UDIT promotes dialogue between communication, neuroscience and design in the workshop "Deciding in the digital fog".

The Research Group on Innovation and Digital Transformation of Communication (GITDCom) of the University of Design, Innovation and Technology (UDIT) led the workshop "Deciding in the digital fog: ethical communication in neurodegenerative diseases", a scientific dissemination activity held as part of Science Week 2025. The initiative brought together researchers from three high-impact groups that integrate different areas of knowledge: GITDCom (UDIT), focused on the challenges of digital communication and media literacy; Neuro-COLAB (UDIT), specialised in neuroarchitecture, wellbeing and design for brain health; and HealthCom (URJC), focused on health psychology and the neuroscience of pain.

The meeting was led by Dr. Bárbara Castillo Abdul, principal investigator of GITDCom, together with Dr. María Beltrán, director of the Neuro-COLAB group, and Dr. Lilian Velasco, researcher of the HealthCom group at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. The three researchers reflected on the relationship between communication, neuroscience and design in the digital era, and on the risks that health misinformation represents for patients and families of people with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS.

The session analysed the dynamics of the care economy, the role of algorithms in the dissemination of viral content and the need to promote ethical communication that encourages critical thinking and informed decision-making. Examples of how physical environments, architecture and sensory design can contribute to the cognitive and emotional well-being of patients were also presented, reinforcing the idea that the environment also communicates, accompanies and cares.

The workshop culminated in an open exchange with the audience, in which the impact of misinformation and strategies to strengthen media literacy in health were discussed. The researchers thanked the attendees for their active participation and stressed the importance of promoting responsible, interdisciplinary and people-centred scientific dissemination.

This collaboration between GITDCom, Neuro-COLAB and HealthCom consolidates UDIT's commitment to applied research and knowledge transfer, promoting an ethical, inclusive and transformative scientific culture at the service of society.