Who to trust on Covid-19? When science advice gets dirty in the political mud

A PERITIA interactive panel discussion at the Berlin Science Week. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has become a real-time test for trust in expertise. Since the beginning of the crisis, scientific experts have been in the centre of public attention; some as independent voices, others as direct advisers to politicians; often in uncomfortable positions and perhaps too frequently contradicting each other. Some experts have turned into celebrities, enjoying praise but also receiving strong criticism and even, at times, being targeted by political campaigns. At the same time, the effectiveness of the policies to tackle the pandemic relies, to a large extent, on citizens’ trust in those experts and the politicians in charge of urgent decisions.

What lessons can we draw from the handling of the pandemic for understanding trust in policy-driven expertise? How have different countries dealt with the delicate enterprise of communicating and relying on uncertain and evolving evidence and advice in extremely difficult times? Is a loss of public trust in expertise the “collateral damage” of this crisis or are people trusting experts more than before?

Join the debate and send  your questions

In an interactive moderated discussion, leading experts of the PERITIA project will shed light on the different strategies used to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic across Europe and their impact on trust in expertise. The open roundtable discussion will be moderated by Dr Shane Bergin and actively engage the audience through polls and an extended interactive Q&A session. Send  your questions live or in advance at info@peritia-trust.eu

Speakers:

Dr Shane Bergin (Moderator)
Assistant Professor at University College Dublin

Prof Maria Baghramian
Professor of American Philosophy at University College Dublin
PERITIA Lead Investigator

Tracey Brown
Director of Sense about Science

Prof José van Dijck
Professor of Media Studies at University of Utrecht

Prof Bobby Duffy
Director of The Policy Institute at King’s College London

Dr Carlo Martini
Assistant Professsor of Philosophy at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University

EVENT DATE

2 November 2020, 14:00

Add event to your Google Calendar

TYPE OF EVENT

Digital event 

Register here.

ORGANISERS

CONTACT PERSON

Susana Irles
irles@allea.org