Outreach

You can keep up to date with our news, research, outreach events and other activities by following us on the Unit's Bluesky account or the Unit's LinkedIn account.

In partnership with Oxford Sparks, the Unit has made a short video documentary, The Symphony of the Brain, to engage the public with research carried out at the Unit. The video covers the fascinating world of brain waves, how they are studied in humans and animals, and how a better understanding of them could lead to new therapies for brain diseases.

You can watch the video on the YouTube channel of Oxford Sparks.

An annual event, Years 10-12 pupils from local secondary schools are invited to the Unit to see medical research for themselves. Our scientists put down their tools for the day, and talk with small groups of pupils about Unit research and what it’s like to be a researcher. We host a range of practical activities, such as using microscopes to spot different types of nerve cell and the connections they use to pass messages, or trying out magnetic stimulation of the human brain, or using computers and mathematical tools to model the interactions of nerve cells. We also lead interactive discussions around a broad range of topics, from how the electrical activity of nerve cells is recorded to why animals are used in medical research. Schools Day often leads to individuals coming back for periods of work experience.

The Unit champions several schemes that are designed to support secondary-school pupils progress into university degrees and careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM). As part of our innovative work-experience placement scheme, visiting pupils work alongside Unit researchers and receive personalised mentoring to gain practical skills and to learn more about key concepts and challenges in neuroscience and medical research.

If you are interested in a work experience placement with the Unit, please contact outreach@bndu.ox.ac.uk. Please note that the Unit can only host people who are 16 years of age or older. Any requests need to be received at least 3 months before the start of the proposed period of work experience.

Unit staff and students often talk about brain research at events held outside our labs. Our engagement activities include site visits to local schools and charity groups, as well as volunteering at science festivals, such as the Cheltenham Science Festival and the Oxfordshire Science + Ideas Festival, where we talk with diverse audiences about the brain, neuroscience and biomedical research.

The use of animals is vitally important for the Unit’s research. We are committed to communicating - in an open and transparent way - exactly when, how and why we use animals in our research. At the Unit, some of our research uses small rodents (rats, mice), and our work adheres to and promotes the exacting standards set by the regulatory frameworks that are in place in the UK and wider Europe. Most of our outreach activities provide opportunities for the public to learn more about and discuss research using animals. The Unit won Understanding Animal Research’s 2018 Openness Award in Public Engagement Activity, in recognition of our work in this area. The University of Oxford has signed up to the Concordat on Openness on Animal Research, and has also provided more information on animal research carried out at the University.

Our research is designed to provide important advances in the understanding of how the brain works (or its 'function'). This knowledge helps us to work out what occurs when the brain does not work properly (its 'dysfunction'), such as in diseases. The work of several Unit Groups is focused on human brain conditions. The Unit regularly host visits for people affected by brain conditions, so that they can gain first-hand insights into medical research in real, working labs.  Unit members also travel off-site to engage people affected by brain conditions. The Unit's outreach activities are sometimes coordinated with national charities, such as Parkinson’s UK. If you are interested in our Patient and Public Advisory Group, please contact Dr Melanie Fleming.

We aim to make the results of our research as accessible as possible. With this in mind, research papers published by the Unit include a brief summary in plain English. Our research papers and their summaries are available on our Publications webpage. We also make video summaries of key research, which are available on the Unit's YouTube channel.  The Unit’s research papers are published in an Open Access format. Open Access is about making the products of research freely accessible to all. It allows our research to be spread quickly and widely, and helps to increase the use and understanding of our research by the wider public, charities, business and government. Every research paper published by the Unit is also deposited on a freely-accessible public database (Europe PMC).

The Unit has established a Public Engagement Toolbox, a diverse collection of demonstration aids that are used by Unit members to help them communicate key concepts and technologies in brain research. The tools, which range from the model brains of numerous species, to real tissue specimens, several devices for brain games, and the custom-made “Brain Claw”, are free to use and also available to external researchers in support of their own outreach activities. For more information, please contact outreach@bndu.ox.ac.uk