The initial BrainBus team have recruited a large number of volunteers from different areas within the MRC CBU to take part in the visits, each taking on various different roles. The team have so far interacted with 100 key stage 2 pupils, across two school visits within Cambridgeshire which several more schools lined up over the coming year.

 

Volunteers from the Unit have enjoyed reaching out with schools saying “I think BrainBus is brilliant, the teachers seemed really grateful and the children were engaged. It is a very valuable addition to my work experience and I was really grateful for the opportunity.” 

 

Another volunteer said “it has made me think about how to communicate the findings of our research to not just a non-scientific audience, but also a younger audience.”

 

 

Meet our team 

Andrew HarlandMy name is Andrew, I’m a Research Assistant. My job is to help other scientists with their experiments. I do experiments to try and understand how people hear sounds. We want to try and help people with Cochlear Implants to hear better. 

Anna Kolesnik TaylorI am a new researcher at the department and I completed my PhD last year in London. I love being involved in BrainBus because I get to meet lots of new people and get to show everyone how fun science can be! 

Diandra BrkicMy research tries to understand how genetic disorders might affect children’s brain and behaviour. When I was young I thought I’d be a basketball player, then I discovered how much I like studying the brain. I’ve joined the BB because I enjoy working with children, you learn a lot!

Elizabeth Buchanan-WorsterI’m Lizzie and I am a researcher at the CBU. I study how what we see and hear helps us to learn spoken language. I joined Brain Bus because I love to talk with people about how interesting the brain is and to do fun activities.

Jade JacksonI am a researcher at the CBU and I do experiments to try and understand how our amazing brains work to allow us to focus on our goals and pay attention to things that are important to us. I love being part of BrainBus because I think learning new things about the brain is exciting!

Jonathon JonesI never thought I would be a scientist as a child but I was always interested in the human mind and behaviour. At 16 I studied Psychology at school and now I work as a researcher at the CBU in Cambridge. I research how the brain helps children to learn and do well at school.

Roma Siugzdaite

As a child I wanted to be a scientist. I thought that scientists are doing only mathematics ? Now I am using mathematics to study how our brain works. I joined Brain Bus because I love fun activities and children are the best in these games