Neuroscience, music and art, in a project of the UB which includes concerts, cinema forums and a video contest

Logo of NeuroUB.
Logo of NeuroUB.
Research
(11/01/2013)

The University of Barcelona starts the project NeuroUB: Neuroscience, Music and Art. It is an activity organised by the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C) and the Unity of Scientific Culture and Innovation (UCC+i) of the Communication Department of the University of Barcelona, supported by the Secretary for Universities and Research.

Logo of NeuroUB.
Logo of NeuroUB.
Research
11/01/2013

The University of Barcelona starts the project NeuroUB: Neuroscience, Music and Art. It is an activity organised by the Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior (IR3C) and the Unity of Scientific Culture and Innovation (UCC+i) of the Communication Department of the University of Barcelona, supported by the Secretary for Universities and Research.

NeuroUB is born to celebrate the designation of the year 2012 as the Year of Neuroscience in Spain by the Spanish Society of Neuroscience. The project is divided into three parts: the NeuroConcurs: "You, your brain and YouTube", the NeuroCinema and the NeuroConcerts.

Discoveries about the structure and the functioning of the brain show us the basis of human experience and behaviour. Therefore, neuroscience contributions have an important impact on the way we see ourselves, the relations that we establish with other people or the way we interact with the environment. These advances have more and more economic, social and culture consequences.

The project is funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the Secretary for Universities and Research from the Ministry of Economy and Knowledge of the Government of Catalonia.

 

NeuroConcurs: "You, your brain and YouTube"

It is a short film contest that aims at linking neuroscience with daily life aspects in order to remark the permanent action of the nervous system and the brain in our daily actions as a way to understand its relevance. Therefore, videos do not have to be based on scientific contents. They cannot last more than three minutes (credits included) and there is not a fixed genre (documental, fiction, animation, experimental, etc.). According to the rules four awards will be conferred: to the best video, to the most original video, to the best video made by an under 16 person, and to the most popular video.

Participation to the contest is opened and the participating works must be published on YouTube; the deadline is 1 May 2013. Participants must fill a form for each video registered. The filled form, together with the link of the participating YouTube video, must be sent to the UCC+i of the UB. The UB will show on its YouTube channel the videos after having undergone a validation process that ensures the participation requirements fulfilment.

The jury, composed by IR3C researchers, the UCC+i and staff from the Department of Communication of the UB will evaluate the originality, the relation between neuroscience and peopleʼs daily life, the clarity of the message and the difficulty of the scientific contents explained of the participating works.


NeuroCinema

This activity is composed by two cinema sessions that will be followed by an expert debate. One of the sessions is addressed to secondary students, and the other one to patients and associations of relatives of people who suffer neurological disorders.

The session addressed to secondary students will take place on 14th February. The film Rain Man, directed by Barry Levinson, will be projected. This film will show to those present what autism is and will make them reflect on the ethical and social aspects that characterise patients with mental disorders. The objective of the activity is to bring this kind of disorders to young people and make them become aware of the importance that research has on this field and the weight that the social environment has for patients.

The experts that will participate in the later debate, moderated by Georgina Pujol, reporter of the programme Quèquicom broadcast on Channel 33, are: Nina Gramunt, from the Pasqual Maragall Foundation; Antoni Rodríguez, from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL, UB); and Mara Dierssen, from the Centre for Genomic Regulation.

The session addressed to patients and associations of relatives will take place on 28th February. The documentary El mal del cerebro, directed by the journalist Antonio Martínez Ron, about the mental challenges of 21st century, will be projected. The experts that will participate in the later round table are: the director of the documentary, the UB lecturer Carme Junqué and the professor of the University of Deusto Juan Carlos Arango.
 

NeuroConcerts

They are composed by nine concert sessions in which a scientist, a musicologist and one or more musicians will participate. This activity, in which the Higher School of Music of Catalonia (ESMUC) collaborates, aims at highlighting aspects such as the connections between music and memory, perception and emotions; musical training and an increase of brain plasticity, or music therapy, among others.

The programme of the different concerts will be soon available on the project's website.