Science, Risk, and Misinformation

SCOM6031 has two delivery modes: in-person and online. Please check that correct class number is chosen for delivery mode when enrolling. Uncertainty is everywhere. We casually, often unknowingly, take risks and accept uncertainty many times a day without a second thought. However, in the sciences, and in science communication, we cannot afford to be blasé. The ramifications of poor risk communication can and do have dramatic, global consequences. For years, issues around challenges like climate change, enhancing health and wellbeing and gene/ nanotechnologies have regularly highlighted the need for society to meaningfully communicate and debate the myriad risks associated with the appreciation and application of science, even when the various stakeholders involved are doing their best and acting in good faith. But what about when they aren't? In the early 2020s, the COVID pandemic and its ongoing aftermath provided a vivid, global example of what can happen when accidentally, at times deliberately, false information is promoted and shared. Misinformation and disinformation swiftly became a core feature of the already complex environment of risk communication around the pandemic. In this course, science communication is analysed from risk communication and ethical perspectives, with particular focus on the phenomenal rise of mis- and dis- information in public discourse. In the course we will examine and critically consider such questions as: - What is risky, to whom, and why? - How is risk understood by experts? - How does it manifest in public domains? - When does a risk become acceptable? - Is it possible to speak about “real” or “true” science-based risks? - How can we analyse and conduct effective science communication work in a world where misinformation and disinformation are ubiquitous? - What strategies and tactics exist to counter communication environments in which people wilfully aim to misinform, or are at least unconcerned about the veracity of their claims? - To what extent can ethics help us better critique, and then guide, positive risk communication efforts for science communicators? Throughout the course, significant attention is devoted to the consideration of clear and effective ways to characterise and communicate controversial, risky, and ethically charged science-based matters in the public sphere, especially when mis- and dis- information are at play. Note: This course is co-taught with undergraduate students but assessed separately.