Tools for Recognizing Useful Signals of Trustworthiness (TRUST) Program Proposers' Day

TRUST Proposers' Day Conference SYNOPSIS The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) will host a Proposers' Day Conference for the Tools for Recognizing Useful Signals of Trustworthiness (TRUST) Program on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 in anticipation of the release of a new solicitation in support of the program. This UNCLASSIFIED Conference will be held from 9 am to 4:30 pm at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, Virginia. The purpose of the conference will be to provide information on TRUST, to address questions from potential proposers and to provide a forum for potential proposers to present their capabilities for teaming opportunities. This announcement serves as a pre-solicitation notice and is issued solely for information and planning purposes. The Proposers' Day Conference does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or proposal abstracts. Conference attendance is voluntary and is not required to propose to future solicitations (if any) associated with this program. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND GOALS Trust has generally been defined as the willingness to be vulnerable to another party under conditions in which the negative consequences of abuse of that trust far outweigh any potential gain. Trustworthiness, in turn, has been associated with qualities that are related to those who are perceived to be able to be trusted under specific conditions. However, both trust and trustworthiness - as concepts, much less measures - remain highly qualitative and often unproven, frequently defined using simplistic paradigms or "games" that lack construct and ecological validity, and that further suffer from a distinct lack of interdisciplinary collaboration. Trust to an organizational psychologist rarely refers to the same thing as trust to a behavioral economist, or a cognitive neuroscientist, or others. How each of those disciplines tries to measure trust also varies, often using metrics with little or no replication or validation. Without at least some common understanding and measures of interpersonal trust, knowing who is trustworthy under specific conditions may remain more speculative than it might otherwise have to be. The TRUST Program will bring together sensing AND validated protocols to provide tools for assessing trustworthiness. Doing so requires that we first develop scientifically credible protocols, and then identify combinations of sensors that will detect reliable signals of trust in operationally-relevant scenarios. To develop these tools, the program will be divided into two phases: Phase One will sponsor technical and conceptual innovation in developing experimental protocols that can be validated in order to measure, quantify, and assess different kinds of interpersonal trust and trustworthiness across different interactive, ecologically-valid contexts, to include dyadic and small group interactions in situations with high motivation and consequences. Phase one's tools - in this case, different experimental protocols for different contexts - will help bring new rigor, face validity, and construct validity to trust and trustworthiness across a range of different contexts and different interpersonal variables. In Phase Two, the Program will use these protocols to develop further tools (including combinations of sensors and software) to detect and amplify our own useful signals in order to more accurately predict trust and trustworthiness in others. Collaborative efforts/teaming among potential performers will be strongly encouraged. It is anticipated that teams will be multidisciplinary with psychology, neuroscience, social sciences (sociology, anthropology), engineering, statistics, behavioral economics, and other disciplines represented, with others as appropriate. IARPA anticipates that universities and companies from around the world will participate in this fascinating area of research. Researchers will be able to publish their findings in publicly-available, academic journals. REGISTRATION INFORMATION Attendees must register no later than 5:00pm EST December 11, 2009 at https://conference.brtrc.com/trust_pd/Overview.aspx. Directions to the conference facility and other materials are available on the website. Due to space limitations, attendance will be limited to the first 100 registrants and to no more than 2 representatives per organization. All attendees will be required to present a government issued photo identification to enter the conference. Non-US citizens will be required to submit a visit request form for Foreign Nationals at least 5 business days prior to the conference. The form and submission instructions can be found on the registration website. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Attendees who wish to present organization capabilities for potential teaming opportunities may request to do so by sending an e-mail along with their presentation to DNI-IARPA-BAA-10-03@ugov.gov. Presentations will be limited to 5 minutes with a maximum of 5 slides (MS PowerPoint or PDF format). Opportunities to present will be limited by time and will therefore be on a "first ask" basis. Deadline for requests is close of business (5:00pm EST) December 11, 2009. It is the presenter's responsibility to ensure that all materials briefed are appropriately marked and approved for presentation by their organization (remember that this is an UNCLASSIFIED conference). The IARPA Program Manager will review and approve all presentations. This Proposers' Day is intended for participants who are eligible to compete on the anticipated BAA. Other Government Agencies, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), and University Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs) will not be eligible to submit proposals to the anticipated BAA or participate as team members under proposals submitted by eligible entities. While such entities are not prohibited from attending the Proposers' Day, due to space limitations, preference will be given first to those organizations that are eligible to compete. IARPA will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred to participate in this conference. Questions concerning conference & registration can be sent to IARPAevents@brtrc.com. Questions regarding the program can be sent to DNI-IARPA-BAA-10-03@ugov.gov.