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, also known as ‘scicomm’: the communication of science beyond researchers? Our speaker will discuss how scicomm should consider the rigour of the original research and its publication process, including any peer review, and principles relevant for scicomm, such as accuracy, transparency, and declaration of interests.

SPEAKER

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

Mun-Keat Looi, The BMJ and Imperial College London

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

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

I am director of The Good Science Project, an ethics and research culture initiative run from Imperial’s Office of the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise). Before this, from 2008 to 2023, I was director of Imperial’s Science Communication Unit, where I taught the philosophy of science, and ethics, on the Unit’s masters course.

My first degree was in zoology. My PhD was in the philosophy of science, most particularly the boundary aspects of the art-science interface. Before entering academia I was a school science teacher for 13 years, working in London schools.

My current work, The Good Science Project, seeks to elaborate the ethical foundations of the contemporary debate about research culture. In particular, I am interested in the idea of science as necessarily a communicative process, where scientists thrive best in congenial and trusting environments, with a good degree of autonomy. Through regular in-person discussion meetings – the Friday Forums – and through larger gatherings such as our conference The Day of Doubt, the project aims to give scientists the chance to step back from their pressing schedules, and consider different perspectives on ‘daily science’. Our current project is an arts initiative, The Triptych of Science, where Imperial scientists are working with artist-in-residence Ella Miodownik to find new ways of representing ordinary, daily, laboratory life.

I also have a background in broadcast radio and in science writing.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Mun-Keat Looi, International features editor at the BMJ and Lecturer at Imperial College London

Mun Keat Looi is a Features Editor and journalist with 15 years of experience in science writing, digital content, long-form features, narrative storytelling, growth/audience engagement and social media. He is the International Features Editor at The BMJ, lectures on journalism at Imperial College London and is the author of two books, ‘ Big Questions in Science: The Quest to Solve the Great Unknowns

Mun-Keat was awarded the silver Rising Star Award at the 2015 British Media Awards and has written and produced news, features, podcasts, and videos for Quartz, The Guardian, BBC Focus, Chemistry World and others. Features he has edited have been critically acclaimed, including three squee moments when recommended in the New Yorker. He was the science editor and fact-checker for acclaimed book Spike (2021) by Jeremy Farrar and Anjana Ahuja, and the author of the Association of British Science Writers’ ‘ How to become a science writer

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