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NeuroLab: an immersive neuroscience workshop for young adults

17 April 2026

NeuroLab was a highly interactive neuroscience outreach pilot run at King’s College London on 11 June 2025. This programme offered Year 12 students the opportunity to roleplay as neuroscientists and neurologists by inviting them to engage with real data from pre-clinical laboratories and diagnose and create a treatment plan for fictional neurological cases. The next iteration of NeuroLab will be taking place later this month, on 22 April 2026.

Ahead of NeuroLab 2026, we sat down with the team behind the 2025 workshop — Dr Asma Bashir, Dr Cristina Llinares-Benadero, Dr Katie Long, Professor Clemens Kiecker, Dr Leigh Wilson, Dr Laura Pellegrini and Karen Davis — to discuss the vision behind the programme, the challenges and triumphs of the 2025 pilot, and their plans for the upcoming programme.

How was the NeuroLab programme created?

NeuroLab was devised by Dr Leigh Wilson and Dr Katie Long due to a shared interest in using authentic research data to engage young people in exploring neuroscience.

Along with creating unique course content, they wanted to explore how situational and simulated learning environments impact how students learn. They were also curious how meeting, working with, and interacting with researchers in a higher education and research institution could impact the aspirations and inspirations of young people interested in STEM careers.

neurolab students look down microscope at brain tissue — NeuroLab students inspect samples using microscopes as part of the pre-clinical section of the programme.

In 2024 the team expanded to include Dr Laura Pellegrini, Group Leader at the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (CDN). The programme partnered with foundry10, a US-based education research organisation, to devise a session included in the Dev Neuro Academy summer school. This session laid the groundwork for NeuroLab 2025, which was co-supported and facilitated by Dr Asma Bashir, Dr Cristina Llinares-Benadero, Prof Clemens Kiecker, and Karen Davis.

“We wanted to reach students who may not usually have access to cutting-edge neuroscience research to learn about what we do, handle real data with us and learn more about the links between preclinical and clinical research,” said Katie, Reader in Human Developmental Neuroscience. She co-led the pre-clinical section of the workshop alongside Laura.

What does the programme look like?

This programme was a one-day immersive workshop that invited students to use authentic research data as they learned about human brain development. Students also worked in teams to investigate clinical cases of neurological conditions. “One of the primary objectives of the programme was to give students the opportunity to interact with one another as well as with researchers, to give a real-world, situational learning experience,” said Leigh, Public Engagement Manager and Teaching Fellow within the CDN.

At the core of the workshop was presenting pre-clinical and clinical neuroscience alongside one another.

“We wanted to give the students an understanding of how a brain is built and how we work with this in the lab, then transfer this knowledge into a clinical scenario. Our intention was for them to make a connection between the two sessions, making both relevant for each other,” said Cristina, Lab Manager for the Long Lab.

The programme targeted high-performing students currently studying A-level Biology with the aim of offering a unique opportunity to apply and expand their knowledge base in neurobiology in an interactive setting. The organisers also wished to provide students with a chance to experience the research and clinical settings early on in their educational journeys. Ahead of NeuroLab 2025, one student remarked “NeuroLab will provide me with insight into a possible career in research, as that is something I’m considering.”

The NeuroLab Team

It takes a mighty team to organise a full-day workshop. Katie and Laura were the leads on the pre-clinical sections of the workshop, with support from Cristina. Clemens and Katie led on the clinical sections. Leigh and Asma, who had previously worked together on Dev Neuro Academy, led on operations, research ethics, programme design and student recruitment. The NeuroLab team was also supported by Senior Researcher Dr Travis Willingham Windleharth and Research Coordinator Raeesah Azam from foundry10.

Karen, Senior Research Study Officer, also played an essential role in organising the workshop. “My responsibilities included coordinating catering, liaising with security, managing attendee travel expenses, welcoming participants upon arrival, onboarding a new supplier, raising purchase orders, and processing invoices.” Karen also contributed heavily to the initial budget and kept the team financially on track as the project unfolded.

How did it go on the day?

After welcoming NeuroLab students to Guy’s Campus on 11 June 2025, Katie and Laura introduced the first half of the pre-clinical session, describing how a brain is built, both in the living being and artificially in the lab.

Next, the students used worksheets to explore different types of cells in the brain, discuss various research questions, and learn how to interpret findings in the lab. To round off the morning, students were invited to participate in a candid discussion around the ethics of carrying out neuroscience research with donated human tissue and cerebral organoids.’

“We were amazed by how mature they were with their reflections and how they expressed their opinions, also respecting others no matter how different their opinions were,” commented Cristina.

neurolab students discuss neroscience case studies with Dr Katie Long — NeuroLab students learning about how scientists can build artificial neural networks from stem cells in the lab with Dr Katie Long and Dr Laura Pellegrini.

After lunch, the clinical session began. In small teams, students were given hypothetical neurology cases and asked to develop an informed diagnostic plan. Alongside the cases, they were given reading materials to learn about different diagnostic tests, then were asked to select a few tests to run, bearing in mind access and cost limitations. “This part of the day was particularly exciting for the students. Most of our students (8 out of 12) have career aspirations in medicine, so it was amazing to see them roleplay as enthusiastic and confident clinicians,” said Asma, former Public Engagement Manager on the Impact & Engagement Services team at King’s.

The aspect I enjoyed most about NeuroLab was most definitely the clinical session. I really liked diagnosing. It felt like a puzzle that I was solving. That was really fun!– Neurolab 2025 student.

At the end of the session, students had the opportunity to look at post-mortem brain tissue. While Clemens showed them whole brain tissue, some of which had visible Alzheimer’s pathology, Katie invited students to look at microscope slides with slices of typically and atypically developing brains.

“It was great to see how easily the students could link the preclinical and clinical work together. We believe integrating these two arms of research is really important and it was fantastic to see the students do this so quickly.,” observed Katie.

Using data from the workshop to improve future programmes

NeuroLab was run as a small pilot workshop with 12 students to inform the design of future, larger-scale workshops in both the UK and the US, in collaboration with foundry10. Alongside delivering the sessions, the team collected feedback data to understand how different learning environments and approaches shape students’ engagement with complex neuroscience topics.

The data focused on how simulation-based and problem-based learning (using real data and case studies), combined with situated learning in a university research environment, influenced students’ confidence, interest, and sense of identity as scientists. Feedback was gathered through questionnaires and follow-up interviews, with questions exploring self-confidence, engagement with different activities, and perceptions of research.

Initial analysis suggests a positive shift following the workshop, with students reporting increased confidence, a clearer understanding of how neuroscience research is carried out, and a stronger preference for collaborative, group-based learning. These insights are now being used to refine the workshop model and inform this year's programme and several rounds that will run in the US with educators from foundry10.

What would your advice be to others considering creating such a programme?

For Cristina it came down to the team. “Have a great team to build it! I think it was essential for the success of the programme to be very collaborative and engage in discussions about the material and the structure of the workshop."

neurolabstudent group photo — The NeuroLab team with the 12 students on Guy's Campus.

“Ensure you factor in a lot of extra time and human power to get the work done as programmes like NeuroLab tend to have many moving parts,” commented Asma. “To make the process as stress-free as possible, I would advise others to clearly outline the key steps needed to achieve the final goal, then determine who will be in charge of each step, ensuring that enough time is built into the timeline for inevitable delays.”

When asked what factors could make or break an event like this, Karen echoed Asma’s sentiments. “Don’t underestimate the logistics. Book rooms months in advance, ensure there is a breakout area away from the workshop for lunch. Have any printouts – for example, for expense or reimbursement forms – ready to issue in advance.”

Despite everyone agreeing on the need for meticulous planning and organisation, the team prided themselves on the out of the box thinking behind the project and would recommend such an approach to others.

Meeting young adults where they are at, both in terms of knowledge, expectations and ambitions, is vital. It is worth aiming high regarding activities and approaches that resonate and create meaningful connection, regardless of the subject or discipline of the engagement.– Dr Leigh Wilson, Public Engagement Manager and Teaching Fellow at the CDN, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience.