Our brain is what truly makes us human. It influences our perception, our behavior, and our health. It enables us to collaborate and to tackle complex problems within a society. Generating public knowledge and creating awareness around the developing brain is part of the mission of our research group. Our initiative Growing Brains combines elements of science outreach, co-creation, and dialogue to further public knowledge about brain and behavioral development, pointing out the connections to highly relatable topics such as mental health, lifelong learning, or the mysteries of the teenage brain. We will also guide our audience towards an increased understanding of the fundamental principles of the scientific process – how does science actually work?

In this science outreach initiative led by Prof. Nora Raschle and science communicator Sabine Gysi, we will create different types of dialogue event formats, learning materials and even a graphic novel, all aimed at an audience of adolescents and adults in Switzerland and beyond. The project is based on past and current work by our team, the NMR Kids Lab at the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich. In a co-creation process, we will involve our future audience as well as various early and mid-career research scientists in developing the graphic novel and the dialogue events. To achieve a greater reach and generate increased awareness among decision-makers, we are collaborating with experienced partners such as Science et Cité, Life Science Zurich, and the Children's University of Zurich, and we seek to collaborate with a renowned publishing house. The project Growing Brains is funded by SNSF Agora and by the cogito foundation.