from BSPA:
The Behavioral Science & Policy Association (BSPA) will hold its annual conference virtually on May 4 & 5, 2023 (8am-2pm PT). More than 500 leading behavioral scientists, policy makers, executives, and members of the media will join our speakers Naomi Oreskes, Cary Funk, Chris Bail, Geoffrey Cohen, Jonathan Morduch, Erika H. James, Wafaa El-Sadr, Elizabeth Linos, Michael Hallsworth, Nick Chater, Ronnie Chatterjee, Faisal Naru, Scott Young, Barry Rabe, Jerry Davis, Joel Brockner, Carol Graham, Cassie Holmes, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Elizabeth Dunn, Laura D. Kubzansky and many more.
Early Bird Discount: Register by 11:59pm on Wednesday, March 1st to receive $25 off your registration. Enter code: BSPA2023EARLYBIRD for the early bird discount.
Online Format: We have worked hard to ensure that this experience will be a great one for both participants and presenters by trying to take full advantage of the unique opportunities a virtual format provides, and by engaging a very experienced technical team to support the event. Some of the advantages of the online format are:
- Participants will be able to attend all of the parallel sessions since they will be recorded and thus can be viewed asynchronously.
- Q&A and other interaction with speakers can be more substantive since we will have an early release of their presentations and create discussion boards so that the live Q&A session (online but real-time) can facilitate more participant involvement.
- You can participate from your home or office, and view presentations at convenient times with live scheduled events being the only hard time constraint.
Schedule: We have several exciting panels scheduled for this conference, with more names to be added.
- Panel Discussion: What to Do About the Rising Tide of Distrust in Science: Distrust in science has been on the rise for several years. This trend carries substantial implications for public policy and societal well-being in key domains, including climate change; prevention of pandemics; personal health care; and information technology. Failure to trust scientific-based policies has arguably contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the COVID pandemic; there is a similarly high cost of failure to trust the science of climate change. This panel discussion will address two key questions: What are the causes of distrust in science and how can we regain the public’s trust?
- Naomi Oreskes, Ph.D., is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science in Harvard’s Department of the History; author of Why Trust Science? (Princeton University Press, 2019), and Science on a Mission: American Oceanography from the Cold War to Climate Change, (University of Chicago Press, 2021). She will address the history and causes of erosion of trust in science, including the conditions under which science is more or less likely to be trusted.
- Cary Funk is director of science and society research at Pew Research Center, where she leads the Center’s efforts to understand the implications of science for society. She has authored or co-authored a number of reports focused on public trust in science, scientific experts and science news and information. Funk will discuss results and implications from survey research in several nations, focusing on differences and similarities in levels of trust in science and scientists across nations and over time.
- Panel Discussion: How to Leverage Behavioral Science to Promote Societal Wellbeing
- Moderator: Carol Graham
- Panelist: Cassie Mogilner, UCLA
- Panelist: Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Oxford University
- Panelist: Elizabeth Dunn, UBC
- Panelist: Laura D. Kubzansky, Harvard University
- Book Panel: Polarization & Reconciliation
- Chris Bail, Duke | Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing (2022)
- Geoffrey Cohen, Stanford | Belonging (2022)
- Topic-Focused Panel Sessions & Parallel Sessions: Spotlights on six key areas in which behavioral scientists could have significant influence on policy. Each area will be introduced by an invited keynote speaker, followed by a handful of compelling 8-minute presentations.
- Area 1: Poverty & Financial Wellbeing with keynote speaker Jonathan Morduch, NYU
- Area 2: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion with keynote speaker Erika H. James, Wharton
- Area 3: Global Health with keynote speaker Wafaa El-Sadr, Columbia University
- Area 4: Environment & Sustainability with keynote speaker Barry Rabe, University of Michigan
- Area 5: Organizational/Management with keynote speaker Jerry Davis, University of Michigan
- Area 6: Ethics/Justice with keynote speaker Joel Brockner, Columbia University
- Behavioral Science in Action: Updates from the Field: Spotlights on three key sectors in which behavioral scientists are having significant influence in the field. Each area will be introduced by a moderator, followed by a handful of compelling panel discussions with leaders in each of these sectors.
- International sector
- U.S. domestic sector
- Private sector
The BSPA team is thrilled to announce that Professor Thomas (Tom) D’Aunno and Professor Mary Steffel will be leading our efforts as the Conference Chairs for our 9th annual conference.