The Conditions of the Brain series involves three talks and a workshop to improve the contents on Wikipedia to do with the brain
The Conditions of the Brain series involves three talks and a workshop to improve the contents on Wikipedia to do with the brain. The first session will take place on 19 October, at 7 pm, at Sala Beckett theatre in Barcelona (Carrer de Pere IV 228-232). An initiative organized jointly by the Sala Beckett and the UOC with the collaboration of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, the association Amical Wikimedia and the Institut Cajal to promote critical thought on some unknown areas in science related to neurological pathologies.
These discussions are free to the UOC community, but you need to register here and show your UOC card. There will also be a workshop for researchers to improve neuroscientific contents on Wikipedia with experts from the free encyclopaedia. Vice President for Globalization and Cooperation Pastora Martínez is the project's coordinator. It perfectly fits the University's social and global strategy to build bridges between different disciplines and increase the general public's understanding of science. The aim, she said, is "to promote open knowledge with and for everyone by creating spaces and promoting processes for co-creation with members of society so as to increase the social impact of the UOC's research".
What is the relationship between the mind and the brain? What makes us more or less creative? How do some memory deconstruction processes start? These questions will give rise to a number of reflections by scientists together with experts from other fields. Conversations in which the audience will be able to take an active part by offering questions and thoughts.
19/10: "The Conditions of Creativity"
On 19 October, at 7 pm, the Sala Beckett will be hosting the first of the discussions on how the brain is formed, how it works, how it evolves over the years and how it changes with external interactions. In addition, an artistic creator will open up a debate on what creativity is, how it is generated and why it is not the same for everyone.
Taking part will be Diego Redolar, researcher with the Cognitive Neuroscience and Information Technologies research group at the UOC (CNIT); psychiatrist Xaro Sánchez, head of the pathology service at the Novadic-Kentron and GGz Breburg (Netherlands), scientific disseminator and visual artist; and José Sanchis Sinisterra, creator.
26/10: "The Conditions of Memory"
On 26 October, at 7 pm, the discussion will cover the different types of memory from the neuroscientific point of view. How it is constructed or why, for example, we have memories when we notice a familiar smell. It will also analyse the known causes of memory loss and some of the related illnesses. The discussion will also cover patient care and the need for research in this field.
Taking part will be Cristina Maragall and Luis Miguel Martínez, spokesperson and neurologist, respectively, with the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, and Diego Redolar again, neuroscientist at the UOC.
2/11: "The Conditions of Mental Suffering"
On 2 November, at 7 pm, the cycle will finish at the Sala Beckett with a discussion on the relationship between society and mental illnesses. Experts and a family member of a patient with a neurological illness will analyse patient care, and the stigmatization and taboos of these illnesses. It will also tackle scientific methodologies for improving the results of the research conducted.
Wikimarathon
EThe cycle will be completed by a workshop on 27 October -from 4 pm to 8 pm, also at the Sala Beckett- to contribute content in the field of neurosciences to Wikipedia: A Wikimarathon. Researchers and volunteers with the association Amical Wikimedia will focus for the day on creating new entries and improving existing ones in this free encyclopaedia. If you work in any field related to neuroscience -whether you are part of the UOC or not- and you would like to take part, you need to register here.
Exhibition of Ramón y Cajal's drawings
The series includes an exhibition of scientific drawings by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (Petilla de Aragón 1852 - Madrid 1934). Ramón y Cajal was a doctor and professor of histology and anatomy at the universities of Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid. In 1906, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine and Physiology in recognition of his work on the structure of the nervous system. A fundamental part of his studies was the drawings of neurons and neural networks that he made when making observations through a microscope. Indeed, this is what helped him understand the formation and functioning of the brain. Science and art hand in hand.
The series will also stage the debut performances of Marilia Samper's L'alegria and the translation of Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis. And the programme features three dramatic readings on the same theme. The first performance of the series is Nick Payne's Incognito, directed and translated by Mònica Bofill (9 and 10 October). Then you can see Oliver Kluck's Mein Name ist Programm, directed by Ferran Dordal (23 October), and Michael Mackenzie's Instructions to Any Future Government Wishing to Abolish Christmas, directed by Toni Casares (6 November). To close the series there will be a debate involving dramatists and academics as well as a presentation by Encreuaments, a theatrical research lab.