The partnership between Pioneer Science and Northwestern University is structured around collaboration with the lab led by Jordan Grafman at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (SRALab), an international reference in cognitive neuroscience and rehabilitation. The initiative connects researchers and cultural contexts around a central question: how values and beliefs shape the brain and human experience.
At the heart of this collaboration is the Brain and Belief Center, an international network that brings together institutions from Brazil, the United States, and the United Kingdom to investigate fundamental dimensions of human cognition still little explored by science.
The partnership took concrete form with the first Brazilian researcher being sent to Grafman’s lab, marking the start of an international training program focused on scientific excellence and bilateral exchange.
Among the studies under development, one notable project is The Neuroscience of Miracle Beliefs, which investigates how experiences considered miraculous are perceived and processed by the brain. The research seeks to understand the cognitive and emotional mechanisms that sustain these beliefs and their role in how people interpret life and face challenges.
The collaboration is already producing meaningful impacts, including the training of researchers with international experience, the advancement of an innovative scientific agenda in an emerging field, and the strengthening of Brazil’s integration into global research networks.
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