Neuroscience Network Basel, University of Basel

Researchers from the University and University Hospital Basel shared their fascination for the multifaceted neuroscience field, exchanged views with the public. They discussed how the internal clock controls our sleep and how 24/7 society disrupts our sleep-wake rhythm, how the retina can be considered as an advanced part of the brain and how the brain works as the centre of social relationships. In this pandemic situation, the “Swiss Corona Stress Study” of the University of Basel analyzed how the changes in daily life affect stress levels and influence the psyche of many people. Finally we proposed the watch of „Das innere Leuchten”, a documentary by Stefan Sick, a positive view of what everyday life with dementia can look like, followed by a discussion with the director, scientists, doctors and nursing staff. Due to the coronavirus situation, the events were organised virtually for the first time.We did our best to individually help people not at ease with new technology to not be excluded from the event. This virtual version allow us to reach a new audience as more people from outside Basel and from Germany were attending the lectures. Students, medical staff and teachers used the informative evenings for further training and to learn about the current state of research. They could deal with the topics in their learning and teaching activities. The evenings were well attended, by a total of around 2200 participants, which often attending more than one lecture evening. The researchers were very pleased about discussions following the lectures. We’ve got many emails to thank us for organising this event, to ask if we could organise it more often and to suggest to continue offering a virtual version for next years.

The public is very interested in being informed of the advances in the treatment of diseases and especially related to brain aging. The exchange and the explanation of research allows to understand and to accept the development and the use of certain methods. This educational and informative aspect is very important, because our public is regularly solicited by politicians for the vote, the approval of texts that will directly impact the possibility of continuing to conduct quality research.

For a virtual event, you need more people involved every night than for a face-to-face event. There needs to be someone who can be contacted at any time by phone or email by people who want to participate and are having problems connecting. People who are unfamiliar with the use of zoom, for example, do not always dare to ask their question live, or cannot, depending on their computer (which may or may not have a microphone), sometimes prefer to write it down. It is therefore necessary to have a person dedicated to reading the chat and who can select the questions and pass them on to the moderator who leads the discussion.