Rachel Bedder – Special Commendation in Public Engagement 2020

Rachel was the Academic Lead on the Dear World Exhibition and has been core to this project from its conception in 2018. Dear World Project is a cross-disciplinary public engagement collaboration that explores mental health, its diagnosis, and the use of labels often associated with feelings and emotions. 

The project has hosted a number of Dear World pop-up events, where scientists sparked conversations with passers-by about their thoughts and feelings towards the use of labels and categorisation in mental health. Using this insight, Dear World Project is pairing artists and researchers to explore the themes uncovered much more deeply in an exhibition in February 2020. The research behind the project is the work of scientists at the Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging and the Max Planck Centre for Computational Psychiatry at UCL, who have been paired with 7 artists and makers to explore the themes of the Dear World Project.

Her leadership, communication and organisational skills were instrumental for the success of this project. From running evaluation interviews with the academics involved to co-presenting in events, Rachel showed incredible skill and knowledge within Public Engagement. Therefore, Rachel was awarded with a special commendation to recognise her incredible efforts over the past 2.5 years. 

Awarded May 2020