CSPC 2017

506 – Big Thinking Panel, Expertise in a post-truth era: How to be a trusted advisor in a low-trust world
506 – Groupe de discussion sur la capacité à voir grand, expertise dans une période postfactuelle : comment être un conseiller fiable dans un monde où le niveau de confiance est faible 

Panel Organizer: Peter Severinson, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

The apparent rise in populist, anti-intellectual sentiment around the world presents serious risks to the research community, public-policy practitioners and, indeed, the functioning of a democratic society. Widespread popular rejection of evidence-backed messages in areas such as the environment, public health and national security is contributing to destructive policies and behaviours, including inaction on climate change, declining vaccination rates and hostility to immigration.Researchers, business leaders, public servants and other subject-matter experts now face difficult questions: To what extent have they lost public trust? Why do so many reject the findings of experts? What are the consequences of a political discourse that is dismissive of facts? And how can researchers, public servants and other experts build and maintain public trust in the years ahead? This panel will explore these questions by examining the nature of the “post-truth” phenomenon; the social forces that underlie it; and practical steps researchers and public-policy practitioners can take to grow public trust.