India
May 2024
India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India – a 1 day symposia with pre and post online engagement
Led by:
- Jayashree Dasgupta – Co-founder and project director of Samvedna Senior Care
- Anusha Mohan Postdoctoral research associate, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin
Summary: In a Country of 1 Billion People where do you start?
India’s rich cultural diversity is its foundational equitable resource. In its fast growing economy, this cultural heritage will provide a grounding point for people’s physical, mental, spiritual and brain health. The directors proposed to start a transdisciplinary conversation called “Brain Health India” a vision to place India’s indigenous and international expertise on creative arts, sciences and healthcare, at the heart of its brain health campaign. Using a participatory co-development process, they aimed to bring together professionals from medical, engineering and arts backgrounds, policy makers, community members including caregivers and students to encourage this transdisciplinary conversation in a workshop format. By involving participants in the creative process, the endeavour is to create a sense of ownership and commitment. The workshop focused on collaboratively thinking about the future vs existing problems/conflicts and developed a community of interest which is motivated to move the conversation forward through innovative ideas, projects and collaborations.
Learning:
India’s scale and cultural complexity means change takes time. This unique opportunity to make bridges across geography and disciplines is laying the ground for gradual development.
Botswana
May 2024
Gaborone, Riverwalk to Tlokweng
Kgotla in Ramotswa
University of Botswana
Online development sessions exploring Brain Health in East Africa, led to engagement with university and wider communities.
Led by:
- Lingani Mbakile-Mahlanza, Assistant professor and neuropsychologist, University of Botswana
- Ganzamungu Zihindula, Founder, Healthy Rural Societies
Summary:
We received further support from the International Brain Research Organisation (IBRO) Brain Awareness Week
Grant which aims to educate the public about the benefits of neuroscience research, and increase awareness about the brain by offering opportunities for outreach and awareness campaigns in regions challenged by a lack of resources, support and/or public understanding about the brain. IBRO funded us with an additional 1250 US$. The application to IBRO was prepared and submitted by Meron Abey and Sibusiso Vonder. Other collaborations included relevant government ministries and stakeholders such as the District Health Management Team from the Ministry of Health, Ageless Inspirations, and The Botswana Dementia Association (Pelonomi Foundation) – whose aim is to raise awareness about Dementia in Botswana.
Benefit to the people of Botswana and AI community:
The event created a platform for cultural and knowledge exchange among the community. Learning from a mixture of urban and rural communities from Botswana has benefits amongst which:
- Bringing the brain health perspectives from the global South to Global North AI community
- Using the satellite as an opportunity to test the feasibility and adaptability of the CBW in a different
context. - Lessons learned from the satellite will be shared with the broader AI community to expand existing literature on brain health in Southern Africa, and how diverse personalities and skills can work together to address the public health challenge of our era.
- Data, indicators, and grey literature on brain health in Southern Africa is lacking. The global Atlantic community will benefit from these raw data for their research, advocacy projects and designing interventions to promote equity in brain health (ie: OpEd in press).
- As part of the global Atlantic community ourselves, we believe that the other benefit is working toward achieving our goal for promoting a healthier society.
- The satellite benefited the Global Atlantic community by creating a resource that would help us in future for
similar work.
Australia
June 2024
3 days, 3 prestigious Brisbane venues:
- Cohort, The Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct
- Queensland Brain Institute
- Queensland Gallery of Modern Art
Led by:
- Kim-Huong Nguyen, Research Fellow, University of Queensland
- Juanita Wheeler, Founder, Full and Frank, executive director TEDx Brisbane
Summary:
Impact measurements included quantitative and qualitative measures:
- 94% would recommend CBWA to a friend or colleague
- 68% gave the event 10/10
- A Net Promotor Score of 71% in the top percentile
Qualitative data includes “I haven’t stopped talking about is since he day I attended” “The presenters were outstanding and the diversity was impressive. Having spent many years in the industry I can confidently say this is the best professional development event I’ve attended in over two decades”
There was also deep learning in the area where research meets communication, offering invaluable information for the peer group. The alignment of institution and cross -cutting audience was unique for Brisbane, enabling people to see the richness of locally available excellence.
Egypt
March 2024
American University Cairo
4 day symposia and outreach program
Led by:
- Mohammed Salama, Professor and associate director, Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, The American University in Cairo
- Shaimaa El-Jaafary, Associate professor, department of neurology, Cairo University
Summary:
The number of registered attendees and those onsite exceeded 500. Most of them joined the whole event, however, others joined selective days. The feedback varied among the structure of audiences. We had high school students, undergraduate students, graduate students and researchers along with public persons of different degrees of education.
The most common feedback was the surprise that the topic “Neuroscience “ can involve different disciplines and the feeling that arts can play a role. This was a game changer for many of them, even researchers, to
see how art can be engaging and motivating.
The diversity of the events helped each one to explore unexplored areas. So scientists came to know more about policy, artists get to know more about basics of neuroscience, lay persons learned about the fascinating facts of brain health and how to promote it.
This event was a trigger to connect different players. Now the AUC-IGHHE is interested in working with the National Health and Art Week and started thinking on how to support and contribute to.
Additionally, several NGOs working in relevant areas came together and knew about others work e.g. Golden Year Foundation, Shamseya for Mental Health….
Challenges are big, but we dream to continue supporting those who dreamed, those who were connected to CBW concept and will continue to do!
It was an exciting news release during the Creative Brain Week to announce the strategic partnership between the AUC, UCL and the Davos Alzheimer’s Collaborative (DAC). It was inspiring to tell young and emerging audiences that sometimes dreams can come true!
– Mohamed Salama
Singapore
October 2024
La Salle College of the Arts, and off campus venues
Led by:
Dr Cissie Fu, Head, McNally School of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Singapore
Summary:
A five day symposia of presentations, workshops and encounters.
This initial Creative Brain Week explored foundations for future collaboration between La Salle College of the Arts and the Global Brain Health Institute in Trinity College Dublin, which have the potential in time to engage further with regional partners like the Atlantic Fellowship for Health Equity in South East Asia.
Opened by guest of honour Prof Ng Wai Hoe, Group Chief Executive Officer of Sing Health, and Dr Venka Purushothaman Provost of La Salle College of the Arts, the event featuring daily online and in person sessions. GBHI Fellows contributed online. La Salle Fine Arts faculty and alumni made connections with medical professionals in Singapore. Site visits took place to Enabling Village took place, alongside workshops, exhibitions and roundtables.
This was a rich exchange of knowledge and knowledge making processes, rooted in Creative Brain Weeks “recipe” for equitable development, GBHI Ireland’s knowledge of Brain Health, and the expertise of La Salle College of the Arts.
Argentina
February 2025
San Juan, Argentina
Led by:
- Agustin Ibanez, Neuroscientist, Global Brain Health Institute and Latin American Brain Health Institute
- Alejandra Davidziuk, Outreach Manager BrainLat Institute
Summary:
A two day symposia with local, national and international guests celebrating the end of Making A Way Out of No Way.
Creative Brain Week in Argentina marked the end of the first phase of “Making A Way Out Of No Way” A three year program led by BrainLat and the Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, supported by Atlantic Institute, with multiple collaborators working on strategy and delivery, to develop a pilot model for a Brain Health training program achieved through music making in underserved communities. This program used celebration as a strategy to mark key achievements, and its final festival was scheduled to coincide with the first edition of Creative Brain Week (CBW) in Latin America.
499 registrations, over 390 participants, 6 international speakers for the three activities (International Conference, First Brain Health Workshop for Music Teachers and music Festival), with 20 people connected through streaming. Additional support came from Direccion de Politicas para la Equidad del Ministerio de Familia y Desarrollo Humano to transport the children and their families to the festival.
The Ambassador of Ireland to Argentina attended, and The Ministry of Education from the Province approved a formal certification for the First Brain Health Workshop for Music Teachers. The Legislature of the Province of San Juan declared Creative Brain Week an event of provincial interest. Many community organizations took part, including three children’s orchestras, alongside companies (Los Azules Project and ATA Alimentaria) and public agencies (Ministry of Family and Human Development and Ministry of Health) who approached with proposals to continue the project. This event was followed by an approach to develop a similar approach program in Chile, and offer of support from NY University.