BrainMatters Platform
Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Brain and Language, Maastricht University
The brain is the source of thinking, acting, and feeling. Changes in it can have major consequences, such as behavioural and learning problems, emotional disorders, and diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. The brainmatters.nl website – set up in 2011 by three former PhD students at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience – discusses recent brain research in an accessible manner. Researchers bring new insights in the field of brain science to a wide audience in a low-threshold, reliable, and accurate way.
Since its inception, the platform has attracted several thousand visitors a week. In addition to neuro-news, the website contains a database of articles about specialist terms. The main target group comprises anyone, from about secondary school age, with an interest in the brain. A number of popular TV science programmes, such as Klokhuis and Willem Wever, also make use of BrainMatters on a regular basis.
The grant from the Rewarded! Fund will give a new, sustainable boost to the platform, making it possible to support students and PhD candidates in writing new articles for the website.
Websites:
Brainmatters platform
Brainmatters – Illustie onder de loep
Brainmatters – Database
Coordinator:
Job van der Hurk, postdoc, wetenschappelijk manager
Other group members:
Tom de Graaf, universitair docent
Michelle Moerel, universitair docent
