Mod’s Santi wins WA Brain Bee Challenge

Perth Modern School student Santi Chua, 14, has been crowned the WA Brain Bee Challenge winner for 2022. The Australian Brain Bee Challenge is the country’s only neuroscience competition for high school students. The University of Western Australia, the Perron Institute and the Neurotrauma Research Program support the WA competition within the national event.

Professor Romola Bucks, Pro Vice Chancellor (Health and Medical Research) at UWA, awarded the prize to Santi at a special ceremony.

“Science, and neuroscience in particular, is a great thing to do,” Professor Bucks said in her speech. “It’s not just one topic, it encompasses a broad range of disciplines, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, computer science, psychology and medicine.

“There is still so much to discover about how the brain works, so it’s important to nurture our future generations of scientists and neuroscientists.”

Santi was named the overall winner of the WA competition. He was encouraged to take part in the Brain Bee by his science teacher Mr Ant Meczes.

“It’s so interesting to learn new content about how the brain and body work,” Santi said. “For example, how we feel pain and sense things, it’s all happening within us, it’s so fascinating.

“The prospect of representing WA in the national competition is a special and unique opportunity.”

The Neurotrauma Research Program sponsored the prizes. The Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society also sponsored a prize for the winning student.

Principal of Perth Modern School Mitchell Mackay said he was delighted to hear of Santi’s win in the Brain Bee.

“Santi is a very hard-working student with fantastic skills in science, and it is wonderful to hear about how much he enjoyed participating in this prestigious and hard-fought competition.”