SCIENCE COMMUNICATION BY SCIENTISTS: APPRECIATED! UMCG initiative: Marvelous Mind

The pilot fund ‘Science communication by scientists: Appreciated!’ supports scientists who are committed to science communication. The Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science has made one million euros available for this purpose. This fund is administered by the Academy. The pilot fund is in line with the new way of recognising and appreciating scientists, which has recently been introduced within the Dutch knowledge field. Science communication is seen as an integral part of an academic career. The pilot fund is one of the initiatives of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science to encourage science communication. Announcement of winning project: Without our brains we are nowhere: Our brains determine our behavior. And that is why research into brains and behavior is the spearhead of Brain & Cognition, a research institute of the UMCG. It would be a shame to keep that knowledge of the brain locked-up and that is why researchers Iris Sommer, Marie-José van Tol, Janniko Georgiadis, Robert Schoevers, Sander Martens and their colleagues decided to share their research on the brain with a large audience: the outcome was Marvelous Mind. Since 2019, the brain researchers talk about hallucinations, depression, sexual experience, psychedelics, attention and memory. Not under a beautiful suspended ceiling, but in the beautiful cinema halls of the Forum Groningen. Full houses guaranteed. They give a short introduction to well-known (or sometimes less well-known) films, and afterwards there is an opportunity for questions from the audience. In addition to the film program, Marvelous Mind has developed a series of podcasts: De Bovenverdieping (the upper floor), together with radio producer Jelte Posthumus. Those podcasts have already been heard more than 2000 times. This is why Marvelous Mind has received 10,000 euros from the Science Communication by Scientists pilot fund: appreciated! The money comes from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences. It is intended to stimulate science communication. From now on, much more brain science is coming your way!