Impact of Social Sciences

Wizards, pretenders, or unaccountable curators? How consultants shape policy in underfunded international agencies

Consultancies play an important role in developing policies and strategies for international agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO). Drawing on a recent study, Tine Hanrieder and Julian Eckl argue that consultants’ formidable ability to curate and draw together preferred evidence for influential case studies is enhanced by the low funding environment these agencies operate in. Consultants … Continued

Impact of Social Sciences

Government by PowerPoint – Analysing the politics of charts and infographics during COVID-19

During the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, the public heard government ministers ask for the ‘next slide please’ on a near-daily basis. Charts and infographics featured on national television like never before. But as William Allen, Justyna Bandola-Gill, and Sotiria Grek report in new research, the use of these images reflected and conveyed … Continued

Daily Nous

€4 Million Grant for Philosophical Research on the Credibility of Science

A project led by philosophers Mathias Frisch and Torsten Wilholt (Institut für Philosophie at Leibniz Universität Hannover) on science and trust has received a 4,020,000 million euro grant from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

The project, “Social Credibility and Trustworthiness of Expert Knowledge and Science-Based Information” (SOCRATES), “aims to investigate the philosophical preconditions that are relevant to trust in knowledge and scientific credibility in general [and the] processes through which scientific expertise can be undermined,” according to an announcement from the DFG. A press release from Leibniz Universität Hannover, where the project will be based, says:

SOCRATES intends to tackle the challenge of understanding how science can continue to serve as a source of shared knowledge that not only enjoys trust but actually earns it. The group will investigate philosophical requirements relevant for trust in science. As a forum for exchange between researchers from philosophy, sociology, communication and media studies as well as other disciplines, SOCRATES aims to provide a comprehensive and coherent philosophical approach to scientific credibility and trust in science.

The grant, which will support the project for four years, will in part be used to fund senior and postdoctoral fellowships, among other things.