This simple, everyday mystery is at the heart of brain research led by Konstantina Kilteni and her team at the Donders Institute. Instead of keeping their research inside laboratory walls, they take their equipment directly to the public.
Taking Science to the Streets (and Libraries)
Kilteni and her team took their setup and visited the Donders Brain Museum, local open days, science festivals, and even the city library.
Visitors of all ages became real scientists for a day. They took part in interactive quizzes and tested their own feet to see how sensitive they were to touch. For Kilteni, public engagement is a two-way street. It is not just about teaching science, but about listening to the public.
Our public engagement initiative was developed to establish a two-way dialogue between researchers and the public. On the one hand, we wanted to make our research accessible. On the other, we wanted to learn from people's experiences and observations.
How the Public Inspired New Discoveries
Interacting with the public did not just spread knowledge, it directly changed the direction of Kilteni’s research.
When visitors tested the tickling machines at the museum, many shared surprising feelings. They explained that being tickled could feel funny and happy, but also annoying or uncomfortable. This mix of emotions inspired the team to design new experiments to study how the brain processes these emotional and physiological responses to touch.
Furthermore, people on the autism spectrum reached out after hearing Konstantina on the radio and podcasts. Their personal stories about touch sensitivity led to an exciting new research project funded by the Dutch Research Council.
A Win for the Whole Team
This creative approach, has received considerable recognition. Kilteni is one of eight researchers across Europe to win the 2026 ERC Public Engagement with Research Award. The European Research Council (ERC) gives this prize to researchers who successfully involve the public in their research and bring scientific knowledge into public debate.
When the news arrived that she had won the award, Kilteni was thrilled.
I was very surprised and extremely happy! Receiving this recognition from the ERC is a great honour.
Kilteni shares this success with her research team at Donders: Dr. Anne Hoffmann, Dr. Tilman Stephani, Ziliang Xiong, Tinca Siebum, Joey Lommerse, Isabella Huntjens, Dilys Eikelboom, Alex Efthymiou, and Norbert Hermesdorf from Technical Support Group.
By bringing experiments into public spaces, Kilteni and her team showed that scientific discovery is something everyone can participate in.