Modesty will help us to be trusted – Sir Peter Gluckman's message to all scientists

In an era marked by global crises, declining institutional trust, and rapid technological advancement, the role of science in society faces unprecedented scrutiny. Sir Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council, offers a candid assessment of these challenges and potential solutions during an interview conducted on the eve of the 2024 World Science Forum (WSF) in Budapest.

Unlike traditional scientific conferences focused on specific disciplines, the WSF serves a broader purpose. According to Sir Gluckman, it provides an opportunity “to think about how science progresses, how it deals with the challenges of the world, from the sustainability goals to peace, and to poverty.” This broader perspective is particularly crucial now, when the previously dominant multilateral political system is clearly in disorder, and this dysfunction in global cooperation comes at a time when collective action is desperately needed to address mounting global challenges.

One of the most pressing issues facing the scientific community is the erosion of public trust. Sir Gluckman points out that “trust in institutions has been declining in recent years, and if trust falls in other institutions, trust falls in science as well.” This decline in trust presents a fundamental challenge to science’s ability to contribute meaningfully to solving global problems. The COVID-19 pandemic serves as a prime example of this complex dynamic. While science delivered vaccines and treatments at unprecedented speed, Sir Gluckman notes that it also delivered distrust and contributed to social cohesion problems and a rise in populism. This was not entirely science’s fault, but rather stemmed from the way “science and policy interacted, and the way politicians said they were following science to achieve other objectives.”

The pandemic exposed several weaknesses in how science interfaces with policy and society. Sir Gluckman is critical of the narrow focus of the scientific response, noting that it focused mainly on epidemiology and virology, and it did not take into account early enough the economic, educational and social science perspective. He characterizes COVID-19 as “a classic compounding complex cascading crisis, and no one discipline alone could address it from a scientific point of view.”

Dysfunction in politics and policymaking also tempted many scientists to contemplate a more active presence in public life. When it comes to scientists entering politics, Sir Gluckman offers a nuanced perspective. While he believes that “we need many more people in politics who have been trained in science,” he emphasises that scientists must understand their role within the broader political context. While science is a universal language, he stresses that scientists must “acknowledge that every government, every community, has other things that it takes into account in making decisions: financial and ideological considerations, public opinion and the electoral contract in democracies.”

One of the more fundamental challenges we are facing now is humanity’s predisposition toward short-term thinking. “We evolved as a species with short-term thinking as our default position,” Sir Gluckman explains. This natural tendency has been exacerbated by our political process and our communications, reinforcing that short-term thinking at the very time when we need long-term thinking. This short-term focus has serious implications for addressing global challenges like climate change. As Sir Peter Gluckman notes, we can see over and over that “it is the immediacy of the economy that always outweighs anything about climate change or sustainability issues.”

While some would argue that rebuilding trust in science would need specifically addressing concerns about the reproducibility crisis in science, Sir Gluckman takes a more nuanced, philosophical perspective. “Science is a self-correcting discipline,” he explains. “It rarely has absolute knowledge,” but it can rely on the public peer-review process to correct the mistakes it commits, as other experts will scrutinise and correct all the results.

At the same time, it is clear that the current publication pressures and funding systems have created problematic incentives, leading to too many manuscripts lacking scientific rigour.

Sir Gluckman also advocates for a more humble approach for science communication. “The major thing we need to do in science is get rid of our hubris,” he argues, because hubris feeds distrust. 

Looking toward the future, Sir Gluckman also identifies significant gaps in how scientists are trained. He argues that “every scientist needs basic training in the civics of science, the ethics of science,” noting that “many scientists go through a university without ever being trained in scientific ethics.” He advocates for education in the philosophy and history of science, as well as understanding how science relates to other knowledge systems. “You are arrogant if you think you know more than you really know.” He suggests that scientists need to consider other forms of knowledge, including local, indigenous, and professional knowledge, adding that “modesty will help us be trusted.”

The need for interdisciplinary approaches is another crucial aspect of future scientific training. While disciplinary expertise remains important, “in most areas, we need to bring scientists across disciplines together and we need scientists to work with business communities or political communities in different ways to produce actionable knowledge.”

Sir Peter Gluckman’s message is clear: the scientific community must change to meet current challenges. This change requires not only developing novel technical expertise, but a fundamental shift in how science approaches its role in society. Scientists must embrace the thrill of actionable knowledge that makes a difference in the world. The current global situation demands that this change happens as quickly as possible. In a world with more conflicts than at any other time since the Cold War ended, science must find new ways to contribute to solutions while maintaining its integrity and building trust with the public.

The challenge ahead is significant, but not insurmountable. It requires a concerted effort to maintain scientific rigor and address the complex social, political and economic contexts in which science operates. As Sir Gluckman concludes, this transformation is essential if science is to fulfill its potential in addressing the world’s most pressing challenges.