Brain Awareness Week
As a neuroscientist and a longtime neuroscience educator, I love Brain Awareness Week! It’s coming up soon and it isn’t too late to organize a small event for your local community or even just to make it a fun topic of conversation around the house. (yeah, I know, I’m a nerdy neuroscientist and perhaps not everyone thinks that brain awareness is a fun topic around the house… but it is!!)
Brain Awareness Week is celebrated annually in the third week of March globally. Research and medical organizations around the world use this week to increase public awareness of the progress and benefits of brain research. This year it will be celebrated March 13-19, 2023.
The Data Archive For The Brain Initiative (DABI) organized the first Brain Awareness Week in 1996 in coordination with the Dana Foundation to bring together government agencies, academic personnel, advocacy organizations, and other professionals. The goal was to unite them with the common theme that brain research is the hope for treatments, preventions, and possible cures for brain diseases and disorders. Brain Awareness Week has grown as a global education initiative with more than 7,300 partners participating in 120 countries.
Brain research allows us to understand our biology and body functions better. This improved understanding can empower medical professionals to find ways to prevent or treat problems with the brain, nervous system, and other parts of the body. Beyond solving severe medical problems, we can also use our knowledge of neuroscience to solve the everyday challenges and live a healthy, happy life.
Want to binge-watch some neuroscience? Some of my favorite resources to learn and teach neuroscience concepts are
2-minute neuroscience videos by Neuroscientifically Challenged on YouTube
CrashCourse videos by Hank Green on Biology and Anatomy & Physiology
Ok, so you’re sold. You want to join in Brain Awareness Week to support and raise awareness about the significance of brain research and ensure a better quality of life at all ages. What can you do?
The Dana Foundation Brain Awareness Week page has lots of resources for all different ages.
You can download some brain-themed puzzles for your own family members, kids to adults.
You can use the tools on the site to help facilitate a community event or connect with an existing event nearby.
You can add these resources to a science event coming up soon. Lots of schools have community events to celebrate science (or STEM or STEAM) and you can print out these resources and create a brain awareness table.
YOU CAN CELEBRATE BRAIN AWARENESS WEEK ALL YEAR ROUND!!
While the third week in March is dedicated to brain awareness, the opportunities to share this information can occur anytime! Official events sometimes take place weeks before or after the designated week, and the materials are available all the time. Neuroscience may fit well at a different time of the year.
Want to talk about neuroscience with me? I have made a career of investigating and sharing fascinatingly useful information. I speak at corporate, community, and corporate events regularly. Check out my events page for links to some sample lectures, podcasts, and appearances.
