Launching “Tech for Open Minds”

We are excited to announce Tech for Open Minds (TOM), a new global initiative to train and connect researchers studying how digital technologies shape open-mindedness, humility, and polarization. Building on The Summer Institutes’ long tradition of free, interdisciplinary training, TOM will provide a network of in-person events, a major annual conference at Duke University, and an open-source curriculum designed to equip the next generation of scholars with the skills and insights needed to investigate technology’s role in fostering (or hindering) constructive dialogue across differences.

TOM expands on the 2024–2025 initiative supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation, which brought together researchers at 11 international sites to explore these urgent questions. Those institutes produced new lectures, datasets, and collaborations on topics ranging from social media influence campaigns in Nigeria to climate change debates in Brazil. In the coming years, TOM will host a collection of in-person training events each year, bring leading voices to an annual conference, and develop high-quality educational materials for use around the world.

For the SICSS community, TOM represents both an exciting intellectual frontier and a new opportunity for support. Future SICSS locations that support TOM’s goals of advancing rigorous, interdisciplinary work on technology, open-mindedness, and polarization will be eligible for dedicated funding. Through TOM and The Summer Institutes, we aim to build a diverse, international community of scholars who can leverage computational skills to understand and address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Apply to host a Tech for Open Minds location in the summer of 2026! We welcome proposals from established and emerging scholars around the world. For more information, please visit the Host page.

Chris Bail on behalf of the SICSS Advisory Board