The Scientific Symposium 2021 takes place on 5 May 2021. Of huge interest to all third-level science students , the virtual scientific symposium will reflect upon key questions:
- How can interdisciplinary research increase the impact of science in society?
- Are the boundaries between science and politics changing?
- Do we need to strengthen the boundaries of science to tackle science disinformation?
This year’s Scientific Symposium promises to be a day of thought-provoking discussions with leading academics, policymakers, and civil society.
Scientific Symposium 2021
The boundaries of sciences are under constant scrutiny and subject to change. They limit and at the same time enable and define their subject, displaying multiple dimensions. They can be psychological boundaries or boundaries of the mind for scientists and scientific communities, limiting them to certain ways of thinking about a problem. Boundaries can also be geographical or technological, hampering the implementation of scientific ideas. They can be disciplinary boundaries established over centuries, at times successfully contributing to solving a clearly defined problem, but oftentimes confining scientific evidence to limited disciplinary views.
What are the boundaries that define and circumscribe science? What can we do to work across them? How do we overcome certain boundaries? How do we maintain and solidify others? How do we identify ‘good’ and ‘bad’ boundaries in the first place? Especially during a global pandemic, when the world feels the need for reliable scientific research and trustworthy scientific advice more than ever, science needs to find answers to these questions.
We therefore need to explore innovative ways towards meaningful and feasible interdisciplinarity and rethink the role of boundaries between science and politics/policy. However, the pandemic and its accompanying ‘infodemic’ also showed us that we need to debate measures for strengthening certain boundaries against increasing attacks. Mis- and disinformation in a rapidly changing media environment are increasingly challenging fundamental pillars of science. They threaten to erode trust in science and expertise, test our democracies, and challenge the ability of individuals and governments to make evidence-based decisions based on sound reasoning. It has become exceptionally difficult to distinguish between what is fact and what is fake, even for the well-trained eye, especially when the false information is guised in scientific vocabulary.
Against this background, ALLEA and the Council of Finnish Academies invite you to a full-day scientific symposium Across the Boundaries of Sciences. Featuring a wide range of international perspectives from research, politics, and civil society, speakers will share and discuss their latest insights on this complex topic. Join us online for thought-provoking talks, workshops, roundtable discussions, and inspiring conversations.
Academies of Sciences and Humanities
For more than three centuries, academies of sciences, humanities and arts have been contributing to borderless and universal research by fostering collaboration across borders and disciplines. The academies seek to improve the conditions for research, to provide the best independent and interdisciplinary science advice available, and to strengthen the role of science in society, always encouraging scientific reasoning and values through public engagement.
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