PEriTiA Call for Papers: Social Indicators of Trust in Experts

ALLEA is pleased to share a PEriTiA Call for Papers for the upcoming international workshop “Social Indicators of Trust in Experts” to be held in Paris on 1-2 October 2020. The deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to 30 April. The aim of this event is to help understand what informal social indicators people use in order to evaluate the trustworthiness of experts.

PEriTiA International Workshop: Social Indicators of Trust in Experts

Date: October 1-2 2020

Organizer(s): Gloria Origgi and Ty Branch, PEriTiA

Location: Paris, Institut Jean Nicod, Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS)

Keynote speakers: Dan Sperber, Mark Alfano, Cristina Bicchieri

Call for Papers

When we are not competent enough ourselves, we rely on experts to advise us and to act in our best interest, with the vulnerability involved in such a dependence on the competence and goodwill of others. How do we evaluate the trustworthiness of experts? Since we appeal to experts when we lack relevant epistemic competence, we cannot judge their trustworthiness on direct epistemic grounds. Reliance on experts and appeal to their domains of expertise extends well beyond traditional measures of impact, authority, and ranking. Formal indicators are complemented by informal social indicators (quality, credibility and trustworthiness), which work as cues of reputation that are distributed in a social environment.

The aim of this conference, as part of the EU funded project PEriTiA – Policy, Expertise, and Trust in Action, is to help understand what informal social indicators people use in order to evaluate the trustworthiness of experts. Among the informal social indicators there are emotions, gossip, authority, social status and the biases that underscore them. For example, when lay persons rapidly estimate the credibility of a doctor, they rely on informal social indicators like recommendations from trusted individuals (word-of-mouth), perceived social prestige (social status), and emotional response to the doctor. Such examples show how social indicators can combine and conflict in expected and unexpected ways, the consequences of this socially shaped reliance on expertise, and their overall social impact.

On the subject of informal social indicators, we welcome theoretical and empirical contributions (including case studies) addressing epistemic, normative and practical aspects of trust in experts. Questions/topics for consideration include, but are not limited to:

  1. How do people use reputation in order to establish the epistemic credibility of experts?
  2. What is epistemic authority and when is it reasonable to attribute it to experts?
  3. How status relations influence the credibility of experts?
  4. To what extent can gossip be a reliable way of extracting information from an epistemic social environment?
  5. What are the social biases that participate into the formation of credibility deficits of a group?
  6. What are the emotional aspects that influence the attribution of epistemic authority and status to experts?

Papers will be presented in sessions of 40 minutes and a selection of papers will be published in a journal.

Abstract submission details

We invite abstracts of 500-1000 words by 30 April 2020.

Abstracts should be sent to SocialIndicatorsParis2020@gmail.com.

Information regarding acceptance should be available by mid-May.

The shift to a more sustainable food system is inevitable. Here’s how to make it happen

Europe’s top scientists agree that a radical change is coming in how we produce and distribute food, to ensure food security and deliver healthy diets for all.

Now a new report from SAPEA lays out the social science evidence on how that transition can happen in an inclusive, just and timely way.

The Evidence Review Report ‘A sustainable food system for the European Union’ was coordinated by ALLEA and it provides an evidence base for the scientific opinion of the European Commission’s Chief Scientific Advisors. It was requested by the College of Commissioners and written by a multidisciplinary group of leading scientists, nominated by academies across Europe.

Based on the best available evidence and supported by a detailed systematic review, the report concludes that the key steps towards the new model are not only to reduce food waste and to change our consumption patterns — but also to recontextualise how we think about food in the first place.

Professor Peter Jackson, the chair of the working group that wrote the report, said:

“Food is an incredibly complex system, with social, economic and ecological components. Yet, it contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and plays a key role in driving climate change. The food system is responsible for around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates the annual financial cost of wasted food to be €900 billion in economic costs and an additional €800 billion in social costs. That’s why ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option.

“Our report doesn’t stop at highlighting the problems, which are now widely recognised. It also provides a range of evidence-based examples about how the transition to a sustainable food system can happen.”

Among the report’s other main conclusions are:

  • The transition to a more just and sustainable food system needs to be coordinated at multiple levels of governance and involve a range of actors in both land-based and marine environments.
  • To change how our society consumes food, we must first change people’s routines, habits and norms. Behaviour change is best effected with joined-up actions, addressing groups rather than individuals.
  • Taxation and legislation are key ways to drive change, while European policies in agriculture and fisheries offer great opportunities for developing robustness and sustainability in food production.

The report informs the Scientific Opinion from the European Commission’s Group of Advisors, which is also being published today which in turn will inform the Commission’s new ‘Farm to Fork strategy for a sustainable food system’.

Call for nominations for the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors

European scientific and research community organisations are invited to nominate outstanding candidates for membership of the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors to the European Commission. 

The deadline for submissions is 15 June 2020 (12:00 CET). These submissions should be sent to EC-SAM@ec.europa.eu with “GCSA Nominations 2020” in the subject line. Details of the submissions process can be found on the website of the European Commission.  

According to the European Commission website, the identification committee will consider specific factors and criteria for the selection process. Gender balance, the reflection of the breadth of the research community across Europe and consideration of younger next-generation leaders, are among these.

The Group of Chief Scientific Advisors provides high quality, timely and independent scientific advice to the College of European Commissioners on any subject when requested to do so by the College. Its seven members are appointed by the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation from a short list established under the responsibility of an independent, high-level identification committee. Learn more here.

European Open Science Cloud needs improved legal and technical foundations to go global

ALLEA welcomes in a new statement the progress of the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and highlights its great potential to accelerate the transition towards open science. The document presents a set of legal instruments and technical considerations which aim to reinforce the sustainability of EOSC. 

Data are vital resources for research and technological development and the lifeblood of artificial intelligence. Deploying EOSC, an open platform of research tools, infrastructures and procedures for data and research sharing across borders and scientific disciplines, can significantly foster knowledge exchange and facilitate the quicker uptake of scientifically informed policies to tackle major societal challenges like climate change or health threats. 

Such an ambitious and wide-ranging endeavour can only succeed with appropriate legal and technical instruments which ensure an encouraging research environment for individual researchers and high-risk research investments in today’s global and competitive world.   

“The deployment of the European Open Science Cloud is clearly needed for accelerating the sharing of data and research results within the scientific community in Europe and beyond. Together with other measures favouring open science, this will help to find fact-based responses to major societal challenges such as fighting the spread of coronavirus. Interoperability with other data clouds should be ensured, and, where necessary, reciprocity of access or other conditions could be required to promote the progress of science while supporting investments in research”, says Alain Strowel, Chair of the Permanent Working Group Intellectual Property Rights. 

IPR and strategic considerations

ALLEA was amongst the first endorsers of the EOSC declaration in 2017 and since then has closely monitored deliberations and developments regarding its implementation. This statement points to still unaddressed questions especially in the area of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs). It also advocates that the Rules of Participation (RoP) should further define access conditions in line with the EOSC principles to make the cloud “as open as possible and as closed as necessary”.  

Those regulations should set proportionate limitations in “duly justified cases” of IPR concerns, national security, and alike. In particular, the statement notes that the current RoP only consider ‘copyright’ as a category of IPRs and disregards patents, the most important tool for protecting research inventions, and for incentivising and securing high-risk investments in research and development, both in the public and private sectors. 

ALLEA’s statement presents necessary considerations to establish a solid legal and technical framework for an effective and sustainable open science cloud, including among others: 

  • An overall legal design that ensures reciprocity of access for participating researchers submitting data according to the EOSC RoP and to EOSC compliant users of data stored elsewhere. 
  • Interoperability with other regional data clouds which also promote interoperability and development of common global standards enabling scholarship and science to be shared as public goods for the benefit of all. 
  • Staggered security regulations as regards data and processes, with due consideration of all relevant aspects (i.e. machines, tools, people), while different requirements, depending on the security level, must also be foreseen. 
  • Open source should be promoted as a standard to ensure security.  
  • Licensing models should be harmonised so that detrimental effects of different types of open source licences are mitigated.  
  • Data should be stored, unless it is proven impossible, on servers and equipment operated in Europe and subject to EU rules. 

 

Download Statement

 

Breakthrough Prize: Deadline extended to 10 April

The deadline for nominations for the 2021 Breakthrough Prizes has been extended to 10 April 2020. The Breakthrough Prize honours outstanding, primarily recent, achievements in the categories of Fundamental Physics, Life Sciences and Mathematics. The Prize includes special categories to honour junior researchers (New Horizons) and lifetime achievements.

Visit https://breakthroughprize.org to view prize rules, register to nominate or login to renominate past candidates.

ALLEA General Assembly meetings in London cancelled

Due to the ongoing restrictions on public gatherings as a result of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, ALLEA and the hosting academies have made the decision to cancel all physical meetings in the context of this year’s ALLEA General Assembly.  

We are therefore announcing that the public symposium Research Collaboration in Changing Times on 4 June at the Royal Society will regrettably not take place.  

The business meeting for ALLEA delegates, originally scheduled for 3 June at the British Academy, will be reorganised to take place by correspondence. Member Academies and their delegates will be informed about the procedures in due course. 

This is a difficult decision for ALLEA and the hosting academies in Ireland and the UK, but the health and safety of participants and staff remain our top priority. 

We are asking for your understanding and we are hoping to be able to welcome you on another occasion. 

 

 

Picture credit: Eric Schmidt

‘Trust in a Changing World’ – PEriTiA kicks off with international symposium in Dublin

PEriTiA – Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action – has been launched today with the inaugural symposium ‘Trust in a Changing World’ hosted by University College Dublin (UCD). Funded for three years by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, the project addresses the rise of an anti-elitist discourse questioning the trustworthiness of scientific expertise. Researchers will explore the conditions under which people trust expert opinion that shapes public policy.

Keynote speakers of today’s multi-disciplinary symposium include David Farrell (UCD/Royal Irish Academy), José van Dijck (Utrecht University/KNAW), Bobby Duffy (King’s College London), Susan Owens (University of Cambridge/British Academy), and Judith Simon (University of Hamburg).

The discussion will help illuminate the main topics to be further investigated by PEriTiA in the next 3 years. You can follow the discussions on Twitter and Facebook under the hashtag #TrustInAction. The lectures will be made available on PEriTiA’s website.

Learn more about PEritiA

Follow the project on Twitter and Facebook

Project on research ethics and research integrity successfully concluded

After three years of work on the ENERI (European Network of Research Ethics and Research Integrity) project, ALLEA and its partners have successfully concluded the project during a final conference at the end of October in Brussels.

As a project, ENERI sought to improve the exchange between experts in research ethics and research integrity across Europe by providing learning material and platforms for exchange for research integrity and ethics practitioners.

While working on this project ALLEA built valuable relationships with the European networks for research ethics, ENRIO, and for research integrity, EUREC, which are an excellent basis for future joint activities and will be put to good use.

The main outcomes of ENERI are:

1) The ENERI E-community

The e-community is a platform for experts in research ethics and research integrity to discuss and share information and documents across Europe. The community is growing and hosts currently just fewer than 200 members. The project ended but the community, which is hosted on SINAPSE, a service provided by the European Commission, will continue to exist.

It is still possible to become a member of the group. To do so, please send a message to Panagiotis Kavouras (kavouras@chemeng.ntua.gr), the administrator of the page.

2) The Research Integrity Handbook

The handbook takes stock of different practices concerning the investigation of research misconduct in different parts of the continent. In the absence of harmonized and formalised European legislation the handbook compiled existing best practices. It is used as a basis for further harmonization on the European level, but also to assist countries with emerging research ethics and integrity structures to quickly establish common standards.

3) The ENERI decision tree

The decision tree is a handy tool for researchers as well as members of research ethics and research integrity committees to reflect on ethical issues and challenges before and during research. It is strongly recommended to work with the ENERI decision tree alongside the H2020 Ethics self-assessment and the European Commission‘s guidelines on ethics and data protection .

ENERI has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 710184.

More information on: www.eneri.eu

Let’s be FAIR! ALLEA presents recommendations for sustainable data sharing in the humanities

A new ALLEA report provides key recommendations to make digital data in the humanities “Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable”, in line with the FAIR principles. The document is designed as a practical guide to help scholars, research funders, professionals and policymakers navigate the shift towards a sustainable data sharing culture.

In a digital world, the abundance of data offers new opportunities for all research fields, including the humanities, where the digitisation of texts, images, sounds, video recordings and other data types can significantly contribute to advancing research, while also transforming methodologies and scholarly communications.

But data requires management, and data management requires common guidelines for good implementation. In recent years, the FAIR principles have been widely adopted as best practice in data management for research and other professional fields. For instance, they are quickly gaining ground in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums, whose data collections hold crucial resources for scholars in the humanities.

Addressing these developments, the ALLEA report “Sustainable and FAIR Data Sharing in the Humanities” helps translate these principles into practice. It proposes technical, legal and ethical considerations to construct, store, preserve, disseminate and publish data in such a way that they can be retrieved, accessed, reused, and interoperable.

“To exploit the true potential of humanities scholarship, and to share and combine data across disciplines to address big challenges, we need an awareness and common understanding of the FAIR principles and the nuances of their implementation. It is clear from ongoing discussions in scholarly communication and through the development and rapid proliferation of the Open Science paradigm that the FAIR principles are having a sustained impact on research practice. To support scholars and institutions aiming to produce FAIR data, this report combines practical advice on how to align with the principles, with a focus on practical guidance from a humanities perspective. We hope they prove useful in the collective effort to move towards more a more open research landscape,” states Dr. Natalie Harrower, Chair of the ALLEA E-Humanities Working Group.

Data management lifecycle

Following the data management lifecycle, the report is structured in five stages: (1) identify, (2) plan, (3) collect/produce, structure & store, (4) deposit for preservation, cite & share, and (5) disseminate. For each phase, a set of practical recommendations and further reading are presented. The authors consider the differences among data sharing cultures across disciplines in the humanities but also encourage pathways towards interdisciplinary data practices.

Launch and Public Consultation

The publication was prepared by the ALLEA E-Humanities Working Group and builds upon the most recent developments in the FAIR and EU research policy landscape. A public consultation to seek feedback from researchers and practitioners was launched at ALLEA’s General Assembly, the annual meeting of European Academies, in May 2019. The working group received more than 200 suggestions, which were carefully considered and incorporated.

The report was launched at the 15th International Digital Curation Conference today. Follow the discussion at #ALLEAFAIR #IDCC20

ALLEA and Global Young Academy launch strategic partnership

ALLEA and the Global Young Academy have started a strategic partnership to foster closer ties between the two organisations. The partnership, formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding, capitalises on the diverse expertise and experience of both organisations.

The Global Young Academy (GYA) gives a voice to young scientists around the world with 200 members from 57 countries, while ALLEA, as the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, represents 60 academies from over 40 countries in Europe. The partners seek to enhance knowledge exchange and establish a set of joint activities on topics of mutual interest at the interface between science, society and policy.

A first step in this cooperation seeks to strengthen cross-border collaboration between researchers from different age groups, disciplines and at different stages of their career paths. Building on and further consolidating existing forms of cooperation between ALLEA and GYA, the partnership kicks off with projects aimed at analysing and rethinking current research assessment models as well as scientific publication and peer-review practices.

Koen Vermeir, GYA Co-Chair:

The GYA aspires to empower young scientists in regional and global contexts. We see ALLEA as a natural partner for this mission and our collaboration will create new international platforms for intergenerational, interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue. We are excited to work together more closely in the coming years towards improving the science system and to promote our common values of scientific excellence and service to society.

Antonio Loprieno, ALLEA President:

Promoting science as a global and borderless public good and creating an inclusive, diverse research environment are among our key priorities. Through this partnership, we can further pursue these objectives and enhance the dialogue between researchers at various career stages. In ALLEA we look forward to working even more closely with our colleagues of the Global Young Academy in the future.”

One upcoming joint project develops around a public symposium ‘Research Assessments that Promote Progress in Scholarly Work and Strengthen the Contract with Society’ in the Academy Palace in Brussels on 16 June 2020. The event will focus on the future direction of research; values, incentives and rewards in scientific work; the notion of excellence; and the role of research assessment in scholarly work. To register and read more about the event click here.