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.
Thanks to our many partners on Sci X Sci-Fi 2026, including the Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media, the Environmental Film Festival at Yale, the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, the Yale Center for Climate Change and Health, the Yale School of the Environment, and the New Haven Free Public Library.
We look forward to seeing you for Sci X Sci-Fi 2027!
2026 Events
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Let’s Play Daybreak: A Cooperative Board Game about Stopping Climate Change
Can a board game help us solve the climate crisis? Join Yale Planetary Solutions in playing Daybreak with board game designer Matteo Menapace. Learn more and register.
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The Power of Video Games and Short Fiction in Bringing New Voices to Climate Narratives
Have you considered playing video games and reading short stories to help solve the climate crisis? Register now to join this interactive event!
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Imagining Our Way to a Thriving Future through Film and Fiction
The Environmental Film Festival at Yale (EFFY) and Yale Planetary Solutions will jointly present winning EFFY short films and Sci X Sci-Fi short stories. Register via Luma!
At a Glance
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Scientific Panel
Yale scientists spark inspiration by explaining the most promising future technologies
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Flash Fiction Contest
Compete for $600 in prizes for 300 to 1,000-word stories featuring hopeful futures
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Creatives-in-Residence
Storytelling experts come to campus to share their knowledge about climate narratives
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People engaged through Sci X Sci-Fi 2025 through workshops, lab visits, and panels
2026 Creatives-in-Residence
Stephanie Barish
Stephanie Barish is the founder of IndieCade, the leading stand-alone international festival of independent games. She is an award-winning producer and a prominent figure behind leading initiatives that are guiding games, digital media, interactive arts, and those who make them, into the future. IndieCade runs the annual Climate Jam competition, inviting game creators from around the world to make games that explore solutions to address a rapidly changing planet.
Tory Stephens
Tory Stephens is a climate storyteller, narrative strategist, and creative manager at Grist, where he co-founded and leads Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. He oversees two acclaimed anthologies, builds partnerships across media, film, and academia, and develops collaborations that bring climate storytelling into conversation with new audiences and communities. He thinks about climate through culture — and believes the stories we tell about the future shape the futures we’re able to build.
Matteo Menapace
Matteo Menapace is a game designer and educator. He designs cooperative board games inspired by social issues, such as food politics, memory loss, and the climate crisis. He also teaches people how to make games that encourage collaboration and help people navigate complex conversations and facilitates playful workshops for people to explore real-world challenges.
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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.
