What to expect from the Diversity and Inclusivity Committee at the 2025 OHBM Annual Meeting
Authors: Sharna Jamadar, Julia Kam, Leyla Khenissi, Nikitas Koussis, Kangjoo Lee, Lena Oestreich, Tilak Ratnanather
At this year’s OHBM meeting in Brisbane, the DIC is aiming to bring you three very different and ambitious programs. In our Roundtable, we’re excited to explore new technologies to increase accessibility in clinical and research MRI, as well as at our scientific conferences. In our Symposium, we’re looking forward to learning more about indigenous neuroscience from Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand). Finally, we’re excited to bring the popular Brain Mappers of Tomorrow, our signature science outreach event for curious young minds in Australia for the first time.
The 7th annual DIC symposium: First Nations People in Neuroimaging Research
Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand) have vibrant Indigenous populations with unique needs and interests in neuroimaging research. We’re excited to bring this fully Indigenous led and organised symposium to OHBM 2025 to learn more about neuroimaging in these communities.
Guy Cameron, a Wailwan training doctor and PhD and Jennifer Rumbel, a Gamilaraay academic and PhD from University of Newcastle will be talking broadly about their research program "Deadly Images". They aim to make brain imaging more accessible, inclusive and culturally safe for First Nations young people and families. Developing culturally appropriate multimedia content to be viewed within the scanner will help to build trust and relationships between the child, their family, and the medical team, which can improve the overall experience of the scan. They envision it leading to further benefit for the entire community, while supporting the closing the gap goals in healthcare. The project's outcomes will contribute to strengthening care integration by building multi-layered trust and relationships between the healthcare system, patients, parents and caregivers, and the local Aboriginal Communities. Showcasing their unique approach in this area of sorely unmet need, they will demonstrate how they approach imaging with cultural safety in mind, and how to make imaging safe and not so scary for kids!
Wendy Mohi and Leigh Potter, Māori researchers at Mātai Research Institute, Tairāwhiti Gisborne will present their research programs and showcase the incredible brain imaging research being done in Aotearoa NZ for local communities. The mild traumatic brain injury project aims to fill gaps in managing concussion and empowering clinicians to make a real difference in outcomes for those struggling with ‘invisible’ but debilitating symptoms. Methamphetamine addiction is a serious problem that can harm both the brain and heart. Researchers from Mātai Medical Research are pioneering the use of MRI to visualise the changes in the brain and heart caused by methamphetamine use.
Finally, the speakers will open space for a "yarning" Q+A around First Nations Australians and New Zealanders in research, from researchers themselves, to engaging with community, to consumers and clinicians, and their lived experiences. They will offer invaluable perspectives about their challenges and opportunities, and best practices when engaging with First Nations communities. Come along and join in what's sure to be an eye-opening, moving and very special session!
Figure used with permission from Guy Cameron. https://www.guycameron.me/posts/2745-reflecting-on-the-success-of-the-deadly-images-community-event
The 6th annual DIC Roundtable: Accessible Neuroimaging Research and Dissemination via Speech to Text Apps
In one of our most ambitious events yet, we’re excited to invite you to “participate” in our live “experiment” of increasing accessibility for people with hearing loss and people who have English as a second language participating in the OHBM meeting!
Hearing accessibility is a significant issue not only at conferences but also in the clinic. Radiographers report challenges with communicating with hearing impaired individuals, as well as for people who do not speak the predominant language of the imaging centre staff. This results in poor compliance and poor scan quality for those individuals.
By working with National Acoustic Laboratories, who have developed real-time captioning software, we will demonstrate the feasibility of real-time captions for hearing impaired and linguistically diverse populations. See this video below for a sneak peek:
In the second half of our roundtable, we will attempt to demonstrate real time translation from Chinese, Cantonese, and Deaf-accented speech. Come and hear neuroscience as it is translated to English in real time! This will be an engaging and interactive experiment as we see how adaptable this software currently is. In the future, we hope to be able to support all OHBM presenters to present in their preferred language, with real-time translation for the audience. Come and see what is sure to be either a great success or some lessons learned!
The 6th annual Brain Mappers of Tomorrow event: Scientists of today meet scientists of tomorrow
We are excited to bring Brain Mappers of Tomorrow, our signature science outreach event for children and teens, to Australia in 2025! In this special session, two teams of neuroscientists will present their latest discoveries to a young audience (aged 8-15). What makes this event truly special is the LIVE peer review: two young reviewers, who have read the scientists’ research manuscripts in advance, will ask questions and decide whether the manuscripts should be “Accepted with revisions” or “Rejected” based on the scientists’ response, just like a real scientific peer review process. And it all happens live, in front of an audience! This year, we are once again collaborating with the kid-friendly journal Frontiers for Young Minds and selected manuscripts will have the opportunity to be published in this journal.
This year’s event will feature two dynamic teams sharing cutting-edge neuroscience with a young audience:
Tatjana Schmidt and Marta Correia (University of Cambridge) will present "Mapping the Brain’s Memory Lanes." Their talk explores how memory depends on networks of brain regions linked by white matter pathways. Using MRI-based techniques, they’ll show how we can visualize these connections and why they matter for understanding and diagnosing memory-related disorders.
Qiuyu Lu and team (Beijing Normal University) will share their unique lab-to-school research model, introducing concepts like reaction time (RT), variability (RT-SD), and ALFF — Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations. They'll even bring their “MRI family tree” to life, revealing exciting findings about the brain basis of sustained attention and the interplay of nature vs. nurture.
All attendees will also have the opportunity to ask any questions directly to the neuroscientists, making this a fun, interactive and unforgettable experience. . This event provides a unique opportunity for children and youths to learn about latest neuroscience discoveries, experience a core scientific process of reviewing, and to meet some real neuroscientists! After the session, we will have some fun and creative arts and crafts activities in collaboration with the OHBM BrainArt Special Interest Group
Check our website (https://ohbm-dic.github.io/kidsreview/) for more information about the presenters and their research.
Location: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Center (room P3, Plaza level)
Date: Thurs, June 26th
Time: 6:15 to 7:15 pm
Registration link: https://forms.gle/D7mvwzA1VgVkwEfH7
Important Notes:
All young attendees must be accompanied by a caregiver (teachers/parents are welcome to join).
Please head directly to room P3 for the event. Access to the event is free for all attendees.
This event is free and open to the public, including children of OHBM attendees.