October 8
Finding Trust While We Find Truth: Lessons in Adaptive Engagement
Speaker: Ilihia Gionson, Keck Observatory
Abstract: Astronomy often takes place in locations that are scientifically exceptional and deeply meaningful to the communities that surround them. As scientists pursue new discoveries, they are frequently asked to navigate trust, culture, stewardship, and belonging alongside research and technology.
With adaptive engagement, we continuously listen, learn, and adjust our approach in response to the people and places connected to our work. Drawing on lessons from community engagement in Hawaiʻi, I will explore how trust is built across multiple scales, from individual relationships to institutional commitments. Through stories of friendship, stewardship, workforce development, and shared discovery, see how adaptive engagement does not only communicate science, but improves it.
Attendees will leave with practical tools for building relationships, engaging communities with humility, and creating the conditions for trust. Most importantly, they will be challenged to consider a simple idea: who is in the room shapes what we are able to see.
BANG! Organizers:
Matt Lastovka (he/him)
Cole Smith (he/him)