Rachel L Bedder

I have 7 years experience working in public engagement in neuroscience. After completing my undergraduate degree in Art & Psychology at the University of Reading, I joined AXNS Collective as a Science Curator and shortly after became a Director. AXNS Collective is a group of young female professionals working in the arts and sciences with a view to develop programmes that engage the public with the idea these fields do not have to be at odds, and in fact can be complimentary & cross-pollinate. We commissioned artwork, organised panel discussions and ran data hacks with partners including Science Museum, London, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford and Kings College London.

After completing a masters degree in Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, I began a PhD in Computational Psychiatry at the Max Planck UCL Centre. Alongside my PhD I have developed a public engagement programme with my supervisor, Robb Rutledge, and the Wellcome Human Neuroimaging Centre Public Engagement Manager, Cassie Hugill. This programme Dear World Project deals with diagnostic systems and how computational psychiatry aims to research mental health through a publicly accessible framework of a post office and sorting office. I also sat on the Wellcome Human Neuroimaging Centre’s Public Engagement Steering Committee. I received an Excellence in Public Engagement Award was nominated for the UCL Postgraduate Public Engagement Award.

I am interested in public engagement projects that allow science to resonate with people in relation to their own lives, and encourage two way engagement.