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Baltimore, MD: On July 18 and 19, 2023, 30 participants, including members of the public, behavioral scientists, content experts, communications professionals, and designers, gathered for the fACTory, an impact design thinktank hosted by the newly formed production company, Immerse Universe. Collaborating in teams, they solved conservation challenges by developing concepts for live experiences that motivate conservation behavior in their target audiences. Immerse Universe CEO, Heather Doggett, joined behavioral scientists with background experience from the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs facilitated the Hackathon-style event to ensure solutions are informed by an understanding of human behavior. The event took place at the University of Baltimore’s Center of Law. “Mission-based organizations have access to millions of people seeking fun in-person experiences, but they rarely use the behavior change-based communication strategies necessary to effectively move those people to take conservation action,” explains Immerse Universe CEO, Heather Doggett. “The fACTory thinktank produces experience concepts informed by social science strategies that can be implemented at zoos, aquariums, science centers, botanical gardens, parks, and other non-profit organizations to drive actual, lasting conservation behavior.” “I am excited to be a part of the "fACTory: An Impact Design Thinktank", working with experienced and creative designers, and bringing together the art and science of behavior change to help the environment. Design workshops like this are both great fun and strategically impactful!” states Douglas Storey, past Director for Communication Science & Research at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and faculty member in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. The purpose of this collaborative design event was to demonstrate this unique process and: To create a new model for experience design that can be applied to future conservation or mission-impact projects To bring together professionals who do not normally co-design to create potential experiences for live audiences that empower them to uptake targeted conservation behaviors to address climate change, single-use plastics, water conservation, and sustainable living To create a deeper understanding of behavior barriers, motivations, and benefits that participants can utilize to co-create more relevant and impactful experiences To have innovative audience experiences for non-profit and mission-focused organizations to choose from that are behaviorally informed and move audiences to conservation action About Immerse Universe: Immerse Universe is a unique experience design company specializing in creating live immersive experiences informed by behavior change theory to achieve measurable audience impact. The company’s one-of-a-kind co-design process brings together behavioral scientists, content experts, diverse designers, and communication experts to create immersive entertainment for non-profit organizations that drives sustainable mission-based conservation behavior change. About Facilitators: Heather Doggett has been fortunate to spend her career doing what she loves and believes in, helping save species and creating positive experiences for staff and guests. She has 27 years of experience in museum leadership with an extensive background in leading diversity and inclusion initiatives, experience design, revenue generation, conservation education, and operations. She has taught courses on experience design at Cal State Channel Islands, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), Light City Baltimore, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA): Exhibit Course, University of Baltimore, and has personally produced large-scale events, exhibits, theater troupes, and seasonal experiences. As a member of executive and senior leadership teams, Heather led and championed strategic planning, exhibit design, event design, guest experience initiatives, DEIJ strategy, conservation psychology strategy, audience evaluation, and interpretive planning at complex and matrixed organizations. Heather is known for being a go-to for integrating art and science to create behavior change campaigns, exceptional guest experiences, forming unique partnerships, hiring high performing teams, and taking on challenging projects. J. Douglas Storey (PhD Communication Research—Stanford University; MA Journalism—The University of Texas at Austin; BSc Biology/Secondary Education—Bucknell University) was Director for Communication Science & Research at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and faculty member in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the Bloomberg School of Public Health for 30 years before his retirement in 2022. He has lived and worked in nearly 40 countries in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, North America, and the Caribbean on strategic health communication and evaluation research, and has provided training in program design and evaluation for government agencies, private sector research firms, and universities in many parts of the world. His work spans many health topics including preventive health behavior, population and reproductive health communication, maternal and child health, polio communication, environmental communication, immunization, pandemic preparedness and response (most recently COVID), community capacity building, the use of entertainment-education approaches for pubic engagement and behavior change, and strategic health communication planning. He has consulted on health behavior communication research, evaluation, and strategic planning for many international organizations, including USAID, CDC, WHO, UNICEF, PAHO, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank. From 1999-2003, he was Resident Director of the Coral Reef Rehabilitation and Management Program in Indonesia, a World Bank initiative with the National Institute of Sciences aimed at raising national public knowledge of and support for coral reef ecosystem rehabilitation and management, and mobilizing island communities to develop and maintain their own marine resource management plans. Dr. Storey is former Chair of the Health Communication Division of the International Communication Association. He is fluent in Indonesian. Susan Krenn has more than 35 years of experience in the design and implementation of social and behavior change programs, with a focus on public health. She has worked in family planning, malaria, child survival, water and sanitation, HIV and TB among others and has professional experience in more than 15 countries, including a three-year position in Nigeria. As Executive Director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs for 12 years, Susan led a staff of 700 and served as chair for the global Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Summit. She recently retired from ThinkPlace, a strategic design firm that focuses on the use of human centered design (HCD) for social good. Scott Perich has served as the Director of Long-Range Planning and Strategic Design (2016-2023) and Vice President of Exhibits and Design (2009-2016) for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland; and Principal Designer (2007-2009) and Exhibit Designer (1997-2007) for Quatrefoil Associates in Laurel, Maryland. A strategic and tactical thinker, planner, and designer, he was the National Aquarium’s project executive for two award-winning exhibits—Blacktip Reef (2013) and Living Seashore (2015). He currently serves as the Course Administrator for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ professional development course, Creating Successful Exhibits. Saraniya Tharmarajah is a public health researcher and theatre artist. Her research interests include health communication and the translation of evidence into social and behavioral interventions and policy. She is particularly interested in research-based theatre, a multidisciplinary approach to disseminating public health research findings. Saraniya holds degrees from Johns Hopkins and Oxford and was a Fulbright scholar in India. Contact Heather Doggett Immerse Universe info@ImmerseUniverse.com www.ImmerseUniverse.com 803.338.5775
Baltimore, MD: On July 18 and 19, 2023, 30 participants, including members of the public, behavioral scientists, content experts, communications professionals, and designers, gathered for the fACTory, an impact design thinktank hosted by the newly formed production company, Immerse Universe. Collaborating in teams, they solved conservation challenges by developing concepts for live experiences that motivate conservation behavior in their target audiences. Immerse Universe CEO, Heather Doggett, joined behavioral scientists with background experience from the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs facilitated the Hackathon-style event to ensure solutions are informed by an understanding of human behavior. The event took place at the University of Baltimore’s Center of Law.
“Mission-based organizations have access to millions of people seeking fun in-person experiences, but they rarely use the behavior change-based communication strategies necessary to effectively move those people to take conservation action,” explains Immerse Universe CEO, Heather Doggett. “The fACTory thinktank produces experience concepts informed by social science strategies that can be implemented at zoos, aquariums, science centers, botanical gardens, parks, and other non-profit organizations to drive actual, lasting conservation behavior.” “I am excited to be a part of the "fACTory: An Impact Design Thinktank", working with experienced and creative designers, and bringing together the art and science of behavior change to help the environment. Design workshops like this are both great fun and strategically impactful!” states Douglas Storey, past Director for Communication Science & Research at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs and faculty member in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The purpose of this collaborative design event was to demonstrate this unique process and:
About Immerse Universe: Immerse Universe is a unique experience design company specializing in creating live immersive experiences informed by behavior change theory to achieve measurable audience impact. The company’s one-of-a-kind co-design process brings together behavioral scientists, content experts, diverse designers, and communication experts to create immersive entertainment for non-profit organizations that drives sustainable mission-based conservation behavior change.
About Facilitators:
Contact
Heather Doggett Immerse Universe info@ImmerseUniverse.com www.ImmerseUniverse.com 803.338.5775