Wednesday
March 6th
Connection
How are people connected and what to? What connections do people ignore? Can connection be nurtured? Are we disconnected?
9.15am-9.45am
Welcome
Creative Brain Week’s daily start included a check in, a musical moment and the introduction of the Neuroscience Chorus.
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Neuroscience Chorus: we invited diverse experts to draw on their multiple forms of neuroscientific knowledge by reflecting on presentations throughout Creative Brain Week like a wise council or the Greek Chorus in drama. Alejandro López joined us on Wednesday.
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Creative Brain Week Satellites: said “Good Morning Good Evening” to thematically connect, locally informed programs emerging in Australia and India.
How were Creative Brain Week themes and the type of responses possible affected by context and culture?
- Creative Brain Week India – Jayashree Dasgupta with Anusha Yasoda-Mohan
- Creative Brain Week Australia – Kim-Huong Nguyen with Juanita Wheeler
Contributors
True to her mental health activism ethos, she is actively involved with the International Neuroethics Society and ethics research projects as well.
Holding a PhD in clinical psychology from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, she cherishes the privilege of listening to others’ stories as a therapist.
Website:
https://neurologyacademy.org/profiles/dr-jayashree-dasgupta
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/jayashree-dasgupta
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jayashree-Dasgupta
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayashreedasgupta/
Instagram – @dr.jayashreedg
Currently, an Assistant Professor in Neural Engineering and Brain Health affiliated to the School of Engineering and The Global Brain Health Institute. He strives to contribute to the creation of applicable and scalable methods and solutions to support brain health throughout the lifespan. His research focuses on applied neural engineering supporting, aging, sensory dysfunction and cognition.
Born in Mexico in 1987, he has a background in biomedical engineering, and specialized in neural engineering. He has industry experience in the fields of ophthalmology surgery medical device service and management, medical device design, and auditory assistive devices research and development.
He obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Engineering from ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico. Completed his Master’s of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Groningen and Trinity College Dublin through the CEMACUBE programme funded by the European Union. He holds a PhD in Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, specialized in neural engineering, from Trinity College Dublin.
Before joining Trinity College Dublin as faculty, he carried out research in the area of cognitive hearing sciences and brain hearing technologies at Eriksholm Research Centre in Denmark.
Websites:
https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=alopezva
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alopezvaldes/
X: @lovalab_tcd and @alopevas
Kim-Huong applies economic theories and methods to assess the social and economic values of healthcare and social services. She designs policies and programmes to optimise the value of health and social care and to improve equitable access and use for disadvantaged groups.
Her interests encompass brain health in older adults and those with brain injuries, as well as evaluation methods in Creative Health for resource allocation. She works closely with advocates, health and social service consumers, policy analysts, and researchers from diverse backgrounds, including medical professionals, artists, industry organizations, and peak bodies.
Kim-Huong is a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin and University of California, San Francisco. She holds a PhD in Applied Econometrics in Health from the University of Queensland (Australia).
Currently, she is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia) and leads the Health Economics and Health Services Research portfolio at the Queensland Brain Injury Collective.
Before her academic career in Australia, she was a development analyst for international agencies providing foreign development aid to Vietnam.
Kim-Huong is also a Global Atlantic Fellow with the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College Dublin and the University of California, San Francisco.
Websites:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/kim-huong-nguyen
https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/20210
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-huong-nguyen-64850663
Full & Frank’s Founder, Juanita Wheeler, is known for her strategic mind, her ability to inspire, and her trademark style of delivering insights and advice in a manner best described as comprehensive but blunt (or full & frank).
Juanita has over two decades of experience, devising and implementing strategic solutions for a broad range of organisations. She has amassed experience as a nonprofit CEO, a board member, a global marketing and market development specialist, a political strategist, political and corporate negotiator, speechwriter, speaker and speaker coach.
Juanita has been delivering speeches, presentations, pitches and keynotes, for more than twenty years, including her own TEDx Talk. So she knows what works, whether it’s in a 1:1 pitch meeting, in a boardroom with ten people or on stage in front of 10,000.
In 2013 Juanita left the multinational corporate world behind and formed her own company, Full & Frank.
Through Full & Frank’s online courses and coaching services, Juanita helps executives, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and changemakers to develop and deliver high impact presentations, worthy of their great ideas. This naturally complements Juanita’s side-hustle roles as the Executive Director of TEDxBrisbane, and an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Queensland, where she lectures in the art & science of presenting.
Juanita says “Bad presentations are the place good ideas go to die.” She’s determined to ensure no great idea is lost to the world due to an absence of strong presentation skills.
In addition to her years of experience, Juanita holds a Bachelor of Arts, an Executive MBA, a Master of Business (Philanthropy & Nonprofit Studies) and is currently completing a Master of Social Change Leadership.
Juanita is a Lifelong Fellow with the Atlantic Fellows program, managed by the Atlantic Institute based at Oxford University. The global program unites and supports fellows from across the globe, dedicated to accelerating the eradication of inequities for fairer, healthier and more inclusive societies.
Juanita is a (madly besotted) partner to husband Rob, proud mother of three twenty-something sons, dog-mum to Australian labradoodle Gromit, and a former teen mum.
An introvert by nature, Juanita likes to spend her ‘spare time’ watching TED Talks, colour coding her bookshelves using Pantone colour charts, and identifying native plants indigenous to her local catchment to plant in her backyard. She says she finds it relaxing.
In 2021, Juanita delivered a keynote address as part of International Women’s Day celebrations. Read the article based on her address here – 10 things I wish I had known a little sooner.
Websites:
LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/fullandfrank
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juanitawheeler/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fullandfrank/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullandfrank
Dr. Anusha Yasoda-Mohan is a Global Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health and a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience and School of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. She is also a trained classical Bharathanatyam and Bollywood dancer. In addition to studying phantom auditory perception using experimental psychology, neuromodulation and neuroimaging, Anusha is immensely passionate about the performing arts which enables her to resonate and collaborate with both artists and scientists. Her diverse and multicultural experience through her national and international travels as both a performing artiste and researcher shapes her persona and inspires her ongoing work of marrying the two seemingly different worlds. She is Director of the International Tinnitus Research Initiative Foundation’s dissertation and communication wing (TRI Academy), which strives to take tinnitus research and clinical practices to the wider tinnitus research community. She is also the co-developer of BrainFM – an education and awareness tool aimed at making complex concepts about the brain accessible through dance while also building community. Additionally, Anusha leads a community for people living with tinnitus in Ireland called Tinnitus Eire (www.tinnituseire.ie) through which she strives to bring a sense of community and belonging for tinnitus sufferers. These tie together with her vision to leverage the arts as a medium to both comprehend and communicate the working of the brain.
Google Scholar:
https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=GxPjtv4AAAAJ&hl=en
Social:
Instagram: @nushmo90
Facebook: @Anusha.mohan.39
LinkedIn: @AnushaYasoda-Mohan
10.00am-12.00pm
Technology, storytelling, connection, health. - Marshmallow Laser Feast
Evolving technology suggests we may be more networked and less connected. This session explored how technology, storytelling, and collaboration are changing our understanding of what Brain Health is, where, and how it can be nurtured around the world.
Hosted by Nicholas Johnson
Marshmallow Laser Feast
Barnaby Churchill Steel introduced the work of Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) an experiential art collective, whose work reinterprets the idea of human perception and experience. Employing a wealth of creative disciplines and underpinned by research, inviting participants to navigate with sensory perception beyond the everyday. Where is the line between where you end and the world starts?
Contributors
Barnaby Steel is an artist and creative director of London based studio Marshmallow Laser Feast, an experiential art collective, their work reinterprets the idea of human perception and experience. Employing a wealth of creative disciplines and underpinned by research, inviting participants to navigate with a sensory perception beyond the everyday.
This experiential art collective works in the liminal space between art, technology and the natural world.Their expertise has earned them a reputation for creating transformative experiences, expanding the senses, reinvigorating a sense of wonder and deepening audiences connection to the more than human world. Barnaby’s art practice combines a wide range of disciplines including sculpture, installation, live performance, and mixed reality. His work illuminates the hidden natural forces that surround us, inviting participants to navigate with a sensory perception beyond their daily experience.
Website:
https://marshmallowlaserfeast.com
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barneysteel
Nicholas Johnson is Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, where he directs the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies and convenes the interdisciplinary Creative Arts Practice research theme. His books include Beckett’s Voices / Voicing Beckett (Brill, 2021), Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing (L’Harmattan, 2020), Experimental Beckett (Cambridge UP, 2020) and Bertolt Brecht’s David Fragments (1919–1921): An Interdisciplinary Study (Bloomsbury, 2020). He co-edited the “Performance Issue” (23.1, 2014) and the “Pedagogy Issue” (29.1, 2020) of the Journal of Beckett Studies (Edinburgh UP). Directing credits include Virtual Play (2017–19) and world premieres of The David Fragments (2017), Enemy of the Stars(2015), and No’s Knife (Lincoln Center, 2015). He works as dramaturg with Pan Pan, OT Platform, and Dead Centre and facilitates theatre workshops internationally. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 2021.
Websites:
https://tcd.academia.edu/NicholasJohnson
https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/about/partners/beckett-centre.php
Social Media:
10.00am-12.00pm
Technology, storytelling, connection, health - My Brain Robbie
Evolving technology suggests we may be more networked and less connected. This session explored how technology, storytelling, and collaboration are changing our understanding of what Brain Health is, where, and how it can be nurtured around the world.
Hosted by Nicholas Johnson
My Brain Robbie
My Brain Robbie is an educational project with the aspiration of keeping young brains healthy and therefore reducing the impact of dementia. Beginning in Paris with the creation of an animated cartoon before embarking on a journey to Argentina via Dublin. Project lead Eléonore Bayen of University Sorbonne and neuroscientist Agustín Ibáñez explored this journey, and the nuances it reveals about connection, how healthy brains of all ages are affected by context and impacted by collaborative care. A fantastic initiative that continues to show how artists, scientists, activists and collaborators of all kinds can make the world a little better. Discussion panel included:
- Eléonore Bayen
- Agustín Ibáñez
- Alejandra Davidzuk
Contributors
A dual background in Neurosciences and Economics.
- Medical doctor with an expertise in neurology (Traumatic Brain Injury), in rehabilitation of cognitive-behavioral disorders and in the management of complex disability situations.
- Research on syndemic & synergistic patterns of social-economic and medical handicap (and associated formal and informal costs); research on the impact of multimorbidity in the process of loss of autonomy, including prediction-prevention of disability and of acquired vulnerability according to the ICF – WHO approach; identification of likelihood of dementia in population-based surveys. Author of >70 scientific articles.
- Implementation science to increase awareness in the domain of Brain Health and disability among children and the global public : https://mybrainrobbie.org
Website:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/eleonore-bayen
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eléonore-bayen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MyBrainRobbie
Alejandra Davidziuk holds a Lic. in Communication Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a M.A. in International Affairs from The New School, New York, with a concentration in social and economic development. She is currently taking a doctorate program in Social Science at the IDES-UNGS (Argentina). She has over ten years of progressive experience as journalist, researcher, project manager, and outreach officer with special focus on virtual and onsite communication strategies and community relationship building. This experience is essential to her daily work at the international cooperation field, where she is actively involved since 2007. She is currently the Outreach Manager at the Latin American Institute of Brain Health (BrainLat) at the Adolfo Ibáñez University (UAI).
Website:
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandra-davidziuk-1031251/
Agustín Ibáñez is a neuroscientist interested in global approaches to dementia and social, cognitive, and affective neuroscience. He is the Director of Latin American Brain Health Institute (BrainLat) at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (UAI) in Chile. He also holds international positions from the USA/Ireland [Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at the University of California San Francisco and Trinity College Dublin)] and Argentina [Cognitive Neuroscience Center]. Agustín holds a track record of +300 publications (+120 in the last five years), including top-ten journals (e.g., Lancet Neurology, World Psychiatry, Nature Reviews Neurology, Nature Human Behavior, JAMA Neurology, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Brain, Neuron). He has received funding from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), ANID (Chile), COLCIENCIAS (Colombia), DAAD (Germany), MRC (United Kingdom), CONICET (Argentina) and Alzheimer’s Association, Tau Consortium, GBHI, Takeda, and NIH/NIA (USA). He is the founder of critical regional initiatives, such as the multi-partner consortium to expand dementia research in Latin America (ReDLat) and the Latin American and Caribbean Consortium on Dementia (LAC-CD). His work has been highlighted in the BBC, Nature, Nature News, Discovery Channel, Popular Science, Daily Mail, Newsweek, Le Monde, and Oxford University Press, among others.
Websites:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6758-5101
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/agustin-ibanez-0
Social:
https://twitter.com/AgustinMIbanez
https://www.instagram.com/dr.agustinibanez/
Nicholas Johnson is Associate Professor of Drama at Trinity College Dublin, where he directs the Trinity Centre for Beckett Studies and convenes the interdisciplinary Creative Arts Practice research theme. His books include Beckett’s Voices / Voicing Beckett (Brill, 2021), Influencing Beckett / Beckett Influencing (L’Harmattan, 2020), Experimental Beckett (Cambridge UP, 2020) and Bertolt Brecht’s David Fragments (1919–1921): An Interdisciplinary Study (Bloomsbury, 2020). He co-edited the “Performance Issue” (23.1, 2014) and the “Pedagogy Issue” (29.1, 2020) of the Journal of Beckett Studies (Edinburgh UP). Directing credits include Virtual Play (2017–19) and world premieres of The David Fragments (2017), Enemy of the Stars(2015), and No’s Knife (Lincoln Center, 2015). He works as dramaturg with Pan Pan, OT Platform, and Dead Centre and facilitates theatre workshops internationally. He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College in 2021.
Websites:
https://tcd.academia.edu/NicholasJohnson
https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/about/partners/beckett-centre.php
Social Media:
12.15–1.00pm
Creative Brain Week Living Labs
Daily sessions offered attendees an opportunity to discuss, develop and reflect on the themes of the day through a practice of their choice. Dive deep with peers or try out a new-to-you way to make knowledge.
These sessions reflected the engaged nature of the event. Sessions were In Person only and included:
Sue Mayo – “Breaks and Joins”
Artist and a facilitator lead a creative daily session at Creative Brain Week informed by her work on the repair of our stuff, ourselves and our communities
Trudy Meehan “This is What Love Feels Like?”
Lecturer in Positive Health Science invited participants to explore art based research and practice by supporting participants to make body maps of their experiences of love and care in, on and across our bodies.
Mike Hanrahan – Music as Sense Making
As a professional musician with expertise in musical note, pitch, tone, rhythm, melody and frequency Mike’s long been aware of music’s ability to calm or stimulate. Newly informed by neuroscience he’s wondering how it can articulate the life of someone living with a diagnosis of dementia. If music reflects the first senses to form, can if reflect them as they change? This Living Lab was a practical journey in music and sound.
Marshmallow Laser Feast
Opportunity to experience the work of MLF which reinterprets the idea of human perception and experience.
My Brain Robbie
The My Brain Robbie team were working with Dublin schools who presented their learning through visual art, video, song and performance.
Contributors
A dual background in Neurosciences and Economics.
- Medical doctor with an expertise in neurology (Traumatic Brain Injury), in rehabilitation of cognitive-behavioral disorders and in the management of complex disability situations.
- Research on syndemic & synergistic patterns of social-economic and medical handicap (and associated formal and informal costs); research on the impact of multimorbidity in the process of loss of autonomy, including prediction-prevention of disability and of acquired vulnerability according to the ICF – WHO approach; identification of likelihood of dementia in population-based surveys. Author of >70 scientific articles.
- Implementation science to increase awareness in the domain of Brain Health and disability among children and the global public : https://mybrainrobbie.org
Website:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/eleonore-bayen
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eléonore-bayen
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MyBrainRobbie
Barnaby Steel is an artist and creative director of London based studio Marshmallow Laser Feast, an experiential art collective, their work reinterprets the idea of human perception and experience. Employing a wealth of creative disciplines and underpinned by research, inviting participants to navigate with a sensory perception beyond the everyday.
This experiential art collective works in the liminal space between art, technology and the natural world.Their expertise has earned them a reputation for creating transformative experiences, expanding the senses, reinvigorating a sense of wonder and deepening audiences connection to the more than human world. Barnaby’s art practice combines a wide range of disciplines including sculpture, installation, live performance, and mixed reality. His work illuminates the hidden natural forces that surround us, inviting participants to navigate with a sensory perception beyond their daily experience.
Website:
https://marshmallowlaserfeast.com
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barneysteel
Sue Mayo is a freelance creative artist and researcher, with a specialism in community based and intergenerational co-creation. Sue has worked with many arts organisations, including the Royal Court, The Young Vic, Magic Me, Tamasha, People United, The Lyric Theatre Belfast, Bealtaine, The Royal Albert Hall, Bristol Old Vic. Her own research-led creative projects include The Gratitude Enquiry, and Breaks & Joins, a project exploring the repair of our stuff, our selves and our communities. Her podcast, Breaks & Joins is now into its 5th series. Sue led the MA in Applied Theatre at Goldsmiths, University of London, from 2012-2022.
Website:
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sue-mayo-2714b116/?originalSubdomain=uk and https://linktr.ee/breaksandjoins
X: @sue_mayo
Instagram: www.instagram.com/breaks_and_joins
Dr Trudy Meehan is a Chartered Clinical Psychologist with over two decades of experience. Her career spans various life stages, from therapeutic work in Child and Adolescent Mental Health to neuropsychological assessments of older adults.
Currently, as a Lecturer and Director of the Professional Diploma in Positive Health with the RCSI Centre for Positive Health Sciences, Trudy is shaping the future of positive health practices. She is supervising doctoral candidates, fostering the next generation of thought leaders in the application of the arts for health and wellbeing.
Trudy’s innovative approach to research and practice, intertwines the arts with health, and wellbeing, underscoring the transformative power of experiential engagement. Currently delving into the nuances of positive emotions, her research offers fresh perspectives on harnessing our senses to enhance vitality and promote sustained purpose and interconnection. She has made scholarly contributions to the field of clinical formulation and diagnosis in mental health. Trudy has also published on topics such as, tools for positive health, the role of positive emotions, purpose and meaning, and the essential nature of play.
Her tenure as Director of Stanford University’s Overseas Study Programme in Cape Town was marked by her ability to weave connections across continents, integrating academic rigor with real-world applications through partnerships with NGOs, hospitals, and corporations. Her passion for asking the right questions, challenging the boundaries between art and science, and forging collaborative paths is a testament to her commitment to excellence in the field of arts and health.
She is a visual artist and creative writer who has curated and exhibited visual art at the National Arts Festival, Grahamstown, South Africa. She led an art studio and research project in collaboration with the late Mark Hipper from the School of Fine Art at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa. She has collaborated with the Drama Department at Rhodes University in co-creating a performance about trauma and community for the National Arts Festival. She has also trained in Forum Theatre with Julian Boal and continue to develop her work in this area.
Website:
https://www.rcsi.com/people/profile/trudymeehan
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trudy-meehan-phd-a1762b47/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trudymeehan/
It was 1977, Ennis and Doolin were alive with new music. He was in a room on the top floor of a house in Abbey Street creating a new sound with Maura O Connell. They were Tumbleweed. Stocktons Wing were creating a movement down the road on O Connell Street. It was exciting. Maura went to Nashville, he jumped on The Wing Wave ……. It has been a rollercoaster.
As an Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute at Trinity College he has been learning about Dementia and ways he can contribute as an artist to promote equity and care for brain health.
Websites:
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/mike-hanrahan
Social Media:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-hanrahan-66780946/
Instagram: @mikehanrahanmusic/
2.00-3.00pm
Collaboration and Connection
WHO, Jameel Arts and Health Lab and Lancet authors – panel discussion hosted by Provost Linda Doyle.
Taking place throughout Creative Brain Week was a unique assembly of authors of a five-part Lancet Global Special working in collaboration to articulate the measurable impact of arts and creativity on non-communicable diseases.
Crossing countries, expertise and strategies, the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, WHO and collaborators gathered in Dublin to focus on the conclusion of these articles: not just what the research shows but the change they aspire to make. This was an unique chance to hear fresh emerging outcomes of a ground-breaking collaboration. Discussion was led by Nils Fietje and Nisha Sajnani with guest writers collaborating on the series.
Contributors
Dr Linda Doyle was appointed the 45th Provost of Trinity College Dublin by staff and student representatives, coming into office on August 1, 2021. The Provost is the Chief Officer of the university responsible to the Board and ultimately to the State for the performance of the university.
She served previously as Trinity’s Dean & Vice President of Research (2018-2020) and was the founding Director of CONNECT – the Science Foundation Ireland research centre for future communication networks. Before that, she was Director of the Centre for Telecommunications Value Chain Research (CTVR).
Prior to her appointment as Provost, Linda was Professor of Engineering and The Arts in Trinity. Her expertise is in the fields of wireless communications, cognitive radio, reconfigurable networks, spectrum management and creative arts practices.
She has raised over €70 million in research funding and has published widely in her field. Linda has a reputation as an advocate for change in spectrum management practices and has played a role in spectrum policy at the national and international level. She has served as Chair of the Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board in the UK and has been a member of the Open Research Europe Scientific Advisory Board.
She was formerly a Director of Xcelerit and Software Radio Systems Ltd (SRS), two spin-out companies from CTVR. Linda has published extensively and has given over 100 keynotes and invited talks at various events globally.
Combining creative arts practices with engineering for many years, she founded the Orthogonal Methods Group (OMG) a research initiative in CONNECT that works in critical and creative tension with technology with the purpose of generating knowledges, insights and alternative research orientations across disciplines that are sometimes perceived to be mutually exclusive.
She serves on the Board of Science Gallery International (SGI), and served previously on the Board of the Festival of Curiosity, a STEM outreach activity for children based on a city-centre yearly science festival.
Linda has also served as Chair of the Board of the Douglas Hyde Gallery (2013-2021), as a member of the Board of Pallas Project Studios, KTH Sweden Scientific Advisory Board, and the Board of the Wireless Innovation Forum.
As well as her contributions to research and the arts, she is an active advocate for women in engineering and computer science. She has been involved in numerous initiatives such Girls in Tech, Teen Turn, and HerStory.
She holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering (BE) from University College Cork and an MSc, PhD, and PGDIP STATS from Trinity College Dublin. She is a Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and an Honorary Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
Linda is a native of Togher in Cork and attended Togher Girls National School and St Angela’s College.
Website:
Social:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-doyle-3602441a/
https://twitter.com/lindadoyle
Yazmany Arboleda (b. 1981) is a Colombian American artist based in New York City. An architect by training, Yazmany activates communities with large scale art projects that seek to build heart-felt connections that lead to meaningful relationships. He believes that art is a verb not a noun. Over the past two decades he has created public art projects with communities in India, Japan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Afghanistan, Spain, Colombia and the United States. He has collaborated with Carnegie Hall, the Yale School of Management, and the United Nations. He is a cofounder co-founder of limeSHIFT, the Future Historical Society, Remember 2019, and the Artist As Citizen Conference. He is the first artist in residence for New York City’s Civic Engagement Commission as well as the Community Arts Network.
Website:
http://www.yazmany.net/
Social Media:
X: @yazmany
Nils Fietje is a Technical Officer within the Behavioural and Cultural Insights Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe. He has a background in English literature and the cultural history of medicine. As part of the BCI Unit, he is leading efforts to understand how cultural contexts affect and interact with health and well-being, across the life-course and throughout the continuum of care. This work also includes a particular focus on arts and health, having published the first-ever WHO report on the evidence base for arts and health interventions. As part of this arts and health work, he is co-founder of the Jameel Arts and Health Lab.
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilsfietje/
Rachel Marshall is the Communications and Impact Manager at the Social Biobehavioural Research Group, University College London . The Group investigates how social connections and behaviours impact people’s health. Rachel leads on research communications and impact work for the team. Prior to joining UCL, Rachel managed influencing activities at a UK-wide homelessness charity, conducted policy research and evaluation in the public and third sector, and ran local community projects for social change.
Website:
Social Media:
Nisha Sajnani is the founding co-director of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, a collaboration with Community Jameel, the World Health Organisation (WHO), New York University (NYU) Steinhardt and CULTURUNN
Website:
https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/people/nisha-sajnani
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishasajnani/
X: https://twitter.com/NishaSajnani
Jill Sonke, PhD, is research director in the Center for Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida (UF), director of national research and impact for the One Nation/One Project initiative, and co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. She is an affiliated faculty member in the UF School of Theatre & Dance, the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, the Center for African Studies, the STEM Translational Communication Center, and the One Health Center, and is an editorial board member for Health Promotion Practice journal. With a specialization in the arts and health communication, Jill served in the pandemic as a senior advisor to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vaccine Confidence and Demand Team on the COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence Task Force.
With 27+ years of experience and leadership in the field of arts in health and a PhD in arts in public health from Ulster University in Northern Ireland, Jill is active in research and policy advocacy nationally and internationally. She is an artist and a mixed methods researcher with a current focus on population-level health outcomes associated with arts and cultural participation, arts in public health, and the arts in health communication. She is the recipient of a New Forms Florida Fellowship Award, a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship Award, a NISOD Excellence in Teaching Award, a UF Internationalizing the Curriculum Award, a UF Most Outstanding Service-learning Faculty Award, a UF Public Health Champions award, a UF Cross-Campus Faculty Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and over 350 grants for her programs and research at the University of Florida.
Websites:
https://www.onenationoneproject.com
https://arts.ufl.edu/directory/profile/1181
Social Media:
X: @UFCAM
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-sonke-72b85690/
Michael Tan is an arts-health practitioner, creative health researcher, artist, and educator from Singapore. My practice and research explore, interrogate, and imagine the future of care through creative practice to promote human flourishing. My current inquiries are concerned with mental health literacy, ageing, nature connectedness, compassionate communities, end-of-life planning and loss, health justice, and creative critical pedagogy.
My training in art and design, humanities, and social science has led me to develop a growing track record of interdisciplinary, cross-sectoral creative health research collaborations with colleagues within and outside of academia to transform the culture of care through creativity. I have served as grant reviewer, PhD examiner, guest editor and reviewer for international peer-reviewed journals for work at the intersection of Creative practice, health, and wellbeing, I also held appointments as external examiner and member of the advisory committee e.g. (Arts and Health at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital) and advisory board of Journal (Design for Health).
I am currently an Associate Professor in Art and Design at Lab4Living at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. In my current role, I have developed the new MA in Design for Health Programme (commencing Fall 2023) and am supporting postgraduate education (PhD & MA). I was selected from a UK-wide open call, to join the inaugural National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) GROW Mental Health Research Programme (Summer 2022 cohort), and was a visiting research fellow (Summer 2022) at the Centre for Arts, Design, Social Research for Cosmological Gardens: Cultivating Caring Cultures.
Notable contributions
- led seminal research on the State of arts and health development in Singapore,
- established the Arts and Health Repository Singapore, an active online resource documenting the development of the arts and health field in Singapore,
- developed a practice framework to foster a caring arts-health practice.
- developed and taught an interdisciplinary module on Arts, Ageing, and Wellbeing for the MSc in Applied Gerontology programme, School of Social Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Ongoing and recent projects
- When Seasons Change – Reflecting on end-of-life with nature & creativity (2022- Present).
- Dying Matters – a participatory performance exploring our struggles to talk openly about death.
- Gestures of Care – a creative movement workshop exploring the nuances in nonverbal aspects of caring and their perceptiveness.
- Care and kindness workshop – a creative-based workshop for mental health nursing students’ use during their community placement in schools.
- Art, Visual Literacy, and Dermatology workshop – a creative workshop for dermal clinicians involving visual art activities and visual art viewing
- Stories from the Pandemic – in partnership with Opus, Compassionate Sheffield, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield City Archives, and Lab 4 Living, the project aims to gather stories from the people of Sheffield to inform and strengthen the city’s memorial plans.
- collaborations include The Repository for Arts and Health Resources (Sidney De Haan Research Centre for Arts and Health, Canterbury Christ Church University), The A-health Project (Mcgill University- Nanyang Technological University), University of Sheffield Deepend PPI Network and Palliative Care Studies Advisory Group and Compassionate Sheffield.
Website:
Social Media:
Dr Martina de Witte is a leading postdoctoral researcher in the field of music interventions for stress reduction and is currently based at the University of Melbourne (McKenzie Fellowship). She has published several high-impact meta-analyses and reviews on the effects of arts-based interventions on various health outcomes and has presented at many international conferences. Prior to her academic career, she worked for many years as a music therapist in psychiatry and disability care, and these experiences shaped her direction within research. Her specific interest involves not only demonstrating effectiveness, but also increasing knowledge about why, how, and when interventions are effective.
Social Media
3.15pm - 4.15pm
Serious Games, Music, Synaesthesia, and Brain Health
Connecting across knowledge without oversimplifying or losing nuance is a challenge for ideas evolving into action.
This discussion between experts in Computer Science, Music, Mixed Reality and Medical Gerontology touched on play and processes that may ultimately improve understanding and health care. Speakers included Román Romero Ortuño, Mads Haar and Svetlana Rudenko.
Contributors
Prof. Mads Haahr is a true multidisciplinarian with computer science (PhD-level) as well as literature (BA-level) skills and a strong combination of analytical, technical and creative abilities. He is Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College Dublin (TCD) where he also serves as Course Director for the MSc in Interactive Digital Media (IDM) and conducts research, primarily into serious games with a focus on interactive digital narrative. He has supervised six PhD theses and 100+ Masters theses to completion and also acted as internal and external examiner for research MSc and PhD students. He has authored or co-authored over 100 research papers in peer-reviewed forums and co-edited 10 peer-reviewed volumes. He is the Founder, CEO and Creative Director for the award-winning serious game studio Haunted Planet Studios and also know for creating the Internet’s premier true random number service RANDOM.ORG.
Website:
https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Mads.Haahr/
Social:
X: @madshaahr
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madshaahr/
Román Romero Ortuño is Professor in Medical Gerontology in the School of Medicine and Consultant Physician in St. James’s Hospital, Dublin. In 2002, he graduated from University of Barcelona with a degree in Medicine, and in 2003 he completed an MSc in European Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has a music degree from the Conservatory of Barcelona. His basic postgraduate medical training took place in Manchester and London and his higher medical training in Geriatric and General (Internal) Medicine was completed in Dublin.
Between 2014 and 2018 he worked as a Consultant Geriatrician in Addenbrooke’s Hospital (Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust) and during that time he held an Honorary Visiting Fellowship to the Clinical Gerontology Unit of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge.
Prof. Ortuño is Faculty member of the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) where he brings clinical and academic expertise in frailty, dementia, delirium and comprehensive geriatric assessment. He co-chairs the Irish Frailty Network (IFN) of the Irish Gerontological Society. He is Board Member of the Geriatric Medicine Section of the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS).
His research contributions in the area of frailty have been recognised with the 2015 British Geriatrics Society Rising Star Award, the 2017 Count of Cartagena Award from the Royal National Academy of Medicine of Spain and the 2018 President of Ireland Future Research Leaders Award.
In December 2020, Prof. Ortuño was appointed as Associate Director of Postgraduate Teaching and Learning (M.D. Studies); and in August 2022, he was elected Head of the Discipline of Medical Gerontology in Trinity’s School of Medicine (2022-2025). On the 1st October 2022, Prof. Ortuño was promoted to the grade of Professor In Medical Gerontology. On Monday 24th April 2023, he was elected to Fellowship of Trinity College Dublin.
Websites:
https://www.tcd.ie/research/profiles/?profile=romeroor
https://www.gbhi.org/profiles/roman-romero-ortuno
Social:
A dedicated concert pianist and educator bringing a new feeling to the way in which sound, music, and art are perceived and experienced in new media. Key skills in understanding the nuances of cross-modal perception/synaesthesia and converting this knowledge into workable algorithms for multisensory design and digitally enhanced environments of MR/ AR for Education, Mental Health, and Cognitive Musicology.
Svetlana held a post-doctoral research position at Technological University Dublin, School of Electric and Electronic Engineering, EU_SHAFE https://hands-on-shafe.eu/en/news/electrical-electronic-engineering-interns-participate-eu-community-engagement-project and together with Dr Richard Roche (Maynooth University, Department of Psychology), she is Co-director of Music Consciousness Lab, collaboration which brought to life many projects for Brain Awareness Week (FENS, Dana Foundation awards). Currently she is the composer and researcher for Haunted Planet Studios and OpenAirGalleryAR, Augmented Reality games for education and cultural heritage, and DreaMR series of Mixed Reality experiences such as Alice Dali MR and De Chirico; Metaphysical Art MR, S. Rachmaninoff Mixed Reality Scenes: Six Preludes Op. 32.
Svetlana was awarded Doctorate of Arts from University of Granada, Spain, program Creative Audio – Visual Reflections (Ph.D. supervisor Prof. María José de Córdoba Serrano). In addition, she had three years on a Doctorate in the Music Performance program, Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Ireland, MMus in Performance from Conservatory of Music and Drama Dublin Institute of Technology, PG Dip in Interactive Digital Media from School of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin, and is a graduate of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine, Kiev. She was Arts Coordinator for International Association of Scientists, Artists & Synaesthetes (IASAS) and American Synesthesia Association (ASA) for Moscow Symposium 2019 and Scientific Committee member of the workshop “Detecting and Influencing Mental States with Audio”, INTERSPEECH 2019, Vienna, Austria. Numerous presentations at International conferences, including Harvard University, Cambridge Massachusetts, American Synaesthesia Association, Spanish Artecitta, and projects for Neuroscience Ireland and British Neuroscience Association BNA 2019, 2021. Svetlana is Music Curator for LA JTTS https://www.journeythroughthesenses.org/music/
As a solo and chamber musician (Nuevo Tango Quartet, Recital Trio, Téada), Svetlana appears regularly at JFR National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland, and abroad. She performed in the venues such as Helix, Farmleigh House, Bantry House, Cork Opera House, Belfast Festival, Killaloe Festival, Music for Galway, Boyle Festival, UCC Aula Maxima Ireland, Granada, Lisbon, New York, Kyiv, Moscow, Montreal, recordings including broadcasts for RTE Lyric FM, RadioRadio, BBC Radio3.
She lectured at DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama, CIT Cork School of Music, DkIT Dundalk Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music, Ireland, Wicklow Music Generation program, and taught piano at Bray Institute of Further Education Music College for 16 years. Her students won numerous musical awards in Ireland.
Websites:
https://www.svetlana-rudenko.com
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Svetlana-Rudenko
Social:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-svetlana-rudenko-7a568526
X: @LanaRude
Blue Sky: @svetlanarudenko.bsky.social
4.15pm - 5.15pm
Neurodiversity, Environment and Collaboration
Contributors
AlanJames Burns, (they/them) is a neurodivergent and environmental artist, curator and festival maker producing interactive, socially engaged and site-specific projects. The focal points of their practice are disability, climate change and the human mind. AlanJames Burns works highly collaboratively with other visual artists, writers, musicians, filmmakers and scientists through their projects.
Website:
https://www.alanjamesburns.com
Social Media:
Instagram @alanjamesburns
Suzanne Walsh is a cross-disciplinary artist and writer from Wexford. They primarily use
performative lectures, vocal explorations, audio/musical performances and text-based work to
query ideas around human/non-human relationships and consensus reality, often drawing on
the scientific world as well as more esoteric sources. Video, installation, and audio recordings
are also often used. They’ve published essays, and poetry in publications including Paper
Visual Art Journal, Fallowmedia, gorse journal, and Winter Papers, as well as commissioned
texts by institutions and artists. Their work has been performed and shown at galleries and
festivals including Galerie Michaelastock Vienna, TENT Rotterdam, IMMA, The Butler
Gallery Kilkenny, The Model Gallery Sligo, Between.Pomiędzy Poland, and The
International Literature Festival. Suzanne’s practice has been supported by Fire Station
Artist Studios, Arts and Disability Ireland as well as The Arts Council. Their vocal
performance work ‘BirdBecomeBird’ was recently acquired by the Arts Council for their
collection.
Website:
Social Media:
5.15pm–6.00pm
Reflection on Connection
Each day of Creative Brain Week drew to a close with active reflection through poetry and neuroscience with Morag Anderson, supported by Scottish Poetry Library, the Neuroscience Chorus and Autumn Brown and Amelia McConville of the Arts + Science Salon Podcast.
Contributors
Morag Anderson is a Scottish poet based in Highland Perthshire. Her debut chapbook, Sin Is Due to Open in a Room Above Kitty’s is published by Fly on the Wall Press (2021) and her second chapbook, And I Will Make of You a Vowel Sound, will be published in May 2024. Exploring the many contradictions of life lived in the female body, Morag’s poetry navigates womanhood and its attendant desires and abuses, permitting the reader to embrace the power and vulnerability encased in the female form.
Her poetry has appeared in literary journals and anthologies including Butcher’s Dog, Finished Creatures, Gutter, The Scotsman, Popshot Quarterly, Beyond the Swelkie, Cruinneachadh, and Best Scottish Poems 2021. The Scottish Poetry Library commissioned Morag to respond to the life and works of Nan Shepherd and Robert Burns.
She won the Aryamati Poetry Chapbook Prize 2023, was placed in the Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition 2021, the Edwin Morgan Trust Competition 2021, the Blue Nib Chapbook VI Contest, was twice shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize, won Over the Edge New Poet (2018) and the Clochoderick Prize 2018. In 2021, she collaborated with three other poets on How Bright the Wings Drive Us, which won the Dreich Alliance Chapbook competition.
In 2023, Morag was the Makar of the Federation of Writers (Scotland) and poet-in-residence for the Birnam Book Festival. She was featured poet at the 2022 Emily Dickinson Museum Phosphorescence Poetry Reading Series, the 2019 Yehuda Amichai International Poetry Festival in Galway.
Morag is currently working on her first poetry collection.
Website:
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/morag-anderson/
Social:
Instagram: @morag_caimbeul
Dr. Autumn Brown is a transdisciplinary postdoctoral scholar at University College Dublin. She has published across numerous fields including science education, science and society, and equitable access to education. Her research interests include the history of scientific knowledge and immigration, cold war art-science innovations, and STEAM pedagogies. She is the co-founder and co-host of the podcast series, The Art-Science Salon. Her current work explores the transfers and transformations of knowledge regarding silencing technologies as part of the Spectres & Camouflage project at University College Dublin and transdisciplinary non-formal learning with the Science and Society research group at Trinity College Dublin. She holds a masters degree in Science Communication and Public Engagement from The University of Edinburgh and a PhD in Education from Trinity College Dublin.
Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/autumn-brown-558884139/
X; https://twitter.com/fairytalesci and www.twitter.com/ArtPlusSciSalon
Instagram: www.Instagram.com/dr.fairytalescience
Dr Amelia McConville obtained her PhD in 2023 from Trinity College Dublin, where she conducted interdisciplinary research on visual poetry and poetics with Neurohumanities, funded by the Irish Research Council’s Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship, and was jointly supervised across the School of English and Institute of Neuroscience. She is the co-founder and co-host of the podcast series, The Art+Science Salon, and is interested in public engagement and cultural criticism: she was recently involved with the inaugural Beta Festival in an assistant curatorial role. She works for DARIAH-EU, the European Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts & Humanities, and is currently based in Berlin.
Website:
https://www.tcd.ie/trinitylongroomhub/whats-on/details/2020/art-and-science-reading-group.php
Social media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amelia-mcconville-phd-874157138
X: @ameliamcconv and @ArtPlusSciSalon
Instagram: Instagram @artplussciencesalon
The Art + Science Salon is a virtual group where researchers, artists, thinkers, and revolutionaries come to share ideas. Co-founded and co-hosted by Dr Autumn Brown and Dr Amelia McConville, and originally supported by Science Gallery Dublin and the Trinity Long Room Hub, this evolving podcast and event series explores the ways art and science shape one another and society.
The website is under development and will be available shortly. You can connect on Twitter and Instagram.
In the meantime, the playlist of their previous recordings (2020-2021) hosted by Trinity Long Room Hub is available here: https://soundcloud.com/
Their most recent episode (2023) featuring Aisling Murray of Beta Festival is here: https://soundcloud.com/
7.30pm - Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College Dublin
The Tightrope Walker by Jenny Macdonald, presented by SoloSIRENs
With humour and humility, The Tightrope Walker navigates a woman’s journey through the chaotic and profound territory of illness and recovery. It explores the grief inherent in a serious diagnosis, as well as the community and characters who share in the journey. It is a testament to the care and connection we may find in challenging times.
60 minutes, no interval.
Wednesday evening’s performance was followed by a post-show discussion with artist and invited guests Maria Fleming of First Fortnight Festival and Phil Kingston of the Abbey Theatre. Nicholas Johnson hosted the discussion.
Supported by:
Contributors
Jenny is a theatremaker and facilitator. Her first solo play “Enthroned” premiered at First Fortnight Festival 2016 and has since been programmed by festivals and venues in Ireland and internationally including the Civic, glor, Town Hall, Galway, and the New York International Fringe. She is writer in residence at the Irish Hospice Foundation and was a facilitator for their Compassionate Culture Network 2021-2022. She is an Associate Artist with the Abbey Theatre’s Community and Education department and works collaboratively with the Abbey and the Royal College of Physicians to create drama-based trainings for physicians.
In 2019, she founded SoloSIRENs to amplify female-identifying voices and to explore more just, caring and sustainable ways of making theatre and living our lives. With SoloSIRENs she has curated two festivals and two symposia on feminist aesthetics and care. With SoloSIRENs Collective, she has directed original, devised works including ‘Dear Ireland III’ (Abbey Theatre, 2020), ‘Cessair’ (Civic Theatre/TCA 2021) and ‘Careground’ (SoloSIRENs Festival, 2023).
She lectures in Socially Engaged Theatre at Trinity College, Dublin, is a tutor on the New York University Masters in Educational Theatre, and a regular guest lecturer in Arts & Health at Central School of Speech and Drama (London).
Website:
Social:
Facebook: @solosirens
X: @solosirens
Instagram: @macdjenny/ and @solosirens
