2023 Speaking Science Conference

A lot has changed in recent years. The pandemic was a catalyst for scientific advances, but also amplified growing distrust of science among some members of the public. Social unrest rooted in police brutality and systemic racism inspired many to reflect on the ways inequities and exclusion operate in their spaces. For science communicators, these changes represent a challenge and an opportunity.

Both a conference and a community of practice, Speaking Science is designed to give University of Minnesota faculty, research staff, post-docs, graduate students, and communications practitioners unique opportunities to learn how to better communicate science and engage with audiences beyond the academic community. Formerly a one-day event, Speaking Science will unfold this year over four weeks, beginning with an in-person conference (Friday, March 24), followed by a variety of in-person and virtual offerings, and culminating with a second keynote and closing reception (Thursday, April 20). We hope you can join us!

Opening Keynote

Telling Science Stories in an Era of Social Media and Misinformation

Katherine Wu, science writer for The Atlantic

The pandemic rewrote the way that science stories were told. Virology and immunology became front-page news items; people got used to refreshing experimental vaccine trackers for by-the-day updates. Twitter became a source for data and expertise, and preprints—even standalone figures—became fodder for entire articles. To navigate this new landscape, journalists and the scientists they spoke to had to juggle new communication tactics, and figure out new strategies to identify and weed out misinformation and disinformation—an especially difficult task when so much was being learned by the second.