Science communication and research integrity

This is the latest in the series of regular free webinars from the UK Research Integrity Office on research integrity and related issues.

Is research integrity relevant to science communication, aka scicomm, i.e., the communication of science beyond researchers? Our speakers will discuss how scicomm should consider the rigour of the original research and its publication process, including any peer review, and how the principles of publication ethics may apply to scicomm, e.g., accuracy, transparency, and declaration of interests.

SPEAKERS

Charise Johnson, Policy Adviser - Data & Digital Technologies, The Royal Society

Dr Stephen Webster, Senior Lecturer in Science Communication, Imperial College London and Director of The Good Science Project

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Dr Stephen Webster, Senior Lecturer in Science Communication, Imperial College London and Director of The Good Science Project

My undergraduate degree was in zoology, my postgraduate training in philosophy of science. My PhD was on art-science collaborations, viewed particularly as a way for scientists to enrich their epistemology and their ethical reasoning. I didn’t go into higher education straightaway, but was a school science teacher for 13 years in various London schools, including being head of biology at Quintin Kynaston (at that time part of the ILEA). When I was a teacher, in the 1980s and 90s, school science had a much more questioning and critical curriculum than it does now - a feature of the ILEA system of teaching science - and it was this experience which led me into science communication.

Before coming to Imperial College I was involved in many sorts of science writing, including radio plays for the BBC, children’s books of various sorts, introductory texts to the philosophy of science, and contributing to the Guardian's weather column 'Weatherwatch'. I became co-director of the Birkbeck diploma in science communication in 1995, while teaching part-time at the King Alfred School in Hampstead. In 1999 I was appointed to a curriculum development post at Imperial College, working in many different departments, before concentrating on the work of the Science Communication Unit and the science communication Masters' courses. In 2008 I became director of the Unit, stepping down in 2023.

My research interests are in science and ethics, and in Charles Darwin.

I am currently leading The Good Science Project, a College-wide exploration of research culture, and a collaboration between the Science Communication Unit and the Office of the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise). The Project - funded by Research England - organises events that give researchers the opportunity to discuss together the challenges of 'the life scientific' and to share perspectives. One example is a series of lunchtime in-person discussions, called The Friday Forums, each of which examines a particular theme - for example the relationship between scientists and technicians. In September 2023 we organised a large conference, The Day of Doubt, that examined doubt as a vital element in good science.

For further information on this event or future events at UKRIO please follow the UK Research Integrity website.