SciComm Roundtable – Part 2 – The Role of Academics and Scientific Organizations in the Fight Against COVID-19 - a podcast by David Mendes, PhD

This is the second of a 3-part series that will close the first season of Papa PhD.

The world is still very much fighting and trying to understand the COVID-19 pandemic at the moment this episode is airing, so I am bringing you the interventions of my guests on a panel that took place in May, titled"Scientists and the News Cycle – What Role Can We Play?"In this second part, I discuss with Mónica Feliú-Mójer, Ph.D., with Joana Lobo Antunes, and with Adriana Bankston about how to connect with your audience during the COVID-19 crisis, and about what their views are on how the scientific community as a whole can engage in this conversation, at the community level and at the government and policy level.

Part 3, coming up next week, will focus on the what is happening on the science policy side, and on how you, and the scientific community can be heard and contribute to the efforts that are already ongoing.#gallery-3 {
margin: auto;}
#gallery-3 .gallery-item {float: left;
margin-top: 10px;text-align: center;
width: 33%;}
#gallery-3 img {border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
}#gallery-3 .gallery-caption {
margin-left: 0;}
/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */Adriana Bankston, PhDJoana Lobo Antunes, PhDMónica Feliú-Mójer, PhD


Episode transcript:David Mendes: These last few weeks have seen the surfacing of a host of fake news, misinformed statements by government leaders, conspiracy theories, that have fostered movements of COVID skepticism and resistance to health and safety guidelines.

And, One of the obstacles, of course, one of the things, of course, is to make sure that the news, the right news, the true news are out there and have the spotlight, but there's also the question of bringing the message to the public in a language and in a way that talks to them, right? And that will reach them intellectually and emotionally, and that will make  them act upon what they heard. Monica, the question is for you – based on your experience on the ground, and you've already alluded to it a little bit, because you said that the governor was making a statement that was totally not science-based. The question is how well has the scientific community been able to push back against misinformation that's been surfacing about the coronavirus and COVID-19 and, given the problems you've identified and you're dealing with in Puerto Rico, how can scientists develop and deploy culturally appropriate solutions in this context?

Mónica Feliú-Mójer: In Puerto Rico, the scientific community has been incredibly active and engaged in communicating the, the science and the implications and different sectors of society of COVID 19. We're trying our best to address misinformation, but, you know, I can't compete with the secretary of health – that's the person you were thinking about – you know, his platform is way bigger than mine. And so, while we're doing our best, I think in terms of the expressions and the comments he made, that the damage is done. That once misinformation is out there it's hard to combat because people become familiar with it, and so it's a tricky thing to do.

However, we've been very active. I will say I have been really encouraged by the visibility that scientists, in Puerto Rico – you know, that's, my experience is predominantly in Puerto Rico – that scientists have, you know, I never thought I would hear a government official talk about PCRs, pretty much every day. You know, I'm talking about PCRs multiple times a day in the media, and so I think there are some encouraging signs and opportunities in terms of the visibility of scientists, in terms of – people want to hear from scientists. In Puerto Rico, I mentioned there is a lack of credibility in the government, and although we don't really have surveys that tell us the population in Puerto Rico trust in science,

Further episodes of Beyond the Thesis With Papa PhD

Further podcasts by David Mendes, PhD

Website of David Mendes, PhD