Trust in Numbers
Published: 17 January 2018
Those who value quantitative and scientific evidence are faced with many current challenges, including claims of a reproducibility crisis in scientific publication, and of a post-truth society abounding in fake news and alternative facts. Both issues are concerned with the appropriate acknowledgement of uncertainty, and both relate to trust in expertise.
This is an opportunity to hear the President of the Royal Statistical Society Professor David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk in the Statistical Laboratory, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge. Those who value quantitative and scientific evidence are faced with many current challenges, including claims of a reproducibility crisis in scientific publication, and of a post-truth society abounding in fake news and alternative facts. Both issues are concerned with the appropriate acknowledgement of uncertainty, and both relate to trust in expertise. By considering the 'pipelines' through which scientific and political evidence is propagated, I will consider possible ways of improving both the trustworthiness of the evidence being communicated, and the ability of audiences to assess the quality and reliability of what they are being told.
Presenter: David Spiegelhalter
Date: Monday 29 January 2018
Time: 3-4pm, followed by drinks and nibbles!
Venue: Room LT908, Livingstone Tower, University of Strathclyde, G1 1XH
First published: 17 January 2018