I've made the difficult decision to skip the Public Record session & instead attend "The Promise of Science" featuring @robannan, @IvanSemeniuk, Alice Cohen & Amy Lemay. It's apparently an open fishbowl session so I'm excited to see how that works #CSPC2019

Thread

(*and Sally Greenwood!)

The idea of a fishbowl is that one chair is left empty...so a member of the audience can jump in to #ThePromiseOfScience conversation. #CSPC2019

When we say the word science, we think of many things, including the product of research, and the rigorous, systematic method of inquiry. Science offers many promises...but what are the implications of the promise of science in #scipol? #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

Questions to explore:
What does #ThePromiseOfScience mean to you and in your context?
What do you believe are the implications of promise of science for #scipol?
How should the promise of science be managed in the #scipol process? #CSPC2019

In a way, all policy is driven by the promise of what's to come, says @robannan. Science is different because it's uncertain. It's hypothesis driven but we don't know what will happen. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

RA brings up the Human Genome Project - the idea that sequencing the genome would lead to the blueprint of life. What it did was reveal more questions - it didn't live up to its promise, but opened up more avenues, like the microbiome and CRISPR. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

The future is going to be better...but we don't know how says @robannan. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

Alice Cohen says that for a lot of communities, it'd an if-then scenario. If communities can collect the data, policies can be made. AC sees hope - that one of the only ways to affect change is to collect this data. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

AC also highlights the different forms of knowledge (e.g. Indigenous communities) and points that these need to be incorporated into decision-making. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

Next, @IvanSemeniuk brings #ThePromiseOfScience in a context. IS brings up a common cliché: "If we fund this research, it could lead to a cure for a cancer." We think this is likely. But will a Canadian team find a cure for cancer? You may think this is less likely. #CSPC2019

But if a cure is discovered, will Canadians benefit? This is a strong yes... so is it worth prioritizing this in research funding?

Here, IS wants to highlight the bigger picture, and to speak about #ThePromiseOfScience means to Canadians. #CSPC2019

AC says: what about when it comes to science that tells a difficult story, or things that we just can't do anymore? How do we get excited about science that challenges the ra-ra flag waving moments? #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

IS points out that there is a difference between here & the US is that the latter have to demonstrate intellectual rigour AND broader impacts in grant applications. Here, broader impacts could explore AC's earlier point of what negative implications of science could be. #CSPC2019

RA agrees, and points out that the negative implications of greenhouse gas emissions or oil sands are a great example. Here, @robannan quotes Mick Jagger that "we don't always get what we want, but we get what we need." #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

We have our fist audience participant in the fishbowl! @DeNovo_Fatima jumps in the bowl to point out that researchers are incentived to find positive results, rather than sharing negative results. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

SG says that the system needs a change - we need a culture shift. We need to do more of involving people in science and the scientific process, such as patient-driven research, to drive this change. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

Next in the fishbowl (Alice Cohen steps out) is @astrocanuck! Hilding Nelson points out the privelige in the room, and emphasizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

@SallyDGreenwood says that perhaps we need to take a step back and ask what does #ThePromiseOfScience mean for the different publics? (i.e. ask the people) #CSPC2019

Our next participant (a retired scientist) replaces @SallyDGreenwood in the open fishbowl and says that for them, #ThePromiseOfScience is that their children will live a comfortable life. #CSPC2019

(my tweeting stopped because I jumped in the fishbowl too, but here's a recap)

One of the audience participants stated that they don't believe that science is the problem, but instead it is policymakers who are failing to act on this evidence e.g. when it comes to drinking water in Indigenous communities. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

I jumped into the fishbowl to share that it's a collective failure. Science is locked behind paywalls - we (as scientists) can't expect to publish our research and that policy makers will immediately use it. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

Also, I pointed out that the benefits of science aren't shared equally among people e.g. the lack of diversity in genomics (context ). We need to do more to make sure #ThePromiseOfScience actually reaches everyone. #CSPC2019 https://massivesci.com/notes/genomics-american-society-human-genetics-ashg-meeting-diversity/

Alan Bernstein ( @CIFAR_News lead) jumps into the fishbowl to bring up climate change. AB asks if the current political rhetoric (pipeline or not, carbon tax or not) is helping - and to listen to the science instead. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

To counter, @ImogenRCoePhD says that we have to be careful here when we say to listen to the science. Who is in the room - who is being heard? Yes, we need to listen to the science, but we need to apply an #EDI lens. We need to do better science. #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience

The diversity of the audience participants in the fishbowl is incredible

One participant shares that their parents were anti-vaxxers. They're now a professional science communicator + got their vaccinations (yay!)
One person brought up the image of science #CSPC2019

@astrocanuck points out that we say land acknowledgements yet we haven't given the land back (in response to academia supposedly becoming more inclusive). #CSPC2019 #ThePromiseOfScience