Lecture Facts and Fakes: Research Communication and Public Trust
Press Release No. 40/2019
26 April 2019
Talk by Sir Philip Campbell, Editor emeritus of renowned journal "Nature"
An internationally recognised expert will share the facts, fakes and fallacies surrounding research communication and public trust. Sir Philip Campbell, Editor emeritus of the well-known journal "Nature" and currently Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Nature publishing group, will deliver the guest lecture. The first Springer Nature Visiting Professor will speak on 8 May 2019 at Ruperto Carola at the invitation of the Klaus Tschira Foundation (KTS), the Event Forum of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and Heidelberg University. The English-language presentation, entitled "Facts, Fakes, Fallacies. Research Communication and Public Trust", is scheduled to begin at 6pm in the Great Hall of the Old University. The public is cordially invited to attend.
As the Springer Nature Visiting Professor, physicist Philip Campbell is addressing the challenges of professional and responsible scientific communication. The professorship was set up on the initiative of the KTS, the Holtzbrinck Event Forum and the University. Well-known experts are invited to Ruperto Carola to convey, in a specialised programme, what constitutes high-quality reporting on scientific work and findings. At the same time, visiting professors are encouraged to initiate a broad-based discussion on new forms of exchange between science and the public.
In his public lecture, to be held in English, Philip Campbell will argue that scientific findings are used not only to truly serve humankind, but can also be distorted and directed against us. He will explore what science must do to mitigate the resulting damage to research and society, such as in the discussion about climate change. Based on his experience at "Nature", he will describe the role communication about research, and hence editors of newspapers and magazines, can play.
The Springer Nature Visiting Professorship is located at the Marsilius Kolleg of Ruperto Carola, which serves as a bridge between the scientific cultures in Heidelberg. In his first semester module in December of last year, Philip Campbell held workshops for advanced students and doctoral candidates, as well as discussed the problems and requirements of future scientific communication with Kolleg fellows doing research in a variety of disciplines. Other workshops were scheduled for the second semester module, including one on the issue of how communication from scientists about their research is perceived by the public.
