Event(s) Summary
Number of Events Organized During Brain Awareness Week:
2
Year:
2019
Type of Events Held:
- Workshop
Target Audiences:
- High School students(9-12)
- Middle school students(6-8)
Approximate Number of People Reached:
250
Details of Major Brain Awareness Week Events/Activities:
#TheSmellChallenge at Brain Awareness Week 2019 Dates and Duration: Wednesday 13 March and Friday 22nd of March, lecture + workshop Contact: Ann Van der Jeugd, Laboratory for Biological Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, KU Leuven, Email: ann.vanderjeugd@kuleuven.be I hosted a workshop for Brain Awareness Week 2019. Over 250 kids participated in our event. I first gave a short lecture about the brain, rodent research, and how olfaction can help us in unraveling neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Next, kids were invited on stage to take part in the Smell Challenge where they were blindfolded and had to recognize several smells, and tell them what they reminded them of. Finally, kids could ask questions about my research. Some questions were: “How can mice and animal testing help us find a solution for Alzheimer’s? How do you catch Alzheimer’s mice? Do mice really like cheese?” We’ve got a lot of positive feedback from the kids about the activity. They’ve indicated that they’ve learned a lot about the brain, neuroscience and Alzheimer’s research in general. I was featured in the national newspaper too and on several blogposts/twitters.
Event Planning & Publicity
Publicity Methods Used:
- Advertisements
- Calendar Listings (newspapers, radio, television)
- Posters/Flyers
- Website
- Social Media
Which of These Publicity Methods Was The Most Successful?
Resources
What downloadable materials from the Foundation did you use for your events?
- The Five Senses Coloring Sheets
What other downloadable materials would you like the Foundation to provide?
- Activities/Experiments
Which BAW graphic materials did you use in publicizing your events?
- BAW Flyer
- BAW Logos
- BAW Web site banner
- BAW Facebook Cover Photo
Feedback & Keys to Success
How do you feel BAW participation benefited your organization and the local community?
Kids were very enthousiastic about research and now I get many requests from schools to do my workshop during STEM course. This postitive feedback is very motivating for me to continue my research and outreach activities. I was featured in the national newspaper and got emails from PhD students to discuss a collaboration, so also professionally this had a positive outcome. The KU Leuven Facebook page shared my post and I got many likes so my visibility also increased.
Please share any suggestions or lessons learned that may help others plan future events:
Use social media, it really makes the difference nowadays!
Did/do you like our Facebook page?
Yes
Was the information provided on Facebook useful?
yes
