FutureNeuro Researchers were offered the opportunity to host a series of Brain Health and Neurology Webinars for Educational Organisations and to avail of the opportunity to engage educators in conversations with scientists about their research. The vision here is to promote awareness and understanding of Brain Health and current research initiatives in FutureNeuro – initially for educational organisations and later for sports organisations throughout the country. Further objectives include developing FutureNeuro Researchers skills to translate their research into “plain English”. Collaborative initiatives such as these are designed to educate, equip and empower the general public to engage and become involved with research and bridge the gap between patients/people with lived experience of neurological conditions/sports participants, their caregivers, clinicians, neuroscientists and the public. Equally, such researcher led initiatives addressing both public patient involvement and education and public engagement are greatly promoted and encouraged in FutureNeuro.  One of our funded investigators, Professor Danny Costello presented a pilot webinar on epilepsy in both education and sports contexts.

The target group for the presentation was sports participants, educators, coaches, parents, FutureNeuro research community and members of the public.  This webinar provided FutureNeuro Researchers with a platform to share their knowledge and research journey in a collaborative way.  It also opened avenues for sports organizations and FutureNeuro staff to collaboratively develop and deliver Initiatives in education and public engagement going forward.

Reflective feedback was invited after the webinar. High rates of satisfaction were recorded from all of the participants with quotes from coaching participants as follows:

 “Outstanding presentation, great to see the fear factor taken from epilepsy and sport”;

“Brilliant presenter, broke down the content into such an understandable way, we could do with so much more of this”. 

A teacher/coach/hurler commented

“What a super presentation, everything was so clearly explained and all questions answered so well, I’ll be back for more”.

Feedback from a member of the FutureNeuro Research team “I really learned so much tonight from Danny, we need to create so much more webinars like this for the public. It’s this approach breaks down barriers between the research world and the real world.” 

The success of this initiative will inform the education and public engagement of FutureNeuro researcher collaborations with The Local Sports partnerships and sports organizations going forward.

Professor Danny Costello Funded Investigator, presents on Epilepsy in an Education and Sporting Context.