Past Events

Register to join us on February 1, 2023 at 1pm for an Authors Meet Critics panel on "Microverses: Observations from a Shattered Present," by Dylan Riley, Professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. Riley will be joined in conversation by Colleen Lye and Donna Jones from the UC Berkeley Department of English; the panel will be moderated by Alexei Yurchak, Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley.

In this webinar, representatives from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the European Commission (EC), and the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) will talk about how the concept of "nature-based solutions" is being conceptualized in the context of risk management in the US, Europe, and beyond.

Join us for a panel on the outcome of this year’s midterm elections, hosted by the Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research. Panelists Lynn Vavreck, Marvin Hoffenberg Professor of American Politics and Public Policy at UCLA, Eric McGee, Senior Fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, and Gabriel Lenz, Professor of Political Science at UC Berkeley, will help us understand and interpret the election results.

Register to join us on November 9 for an "Authors Meet Critics" panel on "How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea," a new book by Sandra Eder, Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley and Acting Director of the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society (CSTMS). Eder will be joined in conversation by Professors Laura Nelson and Danya Lagos; the panel will be moderated by Catherine Ceniza Choy.

What is the future of the modern university in an emerging global context of international competition? Join us for a discussion with Harvard University's William C. Kirby and Nicholas Dirks, President and CEO, New York Academy of Sciences, and former Chancellor of UC Berkeley.

Join us on October 20 for a Matrix on Point panel on the implications of the conservative turn in the Supreme Court. With Thomas Biolsi, Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and Native American Studies; Khiara Bridges, Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law; Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law at Berkeley Law; and Ronit Stahl, Associate Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of History. Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Join us on October 14 for an Authors Meet Critics panel on "Keeping It Unreal: Comics and Black Queer Fantasy," by Darieck Scott, Professor of African American Studies at UC Berkeley. Scott will be joined in conversation by Ula Taylor and Scott Bukatman, and Greg Niemeyer will moderate.

Presented by the Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research, this panel will focus on challenges related to public opinion polling — and how they can be addressed. Panelists include Elliott Morris, Data Journalist and Correspondent, The Economist; Mark Di Camillo, Director, IGS Survey, UC Berkeley; Erin Hartman, Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley; and Jon Cohen, Chief Research Officer, Momentive/SurveyMonkey. The panel will be moderated by Jack Citrin, Professor of the Graduate School, UC Berkeley.

Algorithms can be complex, opaque, and intimidating—and it can be tempting to pretend that hard moral questions have simple technological answers. This "Authors Meet Critics" panel will focus on the book "Voices in the Code: A Story About People, Their Values, and the Algorithm They Made," by David Robinson, a visiting scholar at Matrix, in conversation by Iason Gabriel and Deirdre Mulligan.

Join us on September 30 for an "Author Meets Critics" panel featuring Carolyn Chen, Associate Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of Ethnic Studies, presenting her book, "Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley." Professor Chen will be joined in conversation by Arlie Hochschild, Professor Emerita in the UC Berkeley Department of Sociology, and Morgan Ames, Assistant Professor of Practice in the School of Information and Associate Director of Research for the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society. Marion Fourcade will moderate.

In recent years, we have seen presumably new forms of racial bias and discrimination in mainstream politics that challenge existing theories and offer new scholarly directions. This panel, presented by the Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research, will discuss new perspectives on inter- and intra-racial attitudes, new directions for research, and new ways of theorizing, measuring, and experimenting to understand the politics of race and ethnicity. 

Register for an online Matrix on Point panel discussion on how technology is changing humanitarian interventions, the human rights of recipients, and the broader power relations between donors and recipients. With Daragh Murray, University of Essex Human Rights Centre & School of Law; Fleur Johns, UNSW Sydney; and Wendy H. Wong, Principal’s Research Chair, Professor, Political Science, The University of British Columbia.