"The Brain Society": The First Two Years of an Undergraduate Neuroscience Society in Northern Ireland

Abstract

The Queen's University Belfast Brain Society was set up in September 2018 to promote interest in the human brain. There were three main goals: firstly to provide opportunities for medical students to learn from neurologists and neurosurgeons outside their formal curriculum; secondly the Brain Society aimed to organise events that included students from other disciplines and to members of the general public who were interested in learning about aspects of neuroscience; thirdly to tackle neurophobia. In the last two years, there have been 14 events, ranging from formal lectures, to practical sessions and to patient-focused information evenings. We have sold over 1,600 tickets. This article covers how the Brain Society was set up, to inform students in other universities about the Belfast experience.