Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowship (360G-Wellcome-208843_Z_17_Z)

£148,027

Science and the arts overlap as both are means of exploration, investigation and creativity. Both share an interest enhancing human understanding and extending experience to the world. Often, indigenous knowledge systems have been excluded or played a minimal role in this dialogue and within engagement practices. I am interested in exploring and implementing projects that focus on collaboration and co-creation across these fields. I believe that inclusive collaborations, partnerships and co-design between these fields have the potential to enhance livelihoods by making science more accessible and relatable, spark innovation and creativity, and challenge existing biomedical engagement practices. I wish to explore, test and refine methods and products that incorporate community- and culturally-sensitive methodologies i.e. art forms that communities are already familiar with and receptive to. These partnerships between science, arts and community development will encourage innovation and participation. I envision that projects adopting this approach would challenge and enrich all participating parties, stimulate dialogue, facilitate exchange and allow all parties to play active roles in decision-making. Traditionally, science communication and public engagement projects tend to merely inform participants of scientific processes which is non-participatory, devaluing and potentially exploitative. I will explore partnerships that use a definition of participation that is much more robust: co-design and collaboration. I believe that each group has specific, viable and valuable skill sets and knowledge, which collectively are powerful and necessary within the context of engagement. I also wish to explore ways in which science can be more accessible and relevant to the public and vice versa. I hypothesize that these bodies of knowledge, collectively, have the capacity to enhance or transform lives, engagement and community interventions as: 1.Formal scientific knowledge is highly specialized and could empower and relay knowledge to communities, which are often excluded; 2. Community-based practices and knowledge can situate illness and health within specific community dynamics and; 3. Art has the capacity to relay key messaging in a culturally-relevant, community-sensitive means to ensure relativity, inclusion, participation and ownership. I would like to explore how collaborative project co-design: impacts on community members', artists’ and scientists' internalization of information; can be used as a collaborative communication strategy and; challenges traditional methods public engagement. This process calls for all participating parties to reflect on their own practice, innovate and test alternative methods, and interact with each other. I would like to explore arts in various forms, especially street arts which should be understood as visual or performance based art that is presented in untraditional arts venues and locations, i.e. on the streets or within communities. I am particularly interested in street arts as it is dynamic and accessible to many different audiences, and has served as an active and effective communication and advocacy medium that is entertaining, empowering and controversial. My vision for the future of science communication and public engagement is to strive for continuous and reflective innovation to ensure the accessibility of science to wider groups, leading to greater inclusion, empowerment and education.

Where is this data from?

This data was originally published by The Wellcome Trust. If you see something about your organisation or the funding it has received on this page that doesn't look right you can submit a grantee amendment request. You can hover over codes from standard codelists to see the user-friendly name provided by 360Giving.

Grant Details

Amount Awarded 148027
Applicant Surname Petersen
Approval Committee Engagement Fellowship Interview Committee
Award Date 2017-07-20T00:00:00+00:00
Financial Year 2016/17
Grant Programme: Title Public Engagement Fellowship
Internal ID 208843/Z/17/Z
Lead Applicant Mr Nabeel Petersen
Partnership Value 148027
Planned Dates: End Date 2021-04-30T00:00:00+00:00
Planned Dates: Start Date 2017-12-01T00:00:00+00:00
Recipient Org: Country Unknown
Region Unknown