The Aspen Institute

“Building Trust in Science: A One-Day Conference for a More Informed Future,” a collaboration between the Aspen Institute Science & Society Program and the MIT Press, aims to bridge the gap between decades of research in neuroscience and social science about how humans process and understand information, and the vulnerabilities to misinformation and propaganda we endure when we fail to leverage this knowledge in communicating science, especially in the age of generative AI.

Please check this webpage for additional details, and sign up soon to receive updates (mailing list signup forthcoming).

This conference will be ideal for science communicators, journalists, researchers, students, policymakers, and anyone interested in mobilizing knowledge for a better world. For individuals directly invited as well as public attendees, this conference is planned for March 10, 2025 in Boston, at MIT, with

• keynotes by Dr. Francis Collins (former director of the National Institutes of Health) and Lina Yassin (Sudanese climate activist, policy analyst, and journalist),
• poster session,
• closing talk about next steps,
• speaker dinner,
• smaller workshops before and/or after,
• recordings for freely available retroactive viewing, and
• publicly available playbook or handbook summarizing strategies that emerge from this conference.

This conference will explore how journalists, science communicators, researchers, and policymakers can utilize knowledge about human learning to

• Empower diverse groups to make informed decisions in a complex world;
  Combat disinformation and build trust in science and scientists;
• Amplify voices and perspectives historically marginalized by science and journalism; and
• Craft impactful messaging that fosters active and engaged communities where science is a cornerstone.

The planning committee for this conference includes

• Rick Berke, Co-founder & Executive Editor, STAT
• Deborah Blum, Director, MIT Knight Science Journalism Program
• Amy Brand, Director and Publisher, The MIT Press (program co-chair)
• Mariette DiChristina, Dean of the Boston University College of Communication
• Michael John Gorman, Incoming Director, The MIT Museum
• Amml Hussein, Education Research and Data Manager, Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
• Alfred Ironside, Vice President for Communications, MIT
• Aron Krol, Climate Communications Coordinator, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
• Lee McIntyre, Senior Advisor for Public Trust in Science at the Aspen Institute
• Aaron Mertz, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Science & Society Program
• Seth Mnookin, MIT Professor & Director of the Graduate Program in Science Writing (program co-chair)
• Duy Linh Tu, Professor and Director of the Digital Media Program at Columbia’s School of Journalism
• Jylana Sheats, Associate Professor, Tulane University School of Public Health (program co-chair)
• Claire Wardle, Co-director of the Information Futures Lab, Brown University