Developed and proposed by the leader of HumanizaCom , professor Cilene Victor, and by student João Victor, a young leader from Heliópolis, the largest favela in São Paulo, Helipa na Ciência was a direct result of the partnership between HumanizaCom , the Observatório De Olho na Quebrada and the Union of Nuclei, Associations and Societies of Residents of Heliópolis and São João Clímaco (UNAS).

With institutional and financial support from the Serrapilheira Institute, the Helipa na Ciência project consisted of a series of podcasts about the production, dynamics, life cycle and role of socially impactful science in building the Brazil of tomorrow. The initiative aimed to bring scientific production closer to peripheral territories, promoting an accessible and transversal dialogue between the scientific community and Heliópolis, represented by young people from the Observatório De Olho na Quebrada.

Initially conceived as a radio program and podcast series, the project took a pedagogical approach that included training twenty young people from Heliópolis linked to the Observatório De Olho na Quebrada. Workshops were offered in scientific journalism, voice-over, podcasting, video recording and editing, and bulletin production. The training was provided by master's and doctoral researchers and members of the HumanizaCom research group.

The six episodes addressed themes chosen by the population of Heliópolis itself, through an opinion poll conducted by the Observatório De Olho na Quebrada, covering the training of scientists from the outskirts, food security, employment and income, climate change and the right to the city.

Broadcast on Rádio Heliópolis 87.5 FM, each biweekly episode lasted two hours and the format mixed live studio interviews with two young people from Heliópolis, Sabrina Oliveira and Moroni Henrique, who conducted interviews with scientists on the radio, and external interviews recorded at research institutions. The first program, about the training of peripheral scientists, aired on October 11, 2022 and featured the participation of the vice-president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science (SBPC), Fernanda Antônia da Fonseca Sobral, the president of the Brazilian Academy of Science, Professor Helena Nader, who was also president of the SBPC, the pro-rector of Community Affairs and Affirmative Policies of the Federal University of ABC (UFABC), Cláudia Vieira, and researcher and historian Weber Lopes Góes, member of the Center for Peripheral Studies of the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP).

The Helipa na Ciência project contributed to the popularization of knowledge, challenged the gap between academia and the periphery, and highlighted the favela as a space for the production and dissemination of knowledge and wisdom. The project strengthened the role of young people and the periphery in the construction of knowledge, reaffirming the commitment to accessible, inclusive, and socially engaged science.

The HumanizaCom researchers involved in the Helipa na Ciência project were: Cilene Victor, Amanda Ganzarolli, Lilian Sanches, Francisco Santos, Louis Edoa, Marcelo Damasceno and professors Filomena Salemme and Roberto Chiachiri.