Almost 150 aspiring neuroscientists from across Queensland will compete in the state finals of the Australian Brain Bee Challenge at the at The University of Queensland on Tuesday June 18.
Year 10 students from across Queensland will take part in a brain-teasing team challenge and neuroscience quiz to test their knowledge of the brain and how it works.
In the quest to be Queensland’s Brain Bee Challenge champion,
The event, hosted by UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), will feature Nobel Prize winner and Laureate Professor Peter Doherty, UQ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit Senior Lecturer, Dr Chelsea Bond, and 2012 Brain Bee champion Jackson Huang.
Brain Bee national coordinator and Queensland Brain Institute neuroscientist Professor Linda Richards said the competition gave students a feel for what a career in neuroscience might be like.
“Students selected to represent their schools and regions from around the state will explore the QBI facilities and be challenged in a fun and exciting competition,” she said.
“Neurological and mental illness account for a large proportion of the disease burden in our community, so we need to attract the best and brightest minds to take up a career in science.”
The 145 state finalists demonstrated their enthusiasm and interest in science in a multiple-choice neuroscience online quiz held in their school. They were chosen from 1020 teenagers from 55 schools.
State finalists will tour of the world-class facilities at QBI and meet with world-renowned scientists.
The winner will compete in the Australian Brain Bee Challenge national final at the Australasian Neuroscience Society Annual Scientific Conference in Adelaide in January.
The Australian Brain Bee Challenge is the country’s only neuroscience competition for high school students.
It is designed to test school students’ knowledge about a range of topics, including intelligence, memory, emotions, sleep, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke.
A total of 5500 students from 305 schools across Australia and New Zealand took part in the first round of this year’s competition.
Media contact: QBI Media and Communications Manager Mikaeli Costello, +61 4 01 580 685, mikaeli.costello@uq.edu.au.
