03 Mar 22. Primary school public engagement

Dr Susana Muñoz Maniega presented at a primary school as part of a “Meet the Scientists” event, to explain her work in MR and the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936.

Dr Susana Muñoz Maniega, Research Fellow in brain imaging was recently invited to present at a “Meet the Scientist” event as part of a Science and Computing week at a local primary school.

Susana explained how we can take pictures of the brain via MR imaging, the basic principles of how MR works and its safety. Susana then introduced the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 by explaining how in 1947 all children aged 11 in Scotland participated in one of the Scottish Mental Surveys – a national survey of general intelligence conducted in Scotland in 1947.

Lastly Susana explained what her work involves: looking at the brains of the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 participants to investigate how the brain changes in older age, particularly how the brains ‘wiring’ is affected, and how this could be related to the slowing down of the mental skills in older people. Susana showed some videos illustrating some of the findings from the MR data and gave the class some tips on how to keep their brains active and healthy. Susana rounded off the presentation by also challenging the class with some fun quizzes, such as showing MR images of fruit, veg and chocolate bars that the children had to guess what was what.

We asked Susana why she thinks it is important to engage with school children regarding research.

“Even though this was a complicated topic, the children were very engaged and fascinated by the images. They have not studied the brain at school yet, but they are aware of its important role and they were extremely curious about how it works and about what they can do to keep their brains healthy.

I thought the event incited curiosity about the brain in these young children and hopefully provided some inspiration for future scientists!”