2026 Scheidel Lecture: preempting public misconceptions about controversial science
Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson delivers the annual Scheidel Lecture on combating public misconceptions about controversial scientific topics.
Why we picked this
Jamieson literally wrote the book on how scientific misinformation spreads. In a moment when public trust in expertise is fracturing along every possible axis, her research on preemptive correction feels less like academia and more like infrastructure.
The annual Scheidel Lecture at the University of Washington brings Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, one of the foremost scholars of science communication and misinformation, to discuss how we can get ahead of public misconceptions about controversial science before they take root.
Jamieson’s research has mapped the mechanisms by which false beliefs about scientific topics spread and solidify, and — more importantly — identified strategies for preemptive correction that actually work. Her work sits at the intersection of communication science, cognitive psychology, and public policy, with implications that reach from vaccine hesitancy to climate discourse.
Free and open to the public at Kane Hall, Room 225.