Kinga Panasiewicz

Kinga Panasiewicz - neuroscientist and social activist.
Awarded a Grand Prix during the Explory Science Fair 2013 in Gdynia, Poland for her research on the dependencies between the synchronisation of the neural impulses and the cognitive and behavioral functions of a human brain.

She represented Poland during the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair 2013 (Pheonix, Arizona) where she secured a second place in the „Medicine and Health Sciences” category. As a reward MIT Lincoln Laboratory named a newly discovered planetoid between Jupiter and Mars after her.

She also successfully represented Poland in the World Neuroscience Competition in Washington and was awarded the Polish Ministry of Education scholarship.

She is devoted to organising charity events and promoting science among kids (i.e. she supported the Warsaw Science Fair). In 2014 she co-stared together with Prof Agnieszka Zalewska and Dr Piotr Szrek in a movie promoting the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs („Polska. Spring into science”).

Winner of the "Road to Harvard” competition; in 2014 she has been listed as one of the 100 greatest Eastern European innovators („New Europe 100” list created by, among others, Google, Financial Times, Visegrad Fund and Res Publica Nowa).

Currently she focuses on her research and acts as an ambassador of the Adamed SmartUP educational program.

Keynote: How computers change our brains. Can screen-time cause mental or neurological disorders?

In the past few decades, the influence of fast-developing technology on our lives has grown enormously. Computers have established entirely new quality of social interactions, learning and living. As a consequence of that, computer skills have become crucial to more and more professions.
Bearing in mind the fact that the human brain is a very sensitive and plastic organ, it's not surprising that such a powerful stimulation as that of the increasing amount of „screen-time” is reported to cause a considerable change in the brain's functioning. We observe changes both on the molecular and structural level of the central nervous system; most often they are manifested in the form of psychological alterations. Recent studies in this area provide many evidences that too much computer work may cause several psychiatric and neurological diseases including insomnia, addiction, depression, anxiety, delayed sleep phase syndrome and many more. On the other hand, computer-based cognitive trainings show a very promising results indicating their relevance in the therapy of mental disorders such as schizophrenia. In this presentation, I will try to review some of the most interesting studies examining the infulance of computers and screen-time in general on the brain's development and functioning.

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