the video 'The Brain is Kind of a Big Deal'; and, 45 followers to our Twitter Account.
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
Our objectives were:
To join the Dana Foundation’s BAW campaign to foster public enthusiasm and support for brain science, in a way that was meaningful to Arden University (AU).
To generate more spaces for AU students, lecturers, and alumni who are passionate about brain science to interact and collaborate with each other.
To raise awareness of the link between psychology and brain sciences.
In order to do so, our program contained a mixture of lecturer-led and student-led events. Our lecturer webinars covered topics such as neuromyths, acquired brain injury, growth mindset and neuroimaging methods. Our student events focused on developing a podcast that explored the biopsychological background of stress; and, developing a video exploring the main functions of the brain which was intended for younger audiences.
We believe we have successfully accomplished our objectives as we had been working towards BAW 2022 since March 2021. During this year of preparation, as the lead organiser, I made sure to develop our participation in a way that was sustainable for everyone volunteering their time to BAW.
Having created a space for our academics and students to collaborate during BAW led to a greater sense of community for those of us interested in brain sciences. We greatly enjoyed participating in this edition!
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Advertisements
- Emails
- Mailings
- Posters/Flyers
- Social Media
Which of These Publicity Methods Was The Most Successful?
Resources
Which BAW graphic materials did you use in publicizing your events?
- Brain Awareness Week Logos
Feedback & Keys to Success
How do you feel BAW participation benefited your organization and the local community?
It helped raise awareness of the interest our students have in brain sciences. Our BAW webinars will enrich the biopsychological modules we teach. I designed the events so that they would be meaningful to our learning community and our School. Students who volunteered their time to designing their events were offered a letter of recommendation signed by myself and our Head of School.
The feedback I’ve received from students participating in BAW has been quite positive.
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
My one suggestion would be to merge BAW’s aims with your own. By this I mean, think of creating a week that will be meaningful and unique to your community (whether you work in a hospital, teach in an elementary school, or a university) as a starting point.
BAW can be a lot of fun if you foster collaboration between experts and novices in a given topic!
