Dystopian visions of the future dominate popular culture, but what if we empower each other with hope by letting ourselves dream? That’s why Yale Planetary Solutions hosts Sci X Sci-Fi, a new conversation between creative world builders and those innovating and inventing.
Held each spring, Sci X Sci-Fi invites the community to use fantasy as inspiration for practical technical solutions, facilitating a rich, interdisciplinary dialogue.
In collaboration with entertainment industry partners, including NBCUniversal, NRDC’s Rewrite the Future, and the Green Film School Alliance, Sci X Sci-Fi 2027 will focus on the power of TV and film to positively impact public perception and action related to climate initiatives.
Join us April 1-2, 2027, for two days of screenings, workshops, and more!
Announcing the Sci X Sci-Fi Vertical Media Student Contest
$5,000 in Prizes. Submit by February 25, 2027!
2027 Events
NRDC Rewrite the Future Workshop
This workshop will create space for participants to respond to prompts and build believable future worlds where climate change and climate solutions shape everyday life. This workshop will have a tangible outcome, and it invites the public and students in any discipline (e.g. creative writing, drama, art, architecture, environment) interested in screenwriting, set design, costume design, and narrative worldbuilding.
Vertical Media Student Contest Winner Screening
A lunchtime screening on Friday, April 2, showcasing the Sci X Sci-Fi Vertical Media Student Contest winners.
Sci X Sc-Fi 2025 & 2026
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A joint event with the Environmental Film Festival at Yale featured 4 winning short film producers and 4 winning flash fiction writers during Sci X Sci-Fi 2026. Photo by Saish Solankar.
Winning EFFY filmmakers and Sci X Sci-Fi flash fiction authors gathered on stage for a discussion with Creative-in-Residence Stephanie Barish and moderator Jennifer Carman from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.
2026 Creative-in-Residence Stephanie Barish discusses climate change and indie gaming with moderator Joyce Hsiang at the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media. Photo by Julia Weston.
Following a lecture, attendees played indie video games related to climate at the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media.
Groups across campus and New Haven played Daybreak, a cooperative board game about stopping climate change. The 2026 session was faciliated by board game designer Matteo Menapace. Photo by Ash Baker.
BIOMES lecture, “Avoiding Dystopia in Theory and Practice” at the Yale School of the Environment
Panelists Annalee Newtiz, Dawn Leaks Ragsdale, and Julie Zimmerman at the New Haven Free Public Library
Green chemistry students developed elevator pitches to share about their research quickly and clearly
“While Sci-Fi has a reputation for lifting up stories that often tilt toward dystopian imaginings of the future, Sci X Sci-Fi was a wonderful reminder that the genre can also challenge us to imagine a future where scientific advancement can benefit all of human kind particularly when we center the wellbeing of all people in that advancement.”
Dawn Leaks Ragsdale, Executive Director of The Center for Inclusive Growth and 2025 Sci X Sci-Fi Panelist
Can Science Fiction Help Us Envision a Better Future?
March 27, 2025
In an interview with YaleNews, Annalee Newitz, the inaugural “creator-in-residence” of a new Yale series called “Sci X Sci-Fi,” explains how science fiction can help point the way to a thriving tomorrow.
