The Chicago Council for Science and Technology
Grant Information
The Foundation is supporting The Chicago Council for Science and Technology (C2ST) for a multidirectional engagement project that will provide insights into the ways various communities think about brain health, with a particular emphasis on non-scientists and members of historically marginalized communities. C2ST will partner with Worldview Studios (WVS), a collective of brain and behavioral scientists, designers, and multimedia producers focused on science communication and engagement for public benefit, to work with local communities using mutually beneficial and participatory human-centered design (HCD) based methodologies. This engagement will lead to three in-person events about brain health that benefit Chicago communities: a free, brain-themed event at a Chicago community center; a city park event with brain-themed activities; and a brain-themed event or installation at a local science museum. Beyond these efforts, which will be collaboratively designed with local community members, the project has goals to 1) identify issues, concerns, and perspectives about brain health that may not be on the current radars of informal science educators or public health professionals, and 2) demonstrate the utility of HCD tools in public science engagement. The project will culminate in a publicly available report that synthesizes learnings for designing HCD-informed brain health-related events in community and informal science settings.