In July 2026, UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) welcomed young bright minds from across the state for the Queensland Brain Bee Challenge. This annual celebration of brain science is a competition aimed at engaging and inspiring the next generation of neuroscientists.
The future looks bright
High school students gain valuable insights into the science of the brain through interactive workshops and lab tours at QBI hosted by world-class neuroscientists. In turn, the scientists enjoy the student’s fresh thinking and answer any of their questions about the brain and how they study it.
Our Queensland winners
Congratulations to this year’s Queensland winner, Eva Allanby from Stretton State College. Eva will now go on to represent Queensland at the national Australian Brain Bee Challenge, which is typically held alongside the Australasian Neuroscience Society Annual Scientific Meeting at the end of the year.
With a place at the International Brain Bee Challenge on the line, Eva will join top students from across Australia competing for the opportunity to take their neuroscience knowledge to the world stage.
In the Queensland competition, Jasmine Wong from Ipswich Girls Grammar School claimed second place, and Piper-Hayley Chalmers from St Margaret's Anglican Girls School finished third. All three winners will be invited to QBI later in the year to experience an internship week with a QBI lab team of their choice.
The team challenge
A unique part of Brain Bee is the mixed-school teams competition, where students complete a set of challenges related to neuroscience topics they learned about on the QBI tour. This is when students work together and reveal their creativity at solving neuroscience questions.
The winning students from this year’s Team Challenge were:
- 1st place: St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School and St Peter’s Lutheran College.
- 2nd place: Warwick State High School and Brisbane Grammar School.
- 3rd place: Toolooa State High School, Mareeba State High School, and Brisbane State High school.
Making it all possible
The Queensland Brain Bee is only possible with support from the QBI volunteers and researchers who help make the day such a success. Thanks especially to Professor Bruno van Swinderen and Dr Drew Min Su Cylinder for leading this event and creating an engaging and inspiring program.
“This is a very hard working group of students. I hope we see some of them come back to QBI as researchers in the future,” says Dr Cylinder.
How can you get involved in the Brain Bee?
If you’re a student at a Queensland high school, please chat with your science teacher about joining the next Brain Bee. Teachers, please get in touch with Professor Bruno van Swinderen for details about registering your students.
