Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

Workshops 2016-17

Democracy Project - June 30, 2017

This is a meeting of individuals interested in informed action to improve the polarized and counterproductive atmosphere infecting capitalist democracies throughout the world. We will gather philanthropists, activists, and thought leaders to gain an understanding of the types of interventions underway and future planned activities, and to offer social science-informed thoughts on fruitful directions and potential pitfalls. 

Computational Propaganda Project - June 22, 2017

The Computational Propaganda Project at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, will hold an event at CASBS releasing the findings of research on governments that manipulate public opinion over social media. Participants are from industry, civil society, law, academia and related spheres. This case study series focuses on the spread of computational propaganda in 9 countries, including several with recent or forthcoming elections: the United States, Germany, Taiwan, Ukraine, Russia, Canada, Poland, Brazil, China.

The Changing Workforce: Implications of Cyber Technologies - June 5, 2017

The economic and social prosperity of the US critically depends on a reliable and strong supply of talent and skill in its workforce, and that talent is shaped by multiple factors found within individual, educational, organizational, and governmental domains. The integration of cyber technologies into the workplace, and the trends of automation and digitization have effects not only on individual workers and careers, but also on the economy and society as a whole. The workshop will address this context by bringing together scholars from a wide range of fields -- education, psychology, policy, economics, and computer science -- to interact with one another in discussing workforce readiness challenges facing our society.

iGeneration: Workshop #2 - May 16, 2017

The iGeneration (iGen) encompasses those born from and after the mid-1990s at a time when the Internet, or more particularly the World Wide Web, was introduced to broad public usage. There is much speculation and anecdotal evidence that this generation is in some significant way ‘different’ from those which preceded it. Some suggest that the difference is qualitative rather than quantitative – a difference of kind not just degree. Parents speak of not being able to understand their children and futurologists speculate on the distinctive challenge of marketing to what they call the ‘Generation Z’ or ‘digital natives’. Indeed, existing forms of democratic politics, education, socialization and employment struggle to engage young people as never before. This workshop aims to inspire new work which subjects these hunches to serious scientific scrutiny.

Digital Technology and Democracy Theory Group - May 5, 2017

The goal of this workshop was to examine the meaning and implications of the growing role of digital technology in democratic institutions. These technologies are changing standard practices across many public agencies and nudging us toward new approaches in many aspects of participatory decision making, from voting procedures to policy ideation, from blockchain experiments to algorithmic accountability.

Climate Change, Cities, & the Problem of Resilience - April 28, 2017

The goals for this workshop are, first with support from our funder, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we are exploring the ways that climate change affects health, wellbeing, and inequality in the urban environment, and the ways that places themselves shape our relationships to the climate and to each other. Second, we are hoping to build a network of scholars who are interested in developing a social science agenda for studying the social challenges of climate change. Third, we want to share ideas and discuss methodological and theoretical approaches to research in a few particular areas: infrastructure, neighborhoods, and urban political ecology.   

Evidence-based Policy - April 14, 2017

This workshop planned to do three things: first, learn what those working in government (federal, state, county, local) need from social scientists and in what forms; second, describe what an effective feedback loop between government actors and academic social scientists might look like; and third, propose ways of collecting the rapidly expanding number of scientifically acceptable methods for establishing causal inference—a compilation of best practices of sorts—and disseminating them to people who want to evaluate their policies or learn from their own.

Bay Area Human Capital Collaboration - February 16, 2017

Three goals for this workshop: (1) Survey the need for mechanisms to ensure responsible provision of lifelong learning for Bay Area residents. We will draw on seven years of Stanford-based research, supported by some $2M in foundation funding, on the changing ecology of both workforce needs and adult instructional provision in this region and nationwide; (2) Sketch a vision for a “lifelong learning marketplace” that would provide data-informed services to instructional providers, employers, education and job seekers, and venture or philanthropic capital investors in lifelong learning; (3) Seek input and participation for eighteen months of design research to build an operable plan for a regional marketplace as a national/global model.

Successful Societies Program Meeting - January 13, 2017

The Successful Societies program brings together academics from sociology, political science, political philosophy, history, economics, and organizational, cultural and social psychology to share insights and create new understandings about how societal structures facilitate or inhibit the flourishing of a society. The program bridges the gap between researchers interested in studying institutions and those who study culture. It shows how understanding the interaction of institutional and cultural frameworks gives meaningful insights into how societies create opportunities for individual fulfilment and happiness.

iGeneration: Workshop #1 - January 5-6, 2017

The iGeneration (iGen) encompasses those born from and after the mid-1990s at a time when the Internet, or more particularly the World Wide Web, was introduced to broad public usage. There is much speculation and anecdotal evidence that this generation is in some significant way ‘different’ from those which preceded it. Some suggest that the difference is qualitative rather than quantitative – a difference of kind not just degree. Parents speak of not being able to understand their children and futurologists speculate on the distinctive challenge of marketing to what they call the ‘Generation Z’ or ‘digital natives’. Indeed, existing forms of democratic politics, education, socialization and employment struggle to engage young people as never before. This workshop aims to inspire new work which subjects these hunches to serious scientific scrutiny.

The Future of Work and Workers in a Moral Economy - December 16, 2016

This workshop developed ideas about what is implied by moral economy that values equity, inclusiveness, and basic protections. Also deep thought was given about the research needed to understand how to achieve and sustain a moral economy—and the policies and politics implied.

Evidence-based Policy - November 5, 2016

This workshop discussed intersections of data science, policy evaluation, and policy implementation. It laid out relevant issues in several areas: Social scientists embedded in policy-making, policy-implementing, and policy-enforcing agencies and organizations, big data, data transparency, causal inference and the role of randomized controlled trials. The workshop concluded with identifying action items, timelines, and teams.