Dr. Katlyn Turner and Dr. Aditi Verma will present for the first spring 2021 TPP Research to Policy Engagement Seminar, "Towards epistemic plurality: antiracist and anti-colonialist design and governance of complex sociotechnical systems ."

Recent conversations unfolding in the public sphere have brought the ideas of equity, racism, colonialism, and their long-term and ongoing impacts to unprecedented mainstream awareness. This interactive session will explore the question of "how can my field be more inclusive and antiracist?" by looking at examples of technology and policy from the nuclear and aerospace fields. 

Dr. Aditi Verma (Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School) and Dr. Katlyn Turner(Research Scientist, MIT Media Lab) will present a framework that students, scholars, policymakers, and practitioners can use to understand how the history and development of norms in their particular field shapes mechanisms of exclusion today.

MIT’s Technology and Policy Program and its Research to Policy Engagement Initiative aims to to create a community of researchers who can learn, apply, and contribute to developing best practices in bridging knowledge to action on societal challenges, across experiences in different research domains.  The initiative seeks to connect researchers from diverse disciplines, policymakers and other stakeholders interested in the implementation aspects of technology by creating a discussion space for technology-policy interfaces.