Science under the spotlight

Biennal Ciutat i Ciència - Mètode científic

Concept, integrity, equality

At the Biennial, various activities questioned science from within science itself: its methods, progress, social repercussions, its place in culture... You can now revisit all these reflections through their videos.

In this framework, which involves looking at science from the perspective of philosophy, ethics, sociology and politics, the Biennial hosted the round table discussion Science in Question. In it, the moral philosopher Nuria Sara Miras, the philosophers of science José Antonio Díez and Albert Solé, and the expert in ethics and artificial intelligence Pilar Dellunde debated the very concept of science. Specifically, they put it in a historical context and analysed its relationship with society over time in order to understand the perception that citizens today have of this body of knowledge obtained from observation, the formulation of hypotheses, experimentation and the search for evidence.

This search for evidence through the scientific method requires following rules inherent to its principles. For example, the results must be objective, free of bias, manipulation and conflicts of interest, reproducible, justifiable, transparent... Failure to follow rules such as these leads to the corruption of the activity and, sometimes, the press reports on cases of scientific malpractice. At the round table Research and Integrity, María Blasco, director of the National Cancer Research Centre, Jordi Camí, director of the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park, the philosopher Joan Manuel del Pozo and the bioethics expert Núria Terribas talked about all these aspects and discussed the good practices of the different agents that constitute the science system.

Another aspect that was debated at this Biennial is what can be considered progress in science. Molecular biologist Pere Puigdomènech, epidemiologist Miquel Porta and philosopher Sira Abenoza reflected on the direction science should take in a context where aspects such as humanitarian emergencies, social needs, economic interests and basic research have a lot to say. They talked about all this and much more at the round table discussion Scientific Progress, what Is It?

Science tends to stand apart from other cultural events such as art or the humanities. This is an artificial separation, as science used to be part of the global body of knowledge. Now, the separation between science and literature, which for so many years has structured educational trajectories and subsequent professional careers, is beginning to blur and scientific knowledge seems to be regaining its place in culture. To talk about all this, Anna Omedes, director of the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona, the physicist and poet David Jou, the ecologist Joan Domènec Ros and the science journalist Xavier Duran met at the Biennial to take part in the debate Science as Culture.

And another Biennial event, 100tífiques 4.0, brought together the philosopher Marina Garcés, the psychologist Anke Kleff, the consultant Gina Aran, the engineer Mónica Roca, the mayor Ada Colau and a series of female researchers as the audience to debate female representation in science, a traditionally masculinized world where women have made valuable contributions to knowledge, but have been silenced and overshadowed by their male colleagues. Although things have fortunately changed a lot, there are still some aspects to be resolved in terms of equality in the science and technology system, such as the salary gap between men and women, the low representation in certain careers and professions such as engineering, the difficulty of accessing positions of responsibility, the reconciliation of family life with work... Fighting against all this requires the promotion of new scientific vocations among girls and young women, which has been the objective of the 100tífiques programme.

The Biennial was much more! Explore all the videos of the activities here.

Science under the spotlight

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