Kids gear up for Neuroscience Festival
Schoolchildren visiting LJMU School of Psychology got to see how nervous they were – literally!
The 16 and 17-year-olds enjoyed two Neuroscience Outreach Days as part of LJMU’s support for the Bring Your Own Brain programme for the 2025 Festival of Neuroscience.
They took part in a series of interactive ‘brain’ lessons, exploring the skin senses underlying perceptions of touch and pain, discovered the amazing speed of messages via nerve fibres, and even got to see their own nerves using ultrasound!
LJMU welcomed more than 60 A Level students of Biology and Chemistry from Liverpool College, Archbishop Blanch CofE, Calderstones School, Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School, Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School, Manchester, King David, Cronton Sixth Form and Riverside College.
Liverpool Neuroscience Group chair, who organised the event with outreach manager Mariama Balde Djaura, was supported by the LJMU MSc Brain and Behaviour Team with PhD and MSc students in the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences.
The youngsters learned about brain anatomy, the structure of neurons (the brain’s building blocks) and viewed oxytocin neurons under a microscope.
The students also are invited to attend the Festival of Neuroscience conference itself as guests!
'An exciting array of public events at venues across the city'
Speaking about the wider Bring Your Own Brain festival, Dr Susannah Walker, a Reader in Behavioural Neuroscience in LJMU’s School of Psychology and curator of the month-long public programme, said: “We are bringing neuroscience out of the university laboratories and lecture halls and into an exciting array of public events at venues across the city region. What we want to do is inspire, entertain and engage people with the science of the brain.”
“What also amazing about the brain is that we now know quite a lot about how it is organised, and the processes that underpin key functions like vision, learning and memory. But there is still lots left to discover - new tools and technologies are helping progress understanding of neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, and Parkinson's and how can we treat them.”
Running through April, Bring Your Own Brain: Liverpool ranges from lectures and talks to exhibitions and interactive shows with some stand-up comedy and dance thrown in for equal measure.
Highlights include:
- In Touch With The Body: Through expert talks, live demonstrations, and interactive sessions, you'll learn about your sense of touch, pain and itch from the skin to the brain –at Shakespeare North
- Brain Science at Easter: A series of exhibitions on The Senses, Mind Craft, Neurodivergence and more – 5 -21 April at Eureka Science + Discovery Centre.
- Move Your body, Boost Your Brain: Dance Movement Therapy for Healthy Ageing – 28 March, Liverpool Lighthouse.
Bring Your Own Brain: Liverpool takes place in the run-up to the British Neuroscience Association’s Festival of Neuroscience conference coming to Liverpool’s Arena and Convention Centre from 27 to 30 April.
It has been made possible thanks to a strong partnership between the city’s universities, museums, charities, and other civic institutions, and support from official partner, The Queen’s Reading Room.
