Student section of Serbian Neuroscience Society

During the Brain Awareness Week, we devoted our attention to the citizens of all ages. The youngest were learning about neurons, structures and connections of the brain in a simplified way. The workshop targeted for the youngest audience was called ”Sky full of stars” and it was realized with pupils from three different schools. High school students on the other hand, had the opportunity to discuss depression with the members of the Section. Depression is a topic we as a nation strongly consider stigma, and we hoped that we could lift the stigma of mental illnesses at least a bit which was the main part of the workshop named ”Depression is a prison, be free, you have a reason”. The goal was to encourage and support adolescents, for a successful passage through turbulent teenage years. We have enabled colleagues from different faculties to get to know the work of the laboratories. Laboratories were in the field of pharmacology, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, molecular neurobiology. For all citizens we organized an exhibition in the Gallery of Science and Technology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, as well as scientific – popular lectures. Lectures were dedicated to microbiota, brain death, vaccination, excitotoxicity in neurodegeneration, sleep in athletes, brain development from the angle of the child psychiatrist, psychologists and embryologist, synapses, neuroplasticity, etc. The exhibition was devoted to the development of the brain from embryo to death both thematically and spatially. We devoted a whole segment to the schizophrenia, within which we have exhibited artworks from the mental health institution that were made by people suffering from this illness.

The Student Section for Neuroscience supports every aspect of science promotion. We believe it is important for a wider public to approach research in the field of neuroscience. We are also very proud of the workshops with younger people and we appreciate every opportunity we offer to transfer the acquired knowledge about neuroscience. Also, the Brain Awareness Week is an exceptional opportunity to get to know people of similar interests and make friends.

This year, we collaborated with the Institute of Mental Health for the first time. The artwork created at the Institute was part of our “The life of Brain” exibition. We consider that the inclusion of patients suffering from psychiatric diseases is a major success this year. We recommend greater engagement of patients in the Brain Awareness Week.

The information was useful. We suggest short representation of Brain Awareness Week from all countries on your Facebook page.