Brain Awareness Week 2026
In March 2026, the Brain Awareness Week campaign will take place all around the world. The aim of the annual event is to arouse interest and enthusiasm for brain research. The global campaign is organized by the Dana Foundation and Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).
In Düsseldorf, in collaboration with the Institute for Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, the Institute for Linguistics (chair of Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics) is organizing a two-day event to celebrate the brain research conducted by the Heinrich Heine Institute.
Participation is free of charge; registration is not required.
Program
Tuesday, March 17th 2026 (16:30 - 21:00)
House of the University: Schadowplatz 14, 40212 Düsseldorf
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Event page
| 16:30 - 17:55 | Activity | Exhibitions on Psycholinguistics and Anatomy |
| 18:00 - 18:10 | Welcome | Katharina Spalek |
| 18:10 - 18:35 | Talk | Kevin Tang What's in a slip of the tongue? Using articulatory-informed AI models to understand neurological disorders, intoxication, and second language accent |
| 18:35 - 19:00 | Talk | Cristina Cara & Laura Bartylla The expert brain – How experience shapes neural performance |
| 19:00 - 19:10 | Pub Quizz | Pamela Villar González |
| 19:10 - 19:20 | B R E A K | |
| 19:20 - 19:45 | Talk | Tejas Borkar Reimagining Brain Cancer Research: How Organoids Are Replacing Animal Models in Glioblastoma Studies |
| 19:50 - 21:00 | Ask a scientist and Exhibitions on Psycholinguistics | |
Friday, March 20th 2026
HHU Medical Faculty (ZOM II),
Moorenstraße 5, House 3, 1st floor, room: 007 + 008
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Program in German:
| 18:00 | Welcome | Prof. Dr. Katharina Spalek |
| 18:05 | Tour of the Gait lab | PD Dr. Jan Hirschmann |
| 18:25 | Talk | PD Dr. Jan Hirschmann An introduction to brain research |
| 19:00 | Tour of the Magnetoencephalography lab | Prof. Dr. Esther Florin |
| 19:25 | Talk | Dr. Jasmin Pfeifer Brain stimulation and amusia |
Program in English:
| 18:00 | Welcome | Pamela Villar González |
| 18:05 | Talk | Prof. Dr. Esther Florin Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's disease - what abaout adaptive stimulation? |
| 18: 25 | Tour of the Magnetoencephalography lab | Prof. Dr. Esther Florin |
| 18:55 | Talk | Dr. Jasmin Pfeifer Brain stimulation and amusia |