Talk: "Why Scientists & Scholars Should Communicate Through the Media Despite the Risks" by Laura Helmuth (Mellon Sawyer Seminar Series)

• Event Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2026
• Time: 5:30 pm–7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL

• Talk

Journalist and writer Laura Helmuth (Scientific American, Slate, Washington Post) joins us for this fourth event in the At Risk U series for a conversation about the role of scholarly expertise in the domain of mass media communication. Universities, public health organizations, federal science agencies, and publishers have become targets of political forces that are threatened by the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge. New restrictions on funding, collaborations, and inclusion are disrupting crucial research and limiting who is allowed to pursue it. The power imbalance is severe right now, and individuals and institutions are at risk of losing grants, students, jobs, and opportunities. Helmuth will argue for the importance of mass media as a place for building support for academic freedom, long-term research, honest assessments of history, and life-saving public health policies. Experts who share their knowledge with journalists or communicate directly through mass media face risks but can make a difference. Our guest will cover best practices, practical advice, and possible outcomes of doing so, and how people in different fields of expertise can support one another’s overlapping missions.

The At Risk U event series is part of a larger faculty project examining the emergence of risk management as a deeply ingrained organizing feature and priority of modern US universities, and considers its implications for academic freedom and democratic governance. For more information see At Risk U: the Past, Present & Future of Academic Freedom (external link).