Trust & Well-being with Dr. David Bersoff
On Wednesday, November 4th from 1-1:50 PM in FXB G12 and online, please join us for the second installment in our Trust and Well-being Seminar Series, featuring Dr. David Bersoff.
All are welcome. Lunch provided.
Series Theme
This seminar series will explore the role of trust in promoting psychological, physical, and social well-being. At a time of declining trust in institutions, political polarization, fear-based public discourse, and rapidly changing technologies that shape how people encounter information and one another, the series will consider trust not only as an individual experience but also as a central feature of collective well-being. Through conversations with leading scholars and practitioners, we will examine how trust is defined and measured across diverse social and cultural contexts; how it functions across relationships, communities, institutions, and generations; and how it is built, maintained, broken, and repaired.
The series will also explore how social, political, commercial, and cultural factors shape trust, with particular attention to health equity and the histories of exclusion, discrimination, disinvestment, and institutional harm that influence whether communities feel able to trust systems. Together, we will consider how trust and trustworthiness can promote safety, belonging, resilience, civic participation, health-promoting behaviors, and flourishing while helping to build more connected, equitable, and resilient communities and systems.
Speaker Biography
Dr. David Bersoff is the Head of Research for the Edelman Trust Institute, Edelman’s think tank dedicated to advancing the study of trust in society. As the Institute’s Chief Trust Scientist, Dr. Bersoff is responsible for ensuring the quality, integrity, and scientific value of all of Edelman’s trust-oriented research, which includes the annual Trust Barometer, the biggest and longest running global study of institutional trust, as well as yearly topical studies examining issues such as climate change, trust in the healthcare system, trust in the workplace, trust in brands, and racial justice. He also oversees all of the Trust Institute’s external research projects done in partnership with other academic, social policy, and philanthropic institutions.
Prior to joining Edelman in 2016, Dr. Bersoff spent 17 years as a consumer insights and marketing strategy consultant at The Futures Company (nee Yankelovich). In his last 5 years with the organization, he served as its Chief Insights Officer and was a member of its global board of directors. In that role, he ran the Global Insights Group and drove the research, data analysis, IP creation and product development strategy for all of their syndicated consumer insights offers. In addition to his background in IP development and insights product management, Dr. Bersoff has also served as a trusted advisor and marketing/brand strategy consultant to major clients in industries as diverse as financial services, automotive, media, professional organizations, energy, and the military.
Before entering the consulting world, Dr. Bersoff spent 12 years engaged in social science research at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, where he was an assistant professor of social psychology and research methodology and served on its IRB.
Speaker Information
Organizers
ⓘ Harvard Chan School hosts a diverse array of speakers, invited to share both scholarly research and personal perspectives. They do not speak for the School, and hosting them does not imply endorsement of their views, organizations, or employers.