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Dear Public Engagement Community,


Making public engagement with science awe-inspiring, fun or personally relevant are great ways to help the public engage with science. But for some topics this approach is less effective. Some science messages are unwelcome, or become controversial or politicised. Two high-profile examples are climate change and vaccines (the controversy about the latter may be over in the UK but is rising in the US).


As a neuroscientist, I approach the question of how and why from the perspective of how our brains/minds make sense of the world around us. Drawing from a broad range of insights from neuroscience, psychology and the social sciences, I am increasingly working together with academics and public engagers to find new ways to overcome this controversy.


One such project is Right Between Your Ears, a documentary about how people come to hold strong convictions and how we respond to having those convictions challenged. The film fuses a powerful human story with insights from neuroscience, psychology, behavioural economics and history to give an extraordinary insight into the nature of conviction. The aim of the documentary is to help reduce polarisation in public debates, including those about controversial science issues. That our approach of combining story and science has impact follows from early test screenings. For example, one audience member wrote: "I wish there were more documentaries where I could learn about myself through the experience of others".


The documentary is ready except for the final technical finish. We have started a crowd-funding campaign to raise the completion funding. In the crowdfunding model, backers receive rewards in return for their support, ranging from DVDs of the film to screening rights and the possibility to book workshops I give to better equip the next generation of science communicators to talk and listen to diverse audiences.


This is an important film for science communication, and I would therefore like to invite you to check out our campaign page:


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aniku/right-between-your-ears-finish-the-film


If you can, please support and/or share the campaign with like-minded people. More details about the aims of the film, and our rewards (including the workshop) can be found on the campaign page.


If you are interested in working together in the future, please do not hesitate to get in touch.


With kind regards,


Kris De Meyer

Visiting Research Fellow

King's College London