By Dr Daniel Jolley, Lecturer in Psychology, Staffordshire University.
During this year’s Brain Awareness Week, the Department of Psychology organised an event called Psychology and the Brain.
Psychology and the Brain was an interactive evening where guests first enjoyed short talks from experts in the Department, such as how we measure brain activity and how Virtual Reality can trick our minds. Next, guests were invited to get hands-on with some of the latest technology in the Department – as such our Virtual Reality headsets, eye-tracking, EEG, driving simulator, and many other interactive demonstrations. We also had colleagues from Biology who joined us to run a demonstration for the guests. To end the evening, guests who had visited 3 or more demonstrations were invited to enter a prize draw to win some Love2Shop vouchers.
At the end of the evening, guests were invited to give feedback on their experiences… some of the comments are included below:
“A mix of information and interaction. Very enjoyable and well planned”
“Thanks for setting up so many different tasks to have a go at – very interesting”
“MINT”
“I’ve loved this, I learnt how the brain works and I played on a game and beat a 30 year old (Henry, age 9)”
“Fantastic evening. Great technology and amazing demonstrations”
“It was an amazing experience and will love to come back next year!”
Psychology and the Brain was only possible with the support of many staff and students throughout the University. Dr Emily Buckley, Head of the Psychology Department, who led the thanks on the evening has said:
“We love hosting these kinds of events as it’s great for us to be able meet members of the local (and not so local) community and introduce them to psychology, as well as specifically what we do here at Staffs. We welcomed a wide variety of guests from young children to those of the older generations, and from all different walks of life. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with people really enjoying the opportunity to get ‘hands on’ with our kit as well as the free cake and chance to win prizes.”
Highlights from the Psychology and the Brain event, including photos and videos of the evening’s activities, can be viewed by our ‘Psychology and the Brain‘ twitter moment (click here).
We are excited for our next public engagement event – keep your eyes out for advertisements!
The Department of Psychology at Staffordshire University offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Psychology at the University’s £30 million Science Centre in Stoke-on-Trent.
Interested in a Psychology degree? Come to an Open Day – for further details and to book your place at an open day please click here.
For more information about the Psychology degrees on offer at Staffordshire University please visit the below pages: