Responsibilities of Scientists
with the Public
Nina Buffi
Sylke Höhnel
Andrea Negro
Imagine a circle that contains
all of human knowledge
By the time you finish elementary school,
you know a little:
By the time you finish high school,
you know a bit more:
With a bachelor's degree,
you gain a specialty:
A master's degree deepens that specialty:
Reading research papers takes you to the
edge of human knowledge:
Once you're at the boundary,
you focus:
Once you're at the boundary,
you focus:
You push at the boundary for a few years:
Until one day, the boundary gives way:
And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.:
Of course, the world looks different to you now:
So, don't forget the bigger picture:
But how do we bridge the distance?
How is the public opinion influenced?
Scientist
The Public
Why do we do a PhD?
Why others don‘t?
Can anyone do a PhD?
Are we different?
(in thinking, in looking at the world?)
Are we better?
Bigger picture?
Why do we do a PhD?
Pro PhD
• thirst for knowledge
• outlook for high paid job
• expectations by family/friends
• we want to „change the world“
• fame
• geekiness - because it‘s fun!
• commitment
Con PhD
•
•
•
•
•
translate 1:1?  not curious?
time-investment not worth it?
social background doesn‘t allow it
financial background doesn‘t allow it
no interest in changing the world?
(happy with just living, egoistic?)
• because it‘s boring and you turn crazy!
• because it‘s too complicated
So, do we
Why
livedo
in we
twodo
different
a PhD? worlds?
Pro PhD
• thirst for knowledge
• outlook for high paid job
• expectations by family/friends
• we want to „change the world“
• fame
• geekiness - because it‘s fun!
• commitment
Con PhD
•
•
•
•
•
translate 1:1?  not curious?
time-investment not worth it?
social background doesn‘t allow it
financial background doesn‘t allow it
no interest in changing the world?
(happy with just living, egoistic?)
• because it‘s boring and you turn crazy!
• because it‘s too complicated
Outputs:
- Critical relation scientists vs public
- Scientists understood there’s a problem
- Communication to public is correlated to policies
but…
Why are we segregated in a
“sound bite show”?
- There’s a plot against us
How to save the world
- Science is scaring
- We are not able to communicate
Who should fill the gap?
Ph.D.: Doctor of Philosophy
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree
that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which
qualify the holder to teach in a specific field (e.g. PhD).
The term doctorate comes from the Latin docere, meaning
"to teach", shortened from the full Latin title licentia
docendi, which means "teaching license".
Philosophy (Greek φιλοσοφία (philosophia), which literally
means "love of wisdom”) is the study of general and
fundamental problems, such as existence, knowledge,
values, reason, mind, and language.
Back to “Sound Bite” Show
Television is the most efficient channel to reach a big
mass of people.
Prof. Barrandon: “When you are interviewed by a TV
network they will give you not more than 52 seconds”
Group Work:
Explain a scientific breakthrough in 52 seconds.
Think that you are in front of a camera and millions of people
will see your speech on TV.
Material: lemmas from Wikipedia
Which actors do inform/influence “normal” people about science?
science museums
TV &
radio
internet
books
scientists
industry
Secondary school
level person
newspapers
church
politicians
cultural
background
movies
Positive points
easy to access
correct information
easy to access and to
understand
correct information
correct
information
shows
utility
Secondary school
level person
?
easy to access and
to understand
catch interest
stimulate interest
stimulate
interest
sometimes
incorrect
information
Negative points
just for people already interested
sometimes incorrect
information
just for people
already interested
difficult to
understand
interests
at stake
Secondary school
level person
just for people
already interested
interests at stake
bias
sometimes incorrect
information
sometimes incorrect
information
Group activity: biased/unbiased information
• Scenario: in Molvania 20% of the population is affected by the
HIV virus. The government decided to invest the money
coming from the international help to stem the problem. The
pharmaceutical industry Trustme proposed to the government
an expensive vaccine that works in the 30% of the cases. The
government and the church are in favor of this proposition,
while the scientific community is against because thinks that a
good prevention campaign will be more effective and less
expensive. So the population has to vote to decide whether to
buy the vaccine or not.
• Four groups: the government, the church, the scientific
community, the people from industry.
• Task: convince the middle voter about accepting or not to buy
the vaccine.