Strategic Plan

I. The Cognitive Science Society: Mission and Values

The Cognitive Science Society (CSS) is an international organization that brings together researchers from around the world who hold a common goal: understanding the nature of the human mind. The mission of the Cognitive Science Society is to promote Cognitive Science as a discipline, and to foster scientific interchange among researchers in various areas of study, including Anthropology, Artificial Intelligence, Education, Linguistics, Neuroscience, Philosophy, and Psychology.

Major Mission-Driven Activities: The Society organizes an Annual Meeting, publishes two journals (Cognitive Science, and Topics in Cognitive Science), funds outreach initiatives, and recognizes achievements in Cognitive Science through several awards. The Society works closely with other societies on topics of joint interest.

Society Values: The central goal of Cognitive Science, understanding the human mind, is important to human societies around the world. CSS is committed to advancing Cognitive Science as a scientific field; supporting an international community of cognitive scientists via educational opportunities, training, and professional partnerships; and sharing scientific results with researchers, members of the public and other stakeholders via our conference, journals, website and social media. In all our endeavors, we embrace diversity broadly construed, and seek to engage individuals and groups with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives in a collaborative and supportive environment.

II. CSS Strategic Planning: Purpose, Process and Timeline

In early 2024, the Cognitive Science Society’s Governing Board (GB) agreed on the need to articulate a long-term strategic framework for the future of CSS. The goal was to develop a new vision for CSS as a major scientific society amidst a changing scientific landscape in terms of conference organization (with the rise of virtual options), publishing (with the rise of Open Access models), and engagement with fellow scientists and the public (with newly-emerging opportunities for global engagement and outreach). Within this environment, CSS was very well positioned to further its scientific mission and provide leadership, given the healthy state of its finances, operational structure (supported by our Association Management Partners), and member base. By articulating its ambitions for the future, the Society therefore had an exciting opportunity to decide which opportunities to pursue and how to fulfill its mission in the best way. The objective of the current strategic plan is to identify priority areas for the Cognitive Science Society for the period 2025-2035 in accordance with the Society’s mission and values.

The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) consisted of Anna Papafragou (chair), Arielle Borovsky, Charles Kemp, Roger Levy, Brett Martensen, and Cendrine de Vis. In preparing the strategic plan during the Spring and Summer of 2024, the SPC conducted a CSS Member survey and a CSS Governing Board survey to identify the Society’s accomplishments, challenges, opportunities and future directions. The SPC also examined several documents and reports both within CSS (past strategic plans, financial and other reports, etc.) and other societies, and considered information from external consultants, the Society’s Executive Officer and Editors, the leadership of other academic societies, and other sources. The strategic plan was presented to the CSS Governing Board during the CSS Annual Meeting in Rotterdam in July 2024 and finalized in the Fall 2024.

III. CSS Strategic Plan (2025-2035)

The CSS Strategic Plan for 2025-2035 is organized in terms of six key areas: Membership; Community and Partnerships; Conference; Publications; Governance; and Finances. We begin with a brief overview of each area, followed by a set of specific goals. We stress that this is meant as a fluid and flexible document to guide CSS leadership in prioritizing future actions.

A. Membership

We strongly believe that CSS should capitalize on opportunities for offering online engagement, training and mentoring to its members. These opportunities could promote progress in the field of Cognitive Science by allowing members to learn new tools, be exposed to new ideas or collaborate and learn beyond what is being offered at their individual institutions. A strong investment in such virtual events can also create year-round educational value for CSS members and a sense of community and belonging. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, CSS can host innovative online events that are not offered by discipline-specific Societies. Similarly, CSS is uniquely poised to engage with leading-edge areas such as AI that have seen strong member interest and whose footprint will only grow in both science and society. These steps can enhance and communicate the relevance and value of CSS membership, as well as help fulfill the mission of CSS in new ways.

Beyond growing and maintaining a vibrant member base, a long-term strategic goal of CSS has been to expand the diversity of its membership (and, relatedly, its conference audience). We see huge potential for increasing the reach of CSS by introducing training, mentoring and engagement for members outside of conference participation. In addition, CSS should develop policies to increase member diversity (broadly defined) across CSS vehicles and regularly assess the impact of these policies.

Specific Goals for Membership

1. Create online resources, webinars and training events for CSS members year-round to accelerate interdisciplinary and inclusive engagement, professional preparation, innovation and excellence in Cognitive Science

2. Provide member resources for cutting-edge, high-demand areas (e.g., the interface between AI and human cognition)

  

3. Establish a virtual year-round mentorship program for members

4. Facilitate stronger connections among CSS members and highlight the benefits of membership through e-blasts and website

5. Promote continuous membership in CSS to foster community and belonging

6. Promote growth and diversity of membership in terms of identity, language, geography, discipline, institutional affiliation and career stage

B. COMMUNITY AND PARTNERSHIPS

A vital priority for CSS is to create partnerships with other scientific societies, support program development within higher education, engage with industry and other non-academic partners and other stakeholders, and perform outreach activities to increase access to scientific findings and training in the study of the mind. These activities have strong potential to expand the Society’s impact and promote its mission and values.

Specific Goals for Community and Partnerships

1. Foster connections to academic societies and other organizations relevant to Cognitive Science (including national Cognitive Science Societies)

2. Provide a hub for Cognitive Science academic programs and new program development at all levels (via the new CSS Higher Education Committee)

3. Strengthen ties to the non-academic sector (industry, non-profits, government, etc.)

4. Broaden participation in Cognitive Science and promote the Society’s impact and visibility through additional outreach activities and dedicated funding

5. Assess CSS communication strategy and tools to recruit new members and advertise Society initiatives to people who are not currently members (including lay audiences)

C. Conference

The Annual Meeting is central to the Society’s mission and values. It is also a highly complex and resource-demanding CSS event. We strongly believe that a well-managed, leading-edge Conference that maximally engages the membership should always be a signature strategic objective of our Society that deserves continued investment and attention. Moreover, our conference structure should make sound use of the personnel, managerial and financial capacities of the Society.

Specific Goals for the Conference

1. Ensure that the Annual Meeting continues to be a premier scientific mechanism for the dissemination of the latest Cognitive Science research

2. Strengthen long-term conference planning

3. Assess whether our current model (global location rotations, with a hybrid conference every third year) still serves CSS

4. Broaden participation and increase diversity (broadly construed) at the conference so that the scholars and work represented at the conference reflect the diversity of the human minds we aspire to study as a field

5. Reuse conference content to engage the membership year-round

D. Publications

The two CSS journals, Cognitive Science and Topics in Cognitive Science (alongside the CSS Conference Proceedings) represent an important part of the Society’s activities, with visibility and impact that serve the CSS mission and values very well. The revenues from the journals are essential for the Society’s financial health. It is vital for the Society to maintain and strengthen the profile and operations of our journals.

Specific Goals for Publications

1. Assess our publications model within the changing landscape of scientific publishing

2. Ensure that our journals remain important outlets for high-quality Cognitive Science research, and promote transparency and open science

3. Continue efforts to ensure that both our editorial boards and the published authors and research reflect the diversity of our members and disciplines

4. Strengthen communication and synergies between our editors and Governing Board to support publications content and operations

E. Governance

The Society’s Governing Board consists of 15 members, each serving for 6 years, and a (non-voting) student representative, serving for 2 years. The Society’s Executive Officer and Treasurer also serve on the Governing Board (and the two CSS journal editors serve as ex officio members). The GB members alongside a number of non-GB members serve on a total of 16 CSS committees (in addition to the Executive Committee) and two working groups/ad hoc committees (hybridization and sustainability). Their work is assisted by CSS’s association management partner and two staff members (Content Production Manager and Outreach Coordinator). These committees further CSS’s mission through a wide variety of activities.

We believe that CSS has much to gain from optimizing and expanding committee structure to serve current and emerging society priorities. The present CSS strategic plan offers a tool to guide committee work towards new mission-driven initiatives and desirable outcomes. We also believe that CSS should recruit a larger pool of dedicated talent beyond the GB to expand its committee capacity, create inclusive opportunities for members’ engagement in Society affairs and governance, and foster the next generation of CSS leaders.

Specific Goals for Governance

1. Optimize committee structure to strengthen productive engagement, reflect current CSS priorities, and efficiently distribute workload and duties

2. Structure committee activity planning and progress over the year

3. Offer more opportunities for non-GB members to participate in CSS committees, including engagement of diverse early-career members

4. Strengthen internal capacity and leadership

F. Finances

As the scientific study of the mind is in its infancy, we believe it is crucial for CSS to maintain long-term financial health indefinitely into the future, so as to best achieve the Society’s mission. As a non-profit organization the Society’s activities should collectively lead to balanced budgets and sustainable investments.  A key strategic goal for the Society is to keep costs in check and grow the endowment as much as possible, while staying consistent with its broader mission and values.

Specific Goals for Finances

1. Prioritize funding for initiatives aligned with CSS strategic goals

2. Support conference operations without massive costs

3. Ensure the long-term financial stability of the society

4. Strengthen Society fundraising and development activities