Seminar Links Social and Behavioral Insights on COVID with Policy

No policymaker alive has been called upon to address the enormous loss of lives and significant economic, educational, public health, and social costs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet it has also created an environment for social and behavioral science research that is singularly focused: academic experts and practitioners, from economics to education, from criminology to social psychology, are illuminating the implications of the virus and working to mitigate its effects. On October 9, a free online symposium will bring together social and behavioral science researchers in the United States whose work can inform public policies related to the pandemic with policymakers and public servants who are crafting and enacting legislation and other responses to COVID-19.

This seminar is hosted by the National Academies of Science’s Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, in collaboration with the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, the Consortium of Social Science Associations, the Federation of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, and SAGE Publishing (the parent of Social Science Space).

The public portion of this event will be live from 12:45 to 5 p.m. ET across two panel sessions and a plenary during which social, behavioral and economic science researchers will share their insights.

The first session, on education and health, runs from 1:05-1:50p ET. It will feature talks from:

• Abram Wagner, research assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health
• Roxane Cohen Silver, professor of psychological science, medicine, and public health at the University of California Irvine School of Social Ecology
• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, Courtney Sale Ross University Professor of Globalization and Education at New York University-Steinhardt

The second session will focus on the economy and the workforce and runs from 2:40-3:25 p.m. ET. It will feature talks from:

• Jeffrey C. Johnson, professor of anthropology at the University of Florida
• Enrica Ruggs, assistant professor of management at the University of Memphis Fogelman College
• Judy Chevalier, William S. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Economics at the Yale School of Management

The event concludes with a plenary session starting at 4:05 ET moderated by Valerie Reyna, professor of human development at Cornell College of Human Ecology and member of the National Academies Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Advisory Committee.

On 10/9, our friends at @NASEM_DBASSE @COSSADC @FABBS and @SAGE_Publishing will present “Responding to COVID-19: Emerging Insights from SBE Sciences.” See how research like yours is making a difference. https://t.co/qe5XtLsnvA @Eventbrite

— Arthur Lupia (@ArthurLupia) September 17, 2020