Neuroethics Canada, University of British Columbia

In line with the Brain Awareness Week (BAW) celebrations, Neuroethics Canada at the University of British Columbia was honored to host a series of lectures and seminars featuring Dr. Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD, FRCSC (Assistant Professor, Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto). Dr. Lipsman presented “Hacking the Mind: How Technology is Changing the Way We View our Brain and Ourselves” at the Annual Distinguished Neuroethics Lecture. Respecting the current guidelines on in-person gatherings, Neuroethics Canada hosted all its BAW events virtually through Zoom. The Neuroethics Lecture received more than 330 registrations and welcomed attendees from Vancouver, BC to those located across the globe (USA, Europe, Australia).Dr. Lipsman was also a featured speaker for the Neuroscience Grand Rounds at the Vancouver General Hospital and discussed “Breaking Barriers with Sound: From Glioblastoma to Alzheimer’s Disease”. To conclude the BAW celebrations, Dr. Lipsman held an engaging seminar with Neuroethics and Neuroscience faculty, researchers, and trainees about why neurosurgeons should care about ethics and why ethicists should care about neurosurgery.

In addition to spreading awareness about research in Neuroethics in the local, national, international and online community, the yearly BAW campaign gives the community a chance to learn and become more aware about cutting edge brain research, its social implications, important brain health concerns and what is currently being done to address these issues. It provides the opportunity for professionals and researchers to share their recent findings and to interact with those who are impacted most

We suggest that organizers plan well in advance (6-9 months) and execute a sound communications campaign plan. Make sure to tag Dana Foundation/Brain Awareness Week and sponsors social media accounts in posts to maximize online exposure. It also helps to mention speaker and institution accounts in the posts for dissemination in the announcement. Awareness of free, heavily visited community calendar pages and local event/lifestyle blogs also boosts the campaign strategy. Interdepartmental communication channels are highly recommended, as well, as we found them to be very effective in reaching out to trainees and their circles. A registration platform where people may RSVP for the event is useful to plan for attendance and catering. Given that the event is public and free, we estimate a 30% drop out. If using Eventbrite, take advantage of the free Facebook integration feature as this allows attendees to share and reserve tickets directly from their Facebook feed. It also helps to send attendees information on how to access the online event (i.e., Zoom link) immediately upon registration, if applicable, and through a reminder 24 hours and 1 hour prior to the event. Consider recording the virtual session for post-event dissemination. The virtual space gave access to interested event participants who might have not been able to attend otherwise due to their location. In effect, the online space engaged a bigger community to discuss the ethics in neurotechnology and neuroscience.

This year’s BAW’s Facebook posts were helpful and easily shareable to promote Brain Awareness Week, in general, and our own BAW events.