The conference “Translating Academic Research into Public Knowledge” organized by Omri Grinberg of the Martin Buber Society of Fellows, took place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Van Leer Institute, from March 25-27, 2025. The event opened with a pre-conference evening featuring Dana Yahalomi from Public Movement, an artistic group that conducts research-based public performances. The first full day included an engaging panel on "Curating Research -- Between Academia, the Gallery, and the Museum," examining knowledge translation across institutional boundaries. This was followed by a dynamic media panel that incorporated perspectives from journalism, podcasts, and social media platforms, discussing the challenges and benefits of making knowledge about climate change, anthropology, and Jewish studies more accessible to wider audiences. The second day, held at the Van Leer Institute, featured panels on academic engagement with social and political action, a keynote on "Agents of Chaos Agents of Order," discussions on academic research and documentary cinema, and concluded with a session on expertise and criticism in the populist era.
A highlight of the conference was the powerful keynote by Professor Anna Shternshis, from the University of Toronto, "Performing Archive of Violence: Yiddish Music of the Holocaust in Ukraine." Prof. Shtenrshis demonstrated how she transformed her archival research into a musical performance and Grammy-nominated album, providing the conference audience with a particularly inspiring model for translating academic scholarship into public spheres. Prof. Shtenrshis keynote, and the conference as a whole, proved remarkably timely, as it coincided with widespread protests at Israeli universities against the government's judicial overhaul actions.