INTRO: Recently, we have all seen the awkward spectacle of embarrassed-looking scientists being wheeled into government media updates to back up government policy. The COVID crisis has given us a viceral insight into the often tortuous relationship between politicians and their academic advisors. While some countries may be worse than others, it also seems that there is a growing use of ‘The Science’ to justify increasingly political and commercial agendas. Combining this with the increasing need to attract outside sources of finance to fund academic research, are we in danger of entering an era of ‘post-truth’ accademia?

Roundtable participants:

• Sabina Leonelli - Professor in Philosophy and History of Science at University of Exeter
• Lilly Winfree, PhD - Open Knowledge Foundation - Head of the Frictionless Data for Reproducible Research Program 
• Stefan Hanslik, PhD - Head of Unit Technical Science, Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
• Glyn Moody - Editor, journalist, author, and respected commentator on FOSS and free culture
• Raman Ganguly - (Moderator) Technical director of Phaidra

more on  the participants >