The Topos Partnership aims to explore and ultimately change the landscape of public understanding where public interest issues play out. Founded by Axel Aubrun and Joe Grady of Cultural Logic and Meg Bostrom of Public Knowledge, Topos was created to bring together the range of expertise needed to understand existing issue dynamics, explore possibilities for creating new issue understanding, develop a proven course of action, and arm advocates with new communications tools to win support.

Topos’ innovative approach synthesizes traditional public opinion research with state-of-the-art cognitive science perspectives and methodological innovations. This includes: Exploratory Research; Identifying Strategic Opportunities; Development and Testing of Tools; and Dissemination and Ongoing Learning.

Their work draws on the principals’ many years of research and strategic experience in a wide spectrum of public interest issue areas, including national security, racial equity, sustainability, health, climate change, and economic equity.

Meg Bostrom, co-founder of the Topos Partnership and President of Public Knowledge, is a veteran communications strategist with a unique perspective resulting from her rich and varied experiences as communicator, public opinion analyst, advertising agency executive, and political consultant. She started her career as a political pollster: Senior Analyst at Greenberg Lake, Vice President at Mellman Lazarus Lake. In both of these capacities, Bostrom consulted for a variety of political candidates (at the Congressional, Gubernatorial, Senatorial and Presidential levels), non-profit organizations, foundations, and national associations. Desiring a better understanding of how communications is developed and implemented, Bostrom joined Trahan, Burden and Charles, an advertising and communications agency headquartered in Maryland, as Executive Vice President of Strategic Planning.

With practical communications experience added to her background in research, Bostrom launched her own business in 1998 to bring her personal passion for social issues to bear on specific communications challenges. With degrees in both communications and public opinion research, Bostrom’s work is grounded in a cross-disciplinary focus.

Axel Aubrun, Ph.D. co-founder of the Topos Partnership and Cultural Logic, is a psychological anthropologist whose applied research focuses on how the public's bedrock ideas control public interest issues. Aubrun has authored articles in publications ranging from the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute to Non-Profit Quarterly, and has a particular interest in developing methods for measuring and promoting the spread of simple explanations that help the general public understand public interest issues. Aubrun is a graduate of Amherst College, Oxford University, and the University of California, San Diego, where he spent a year lecturing in cultural anthropology before co-founding Cultural Logic.

Working with partner Joe Grady, Aubrun has developed innovative approaches to assessing the dominant cognitive and cultural patterns that drive opinion on an issue. These approaches – each of which has been adopted by other research organizations – include: “cognitive elicitations” (based on techniques of psychological anthropology and cognitive linguistics), as well as the “simplifying models” approach to explaining public interest issues in a compelling and user-friendly way, and “talkback” testing approach to message evaluation and development.

Joseph Grady, Ph.D. co-founder of the Topos Partnership and Cultural Logic, is a cognitive linguist whose academic research and publications have focused on the ways in which understanding and communication are shaped by universal metaphorical patterns. His applied work focuses on the role of explanation in promoting civic engagement. Before co-founding Cultural Logic and Topos, Grady taught linguistics at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland, and also spent a number of years as a consultant helping to analyze and develop brand names. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

Testimonials

"Topos is a wonderful new resource for those who want to better understand change in order to create change for the future. The Topos partners combine seat of the pants cognitive science with unconventional wisdom and innovative public opinion research to create state of the art change."

Lawrence Wallack, Ph.D., Dean, College of Urban and Public Affairs, Portland State University, and Emeritus Professor, Public Health, University of California, Berkeley and Co-Founder, The Longview Institute

“Topos brings together academic expertise and marketing acumen. We found their approach creative and their results insightful."

Suzanne Shaw, Director of Communications
Union of Concerned Scientists

"The unique skills, probing insight and creative approaches Topos brings to myriad public issues is unparalleled. Demos has worked with the Topos partners for more than four years on the difficult challenges of changing the public conversation about government, and creating new understandings of how the economy actually works. The research methodology they have brought to these tasks – and the recommendations and strategies they have helped us develop – have been both remarkably insightful and pragmatically applicable."

Patrick Bresette, Associate Program Director, Public Works
Demos Center for the Public Sector