Enriching Engagement is a Wellcome-funded grants programme open to Wellcome grant holders and awardees at the University of Oxford, to develop and deliver Public Engagement with Research projects.
This round includes funding for MRC WIMM PI, Professor Anne Goriely's project “Me and my genome: What am I really made of?”, with her project team including Dr Nina Hallowell, Dr Hana Mlcochova and Arianna Manzini.
There is an ever-growing enthusiasm and fascination for ‘recreational genetics’ (home-testing kits) to query our own ancestral history, identify genetic relatives, discover personalised health-related susceptibilities, or even create tailored diets, with likely impacts on medical treatments, society and our own sense of identity.
The project aims to develop a comprehensive educational package for young people to promote understanding and critical thinking on the promises and potential pitfalls of this so-called ‘genomic revolution’. As a team composed of genetics researchers and bioethicists, they will address key scientific and ethical aspects of genomics that derive from their own research.
Full details of each project are available on the University of Oxford website
The full list of Round 2 awardees is:
- Dr Catherine Manning (Department of Experimental Psychology) - "Sensory Street”
- Dr Jacinta O’Shea (Department of Psychiatry) - "Building stress resilience in early adolescence”
- Professor Anne Goriely (Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, Radcliffe Department of Medicine) - “Me and my genome: What am I really made of?”
- Dr Carlo Rinaldi (Department of Paediatrics) - "Muscle Switch"
- Professor Jane Mckeating (Nuffield Department of Medicine) - "Understanding viruses: combining science and art to empower young people”
- Dr Anna Mitchell (Department of Experimental Psychology) - "APE: Animations and Public Engagement to promote transparency in primate neuroscience research”