How can the experts so often derided by populists ensure that their insights make an impact on policymakers and the public?

That was the question raised by Dame Anne Glover ¨C vice-principal for external affairs at the University of Aberdeen (and a former chief scientific adviser both to the Scottish government and to the president of the European Commission) ¨C in a lecture at the Royal Society on 17 October.

Titled ¡°And Then They Came for the Experts¡±, it was part of the annual Science and Civilisation lecture series organised by the Council for At-Risk Academics (Cara), an organisation set up in 1933 for ¡°the relief of suffering and the defence of learning and science¡± when Germany¡¯s Nazi government began to expel hundreds of leading scholars.

Dame Anne deplored the contempt for scientific expertise revealed by Donald Trump¡¯s claim that global warning was ¡°created by and for the Chinese¡± and Michael Gove¡¯s ¡°uninformed, foolish and dangerous¡± comment that ¡°Britain has had enough of experts¡± in the lead-up to the European Union referendum.

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In reality, she went on, expertise is essential: ¡°Evidence allows us to tackle global challenges in a rational way. Without generating knowledge there are no jobs and no economy.¡±?Even more crucial was that fact that although ¡°scientific knowledge evolves over time, it doesn¡¯t change from one government to the next¡±.

Fortunately, she said, scientists still enjoyed a good deal of public support, referring to an Ipsos MORI poll in 2015 that ranked academics after only doctors, teachers and judges as the most trusted professions ¨C just above hairdressers and well above politicians. Yet it was still essential to ensure that trust was used effectively.

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Drawing on her own experience, Dame Anne noted that ¡°you don¡¯t have many friends as a chief scientific adviser ¨C your job is to challenge and question. You just have to be lonely in government and not ¡®go native¡¯. The danger is when you are made to feel like ¡®a very special person¡¯ or ¡®one of us¡¯.¡±

Other scientists could also find ways to make a difference and ¡°ensure that evidence matters¡±.

Dame Anne urged them to ¡°raise [their] voices when science or evidence is misused¡±, to ¡°communicate [what] we do and why¡± and to ¡°demonstrate [their] relevance to a broad audience¡±. If they wanted to be listened to, it was generally more sensible to ¡°offer options for action rather than claiming to have the ultimate solution¡±.

¡°It takes a lot of effort to generate scientific evidence,¡± Dame Anne concluded, ¡°so we should ensure we make the best use of it.¡±

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matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com