• Question: Do you think politics and political differences are a hindrance to progression in science?

    Asked by anon-174245 to Alex, Carl, Hayley, Melanie, Tim, Yewande on 15 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Melanie Hannah

      Melanie Hannah answered on 15 Jun 2018:

      Cartainly it has an impact on funding of scientific research through Universities, and the best way to influence this is to have scientists in parliament

    • Photo: Alex Seeney

      Alex Seeney answered on 15 Jun 2018:

      Yes, I think politics can hinder development, but I think it probably varies depending on where you are in the world. That’s where I think public platforms like twitter can be really useful for scientists – we can share information really quickly and to a large audience, which helps us to get our findings out there.

    • Photo: Carl Barford

      Carl Barford answered on 15 Jun 2018:

      Absolutely – they can help or stop science. I sometimes wish politicians could set an example and behave like adults rather than spoiled brats, not a good example to us

    • Photo: Tim Craig

      Tim Craig answered on 18 Jun 2018:

      Yes, I do. It certainly has a major impact at a national level in terms of directing research focus, research funding, and culture. That can be both bad and good, but is always an important check on making sure that scientists try to remain relevant to the problems society faces.

      At a larger level, science is also very international, and major advances, particularly nowadays, are usually made through international collaboration. As a result, science often suffers during times when we put up national borders. From my own perspective, I moved to a France with two weeks notice, to take advantage of a great opportunity to work at a world-leading institute. It is looking unlikely that that will be possible for people in a few years time, due to changes in the political climate.

Comments

  • Photo: anon-174245

    anon-174245 commented on :

    Thank you for your answers! I agree with all those points – a good example was in the 1980s when the US government stopped the funding of a Hadron Collider similar to the LHC; although, you can flip the coin because there are a good number of Lords in the House of Lords with a lot of good scientific experience, which have an influence on funding and legislation. I do wish the politics of the future has more well behaved politicians and stop hindering science’s progression. For now, we have the weapon of Twitter to work together!