We’re very proud that our Junior Research Fellows Dr Andrea Kusec and Dr Giuseppe Gava have been awarded the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences’ Public Engagement Award.
Giuseppe and Andrea present at the recent Making Memories event
Andrea and Giuseppe are being recognised for their outreach work in which they use interactive activities to educate children about the biological and psychological aspects of memory, through their Making Memories project. In collaboration with our Access team and Somerville Skills Hub, Andrea and Giuseppe do fantastic work getting children excited about the brain – and the possibilities of education.
The award was presented at the department’s Thomas Willis day on Wednesday 11th June. Held at the Mathematical Institute, Thomas Willis day is an annual event that celebrates everyone who works at the NDCN. Head of Department Kevin Talbot praised Andrea and Giuseppe’s work with Making Memories for its ongoing nature, and the fact that it is a collaboration across disciplines.
Andrea and Giuseppe being presented the Public Engagement Award
Andrea reflected that, ‘For me Making Memories is all about collaboration – between the undergraduate volunteers who supported us and have had their first experience of public engagement, to Somerville’s Access team and Claire Cockcroft for facilitating links with the Oxford community, and between myself and Giuseppe on promoting understanding of a common interest in memory from different research disciplines. At the heart of it is the rewarding (and very fun!) experience of getting young kids interested in science and hoping they leave the event with a bit of curiosity to understand the brain more.’
The first Making Memories event took place in October 2024, and was a great success, with 70 parents and children visiting Somerville to take part. This event was run in collaboration with Claire Cockcroft and the Oxford Festival of Ideas and Science, and was funded by the NDCN Public Engagement Fund. The event centred on the concept of memory, and how memory is measured both at the behavioural and neural level. It consisted of an interactive, child-friendly “Memory Zone” where attendees could learn about the brain and memory through creative ways, as well as two talks on psychological and biological aspects of memory in humans and animals.
Giuseppe running the most recent Making Memories event
Since this first event, Andrea and Giuseppe have pared-down “taster” versions of this event in partnership with the Somerville Access and Outreach team to secondary school students, and earlier this month ran a full repeat of the Making Memories event with St Frideswide primary school students, again supported by a team of brilliant undergraduate volunteers (Gauri Narendran, Scarlet Pleasance, Sophia Tan, and Ruoqi Tang).
Somerville was paired with St Frideswide when we joined Oxford Hub’s Primary Schools Twinning Programme in 2023 – a charitable initiative which pairs Oxford colleges with local primary schools that have a high percentage of disadvantaged pupils from diverse backgrounds. As well as providing student volunteers to go into St Frideswide to offer one-to-one tutoring support, the Somerville Access team organises a series of enrichment activities for the school such as helping out with the school’s biodiversity garden.
St Frideswide pupils at a student volunteer at Making Memories
The Year 6 pupils really enjoyed their visit to College for the Making Memories workshop, in which they got to learn about the brain and how it works. The students used playdough and pipe cleaners to model the brain, built their own ‘brain hats’ out of paper, as well as learning about different ways brain function can be affected.
Giuseppe commented that: ‘Being able to inspire such young minds and learn what excites them about memory and the brain is very rewarding, and I’m very glad that NDCN and Somerville see that too!’