Brain health without borders

I have been invited to a panel discussion with the world-known physicist and co-founder of the World Science Festival, Prof. Brian Greene, on “the believing brain: neuroscience and the spiritual instinct”. This prestigious event included distinguished panellists with different backgrounds and attracted more than 800 audiences from different age groups as part of the World Science Festival- Brisbane (Past Festivals | World Science Festival Brisbane, minute of 3.27; Maryam Ziaei – World Science Festival Brisbane)

In my mission to translate our research findings to the public, I have been discussing my science with older adults. I participated in the Pint of Science in the ageing brain event ((5) Pint of Science Brisbane: Beautiful Mind | Facebook[1]) where we had a presentation in a local pub and discussed scientific evidence for how to keep our brain healthy. We had more than 75 attendees in one local pub which was a huge success for the program.

Since I started my position as a group leader at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, I have also been active in reaching out to the public. My first public engagement was for the library as part of the public lecture for the Royal Norwegian Society for Sciences and Letters. I had different demographics from both young and older adults at this talk and they were engaged in asking questions about how to keep their brains healthy and signing up to participate in my research afterwards (Maryam Ziaei: Emotion and aging brain | Facebook / Maryam Ziaei: Emotion and aging brain onsdag, 23. mars, 2022 kl 19.00 | TRD Events).  

I had a presentation for high school students as part of the Researchers’ night where I presented how emotions are made in the brain. I had a full auditorium with engaged students, more than 250 students, who stayed and asked questions following my talk for 30 minutes demonstrating availability of the  talk and materials for them (Researchers' Night - Program - NTNU)

Another highlight of my academic career was playing a part in a documentary in which we discussed how memories are made in the brain. In this part of the episode, we presented a task to measure memory of familiar vs. non-familiar faces to the moderator of the episode (shown below) while she went through brain imaging herself and shared her experience in the episode afterwards. This was aired on national TV in Australia on ABC catalyst. For the full program please visit Memory Matters : ABC iview / for a teaser see (5) ABC Science | Facebook)

Toward a mission of brain health without borders, I have created a course on brain and mental health in which I discuss the 7 pillars of brain health and provide evidence-based and practical tips on how to improve brain health. This was offered for beginner to intermediate levels for all ages on the Udemy website (Brain & Mental Health | Udemy) and has 4.5 stars rating and positive feedback on the content of the modules. You can find more information about it on my website too (Services – NeuroAcer). This course aims at diversifying my attempt to promote mental and brain health for the public, geared towards older adults, using easily available materials for all ages across different socioeconomic backgrounds.

I enjoyed talking about how to be a scientist and believer in this podcast. 

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ALBA Diversity Podcast | Alba Network

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As part of the Kavli prize week, I presented the work of four Kavli Prize Laureates of 2022, Prof. Huda Zoghbi, Prof. Christopher Walsh, Prof. Jean-Louis Mandel, and Prof. Harry Orr at the Dokkhuset. This popular science talk was meant to summarize and make the talk accessible to the public before the meeting laureates’ event at NTNU (Kavli Prize Week - NTNU).