1 billion meetings a day. 30 years of research. The silence in global health convenings is manufactured by design, not culture. Read the full article: https://www.learning.foundation/2026/08/what-30-years-of-meeting-science-tells-global-health/
Thirty years of published research on meetings have now been reviewed in one place, and the evidence does not flatter how global health convenes.
The preparation finding is the most practical: meetings go better when participants have reviewed the agenda before they arrive.
A regional workshop where participants receive the agenda in the registration folder has already failed on this measure before anyone sits down.
The voice and inclusion findings go further.
Participation in meetings tracks hierarchy, and silence is produced rather than absent.
Betina Szkudlarek and Mats Alvesson identified three mechanisms that manufacture silence: hierarchy and rigid protocol make it the safer option, norms that prize consensus make dissent expensive, and beliefs about the fu
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