This year we celebrate Creative Brain Week (March 2-6, 2026). In this perspective, Dominic Campbell reflects on a decade of belonging as an Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute and beyond, where the curiosity, commitment, and boundary‑crossing work of this unique community has enriched his life and is woven into the very fabric of Creative Brain Week.
“Thinking. Better. Together” is a reasonable provocation in uncertain times. However, the theme for Creative Brain Week 2026 in Dublin is also rooted in my own experience as an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute. Since I joined the Atlantic community 10 years ago, my life has been enriched by encountering people whose commitment, curiosity, or need, has led them to cross disciplines and continents to find solutions, fire their own imaginations, and/or aspire beyond the expectations imposed upon them by others. Creative Brain Week, first hosted at Trinity College Dublin in March 2022 as an annual, week-long international in-person and online event, has evolved over five years, finding innovative ways to explore the intersection of neuroscience and creativity.
My own knowledge of learning about brain health is largely experiential. As a former student at an experimental art school, my key lessons came from co-creating the conditions of success for Caribbean Carnivals, festivals and circuses. I learnt how people can work together to address resource constraints and meet tight deadlines. Potential barriers caused by differences in language, religion or culture were overcome in spaces where we shared the art of open encounter: the craft of placing good thoughts in the minds of attentive listeners. As Chuck Feeney said, “It’s always just people in a room.” Sure, but how do you shape the room if you can’t get in?
Over four years, with others, I have cultivated the culture of Creative Brain Week in rooms across Dublin. With collaborators and supporters, such as the Atlantic Institute, we have branched out into other countries, too. We applied creative approaches to boost brain health at satellite Creative Brain Health events led by Atlantic Fellows in Brisbane, Cairo, Gaborone, Delhi, Singapore, and San Juan Argentina. Soon we will also celebrate satellite events in Mexico City and Berlin.
The problems of the world are many and varied. The power we all hold is our creativity and imagination, our brains and each other. Over the five years, Atlantic Fellows from different backgrounds and disciplines are among those who have changed their practices and ways of thinking after Creative Brain Week. They participated, shared and reflected and gave of their knowledge and experience, as did the speakers, artists, and scientists featured. The Fellows who gained new approaches from attending have been invited back as speakers this year. They will explain how their own work has benefited from the learnings and lightbulb moments at Creative Brain Week.
This week, we will share the learnings of five years of Creative Brain Health in the 10th year of the Global Brain Health Institute. Guests can attend the weeklong program in Dublin orjoin online for events on March 2-3.
Highlights include exploring how music can be curative, bringing the tools of drama to tackle public health care, and tackling often-ignored impacts of stigma through creative approaches.
Five years into this adventure, we have seen how a random encounter within the recipe of Creative Brain Week evolves because of the trust built and the bravery of those in the room, which can then lead to impact. Shoots of success are growing. However you choose to measure success, the global community is developing momentum, using innovative, creative approaches that are protecting and enhancing brain health.
Learn more and register here for Creative Brain Week 2026
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