Retaining public trust in universities in a post truth world

The American political scientist, Francis Fukuyama famously wrote that public trust is the “currency of governance”. Without it, institutions bleed legitimacy and their credibility falters.

We live in a world where those who promote alternative facts, fake news and advocate suspicion towards experts are eroding public trust in all of our great civic institutions. This is particularly poignant for universities as they stand for truth, evidence-based argument and a commitment to intellectual enquiry.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge recently said “…If society does not believe that we have its interests at heart, we need to do a better job at engaging with it and communicating the impact of our work.”

We’ve developed a programme and brought together a fantastic group of speakers to help us explore these challenges. Speakers include the celebrated Swedish trendwatcher and futurologist, Troed Troedson; the VC of Malmö University, Kerstin Tham; the Secretary General of the Volkswagen Foundation, Wilhelm Krull; Deborah Bull, the Assistant Principal (London) responsible for public engagement and cultural strategy at King’s College London; and many others.

Our conference is hosted by Malmö University, a university whose mission has been focused on building self-sustaining communities. It will be a lively and engaging annual conference, with a convivial social programme celebrating the Scandinavian summer!

Getting to Malmö could not be easier – Copenhagen is the closest airport linked directly by fast and frequent trains to Malmö, just 30 minutes away.

Check out the programme and register now to secure your place.