Education and Outreach Working Group

The Education and Outreach Working Group is currently developing multiple complementary projects aimed at strengthening global neuroscience education, outreach, and collaboration. Our primary initiative is the development of a white paper that will examine postgraduate neuroscience training undertaken across the globe (led by the Australian Brain Alliance(ABA)). The aim is to synthesize different models of training the next generation of brain and neuroscientists, and to identify educational gaps that could be targeted in the future by the IBI – or other organizations — with the goal of promoting global competency in the brain sciences. 

Working Group Members
Our current members are few, as we are in the early stages of establishing people, but they are:

• Dr. Sarah Cohen-Woods, Flinders University, Australia (Lead)

• Dr. Bruno van Swinderen, University of Queensland, Australia

• Dr. Zul Merali, Aga Khan University, Kenya

• Dr. Kendi Muchungi, Aga Khan University, Kenya,

• Dr. Naznin Virji, University of British Columbia, Canada

• Dr. Pedro Maldonado, University of Chile, Chile

Working Group Activities

The Education and Outreach Working Group is exploring research and dialogue around the impact of social media on adolescent brain development, with two avenues: (i) a global workshop (led by the University of British Columbia) focused on the topic and how we can inform and protect our young people from the impacts; and (ii) an educational resource (ABA-led) on social media and the brain to enhance learning and engagement from 15/16 year old students, leveraging an established international neuroscience competition called the Brain Bee. We anticipate this resource to be applied to students across the globe through the international reach of the Brain Bee. 

Finally, the Working Group is also looking to support the Aga Khan University to create a globally accessible resource for culturally adapted mental health first response training.