Tenth anniversary of Brain Bee in Auckland

Tenth anniversary of Brain Bee in Auckland

Media Release - University of Auckland - 09 July 2016

The first New Zealand round of a global neuroscience challenge for secondary students will take place at the University of Auckland’s Grafton Campus on Thursday, hosted by the Centre for Brain Research (CBR).

In this week’s round of the Brain Bee Challenge, more than 39 secondary schools will field up to four teams of four students each with more than 155 students competing for the title.

This is the tenth anniversary of the North Island Brain Bee Challenge, hosted for nine years by the University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences and run by the CBR since 2010.

Auckland Grammar student and 2015 New Zealand Brain Bee Champion, Matthew Fulton was this week placed third in the final of the 2015 International Brain Bee Challenge in Copenhagen.

First prize went to Romania, followed by Canada in second place, in the global event hosted by the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS).

The Challenge aims to encourage bright year 11 students to get involved in science, and to increase brain awareness among students, teachers, parents and the community at large.

A record-breaking 26 nations participated in this year's programme, representing all six continents: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt (first year), England (first year), Germany, Grenada, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar (first year), Romania, Taiwan (first year), Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America.

“Matthew performed extremely well and placed third in the international Brain Bee competition, demonstrating that New Zealand Brain Bee champions can make it with the best in the world,” says North Island Brain Bee Challenge organiser, neuroscientist, Associate Professor Maurice Curtis.

“Matthew has worked hard in the build-up to the international competition and I am very proud of his efforts to come third out of 26 countries that competed,” he says. “The Brain Bee is a unique competition that allows students to participate in a competition about the brain with questions ranging from patient diagnosis, gross anatomy and theory about the workings of the brain.”

ENDS

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