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What can Covid modelling during the pandemic teach us about public participation in science?

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If you have a question about this talk, please contact Jacob Stegenga.

Values play an ineliminable role in science whenever scientists endorse factual claims. They also become entwined with science whenever scientists build models. Scientists, however, do not always hold a range of values that canvasses the whole spectrum of values held by the public. The goal of this talk is to open a discussion of what to do about this situation, through the lens of recent history: the role of modelling in the Covid-19 pandemic. I start by articulating a framework for understanding the role of values in science that distinguishes the endorsement of facts from the building of representational tools like models. I then use that framework to discuss the famous Imperial College of London model: Covidsim. I then discuss three recent proposals for how scientists, engaged with public policy questions, ought to manage values and I argue that recent history shows how two such proposals are bound to miss the mark. I also show the enormous challenges that the third proposal, the one that calls for a role for public participation in science, will have to surmount if it is going to be successful.

This talk is part of the Departmental Seminars in History and Philosophy of Science series.

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