Programme / Ministerial roundtable IV – Freedom and Safety of Scientists

Summary of the session by session rapporteur Dr Dávid Havasi, Assistant Professor, BME Department of Chemical and Environmental Process Engineering:

The session was opened by Lidia Brito, who listed the various threats scientists face during their work and their everyday life. Based on available data, many scientific communities are endangered by conflicts or political pressure, but also the scientific community suffers from the damage done to society’s trust towards scientists. Panellists were first asked to provide some insights on how their institutions are working on the issues and what their views are. Asad Ramzanali remarked that some of the threats scientists are facing are similar to what other people, especially minorities, may face. To scientists, freedom should not only include publishing, speech or professional decisions, but also the overall freedom to be whoever they want to be. Cecil Buti Masoka emphasized the issue of labelling scientific findings and scientists based on their origin and the countries where they performed their research, which makes scientists from countries of the Global South highly vulnerable to discrimination. In this context, Lidia Brito concluded that the vision would be to enable all scientists to perform their top-quality research in their home countries. Scientists are both citizens in their countries and globally as well, meaning that problems that affect humanity or many people, are common problems that should be resolved together, said Quarraisha Abdool Karim. If scientific communities are damaged or destroyed by conflicts, it takes decades to rebuild them, leaving society without highly qualified researchers for a long period. Matthias Johannsen highlighted that for science, multiple types of freedom should be granted: to access science education, training and mentoring; to participate in knowledge production; to promote and communicate science for the good of humanity and the environment. Gustavo Merino provided an overview of the pillars of a UNESCO programme that aims to improve the global freedom and safety of scientists. The role of alliances and the new possibilities for communication are crucial in gaining a higher degree of trust from society. Tracey Elliott introduced to the audience a bottom-up movement of concerned scientists. She argued that peaceful but disruptive science activism should be recognized as a necessary and legitimate part of the global science community’s toolkit for communicating science and influence policy. Lidia Brito then asked all panellists what they think the organisations could do together to improve the freedom and safety of scientists. All panellists agreed that scientific freedom comes with responsibilities and science should be trustworthy. The scientific community and organizations aim to enhance the science-to-society communication in order to elevate the trust towards scientists. This could help eliminate some of the threats scientists face on social media and in real life.