Society for Neuroscience Ottawa Chapter

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) Ottawa Chapter is an run by a group of passionate students volunteers who organize educational outreach events, community fundraisers, and academic and community knowledge transfer with the support of faculty and staff at Carleton University and Ottawa University. In recognition of their impressive achievements, they received the SfN Chapter of the Year in 2018!

If you want to know more about the SfN Ottawa chapter, visit their website and follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Outreach Education Events

• During Brain Awareness Week, students and faculty members visit local elementary and high schools to promote education and research about the brain through on-demand presentations.
• The SfN Ottawa Chapter hosts the annual Ottawa Region Brain Bee, a neuroscience trivia competition for Grade 10 to 12 students. The winner goes on to participate in the National Brain Bee and gets a chance to represent Canada in the World Brain Bee.
• In partnership with the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, SfN Ottawa Chapter organizes A Day at the Museum, where they run activities and demonstrations on how the brain works to museum visitors.

Community Fundraisers

• Every year, the SfN Ottawa Chapter collaborates with the Royal Ottawa Mental Hospital and the Ancoura Foundation to host the Brain and Mental Health Art Show. Local artists submit their work with an emphasis on the neuroscience and mental health. All proceeds go to the Ancoura Foundation, a charity that helps provides patients with mental illnesses stable, affordable housing.
• Lap the Gats is an event organized by the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Institute. Teams of students and faculty members participate in a biking race through Gatineau Hills to raise money in support of Parkinson’s disease research. Members of the SfN Ottawa Chapter volunteer to help organize and run the event, as well as race in the event.

Academic Knowledge Transfer

• The SfN-Sponsored Grass Lecture is a public lecture delivered by a world-class neuroscientist that highlights research within the context of pressing issues in our community once a year. Community members, students, faculty and staff from Carleton University and the University of Ottawa attend these lectures.
• In collaboration with the Royal Ottawa Hospital Research Centre, the SfN Ottawa Chapter helps organize the regional conference, The Young Researchers Forum, which brings researchers and clinicians to patients and their families. Over 350 people attend the conference every year.
• The Brain and Mind Institute Research Day is a regional meeting where basic researchers and clinicians present latest findings in brain disease and function. The event is organized through a collaboration between the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Institute, Carleton University Department of Neuroscience, the SfN Ottawa Chapter, and the University of Ottawa Psychology Department.