The Symposium of Western Australian Neuroscience (SWAN) recently brought together researchers, clinicians, and students for a full day of sharing ideas and the latest neuroscience research. Held at the T.L. Robertson Library at Curtin University’s Bentley campus, the event welcomed more than 100 attendees and was proudly supported by the Perron Institute as a diamond sponsor.
Dr Sarah Hellewell, Senior Research Fellow in Neurotrauma and Stan Perron People Fellow at Curtin University and the Perron Institute and deputy lead of the Neurotrauma research group, delivered the morning Plenary talk titled: ‘Traumatic brain injury: pathology, outcome and novel therapeutics’.
The afternoon Plenary was presented by Professor Caroline (Lindy) Rae, Chair of Brain Sciences at UNSW in the School of Psychology, a senior principal scientist and Director of Imaging at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA). Her talk was titled: ‘Quantitative mapping of brain activity with electrical conductivity imaging’.
Perron Institute affiliates were involved in sessions including: ‘Acquired brain injury and recovery’ by Andre Avila, Jacinta Thorne, Sophie Catchpole and Leah Dempsey, and ‘Behaviour, perception and outcomes in brain disorders’ by Jacinta Thorne, Reece Granger, Cassandra Brooks and Kym Wansborough.
Professor Ken Nosaka (Edith Cowan University) delivered a short session with a practical exercise for brain health.
The day wrapped up with a career panel session by Dr Liz Dallimore (Argenica Therapeutics), Dr Gill Gowan (General Practitioner and Sports Doctor), Dr Gurkiran Kaur Flora (WA Department of Health), John Fitzgerald (Curtin University) and Professor Ryan Anderton (University of Notre Dame Australia).
The SWAN organising committee includes Co-chairs Dr Hellewell (Curtin University and Perron Institute), Dr Chidozie Anyaegbu (Curtin University and Perron Institute), and Dr Li Shan Chiu (University of Notre Dame Australia and Ear Science Institute Australia), Treasurer Professor Jennifer Rodger (Perron Institute and UWA), Dr Stuart Hodgetts (UWA and Perron Institute), and from Curtin University and Perron Institute: Dr Debs Chaliha, Arazu Sharif, Amanda Jefferson, A/Professor Ryu Takechi, Isobel Thomas-Bland and Melissa Papini.
Prizes were awarded for outstanding oral and poster presentations. Oral presentation awards were given across three categories: Early Career Researchers (ECR), PhD students, and Masters/Honours/Undergraduate students. Poster presentation prizes included winner and runner-up awards open to all career levels.
Congratulations to all winners and the organising committee for creating an event that inspires collaboration and innovation in neuroscience.
For more info, visit: https://symposiumwaneuro.com/