Panel Discussions




Reimagining Work After COVID

Wednesday, May 26, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM EDT (-4 UTC)

The year of 2020 disrupted the way many of us work due to the global pandemic (COVID-19). Such disruptions included the sudden transition from physical to virtual workspaces, loss and change of jobs, and increased life demands outside of work. Meanwhile, recent technological advances have transformed the way people interact and conceptualize “work” (e.g., gig economy). This panel brings together leading scholars whose research speaks to how the nature of work has recently changed (highlighting specific effects of COVID-19 over the past year), and how it is likely to evolve further in the future. Learn more about this panel discussion.

Tammy D. Allen

University of South Florida, USA

Tara S. Behrend

Purdue University, USA

Ravi S. Gajendran

Florida International University, USA

Sharon Parker

Curtin University, Australia

Kai Chi (Sam) Yam

National University of Singapore





Climate Change: Addressing Climate Change and its Psychological, Ethical, and Socio-Economic Challenges

Thursday, May 27, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM EDT (-4 UTC)

Climate change yields potentially devastating political, socioeconomic, and environmental consequences. To address the challenges the planet confronts, we need to take urgent and wide-ranging action. How should we assess the vulnerabilities of human societies and natural systems to climate change, and what are the options for adapting to it? What factors lead people to deny or accept climate change and its impacts? What factors drive them to effective individual and collective action? Learn more about this panel discussion.

Susan Clayton

The College of Wooster, USA

Dale Jamieson

New York University, USA

Joyashree Roy

Institute of Technology, Thailand

Kim-Pong (Kevin) Tam

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology



Misinformation: Psychological Processes and Social Network Mechanisms

Thursday, May 27, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM EDT (-4 UTC)

The public availability and sources of information has been growing at a staggering rate in the last ten years. This growth is primarily due to technological innovation for connectivity such as cell-phones and internet-based social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter among others.  The increase in influx of information has implications for both the ability of the human cognitive system to remember, and sort information flows as well as for the psychological wellbeing of many of us. As the number of sources and amount of information increased, the ability of citizens to effectively sort out facts from non-facts has often been jeopardized. Understanding how the human mind can or fails at processing information as well as false misinformation can be critical for society to make steps towards regulating how information is delivered on public channels and by public officials. This panel will cover recent findings on the psychology of misinformation in relation to fundamental aspects of the human cognitive system, such as memory, aging, and decision making. Learn more about this panel discussion.

Dolores  Albarracin

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA

Nadia M.  Brashier

Harvard University, USA

Ciara M.  Greene

University College Dublin, Ireland

Gordon Pennycook

University of Regina, Canada





From Vaccine Hesitancy to Vaccine Confidence

Wednesday, May 26, 11:00 AM-12:00 PM EDT (-4 UTC)

Vaccine hesitancy is a multidimensional phenomenon, ranging from indifference to radical, anti-vaccine attitudes. In this panel, we consider psychological but also sociological, political and cultural underpinnings of this phenomenon and explore avenues for increasing vaccine confidence, especially with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic. Learn more about this panel discussion.

Jeremy Ward

Inserm, France

Cornelia Betsch

University of Erfurt, Germany

Heidi Larson

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK

E. Lisako Jones McKyer

Texas A&M University, USA