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Jenny Rodger has always been fascinated by the brain and knew from an early age that she wanted to study neuroscience.

"But there were very few undergraduate neuroscience options in the UK in the late 1980s when I first went to university, so I chose to study biochemistry," Professor Rodger said.

"Luckily I was able to do my PhD in neuroscience."

Things are very different for students 30 years later. Professor Rodger is the WA co-ordinator of the Australian Brain Bee Challenge, which encourages high school students to learn about the brain, tests them on their knowledge, then informs them about their options for studying neuroscience.

Linked to the international Brain Bee Challenge, the Australian chapter has been run by the Queensland Brain Institute for several years. They run the first round of the annual competition online for Year 10 students around the country.

"The results for WA students are sent to me and we invite the top 100 students to take part in the state finals here at UWA," Professor Rodger said.

The winner goes into a national final, which was won by Western Australian Uma Jah at the age of 14 in 2010. Uma was mentored by three UWA scientists including Professor Rodger.

"I am amazed at the level of neuroscience understanding shown by these young students," she said. "They have a depth of knowledge expected of university undergraduates in the UWA Neuroscience major."

Last July, more than 60 outstanding students took part in the UWA final.  They had beaten 465 teenagers from 21 schools in a multi-choice neuroscience quiz.

"We are hoping we can host the Australian final at UWA in January 2015," Professor Rodger said.

She said most of the WA finalists from previous years had come to UWA to study science.  Many of them do work experience in her lab while they are still at school and making a final decision about tertiary study.

"One boy came knocking on my door earlier in the year to thank me for organising and running the Brain Bee in which he was a finalist.  He started the DPhil this year and said he had loved the challenge."

Professor Rodger also initiated Brian Awareness Week in WA, which, like the Brain Bee Challenge, introduces school students to knowledge about the brain, mostly through activities at Scitech.