2015 Policies for Progress Conference

10/28/15: Keynote Speaker Nicholas Haan

Nicholas Haan has an extensive background working in grand challenge areas, including disaster relief, food security, energy and the environment, public health, education, and genetics. Over the past 25 years, his work has crossed the private and public sectors, including working with the UN, governments, universities, and assorted NGOs. A majority of that time has been spent abroad, including East and Southern Africa. Nicholas currently serves as the Global Grand Challenges Director at Singularity University, an innovative Silicon Valley-based program founded by Ray Kurzweil that is described as part-university, part think-tank, and part business incubator. In his speech, Nicholas discussed the grand challenges that we face currently, how these problems (and solutions) will evolve over the next several decades, and the role that policy, technology, research, and other factors will play.

10/29/15: Featured Speaker Barbara Kline Pope

Barbara Kline Pope is the Executive Director of the Office of Communication for the National Academies and the Executive Director of the National Academies Press. She has served as NAP's Marketing Director for 12 years, and has been using the Web as a dissemination, outreach, and marketing tool since its inception. Barbara is a key proponent of targeted open access to increase dissemination, and she has helped shape online publishing for more than a decade. Barbara spoke about the science of science communication and how communication-oriented research from the social and behavioral sciences informs her communication efforts at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The policy work at the Academies was front and center as she provided examples of communication products and dissemination campaigns designed with audience relevance and impact in mind.