The University of Hamburg has been accused of damaging trust in science after it officially promoted a non-peer-reviewed ¡°study¡± by a nanoscientist arguing that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was engineered in the Wuhan Institute of Virology and then escaped by accident.

The by eminent Hamburg professor Roland Wiesendanger, which draws on everything from peer-reviewed papers to YouTube videos to advance its argument, was released last month on to the ResearchGate platform.

It was publicised by university press releases in German and trumpeting ¡°numerous significant indications¡± that the pandemic resulted from a laboratory accident and calling for a ¡°broad and open conversation¡±, with the caveat that the work did not contain any ¡°science-based proof¡±.

The following day, the ¡°study¡± conclusions found their way on to the front page of Germany¡¯s most-read newspaper, the tabloid Bild, under the headline ¡°German professor is certain: corona was a lab accident in China¡±.

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But there have been weeks of backlash against Hamburg for lending authority to an analysis that critics say contains little new information and was not peer-reviewed.

¡°It¡¯s not a scientific study,¡± said Volker Stollorz, chief editor of Germany¡¯s Science Media Center. ¡°It¡¯s a kind of journalistic potpourri. I?don¡¯t understand why this was put out as an official press release by the university.¡±

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Hamburg¡¯s decision earned the institution a from Germany¡¯s Association of University Communications as well as a warning from the city¡¯s science minister that called for ¡°restraint¡± when the science is ¡°unclear¡±. Hamburg¡¯s General Students¡¯ Committee even accused Professor Wiesendanger of ¡°playing into the hands of conspiracy theorists¡± and ¡°stoking anti-Asian racism¡±.

Last week, Hamburg¡¯s president, Dieter Lenzen, doubled down on the decision to promote Professor Wiesendanger¡¯s investigation in a message to staff. ¡°It is better to open up a questionable hypothesis for discussion than to suppress one that ultimately proves correct,¡± a spokeswoman for the president told Times Higher Education, adding that it was the ¡°duty¡± of the university to raise questions about the ¡°security and moral integrity of scientific research¡±.

According to Professor Wiesendanger, the president personally approved the release. ¡°A?press release via the university press office of this kind of importance obviously had to be authorised by our university president,¡± he told THE.

Professor Wiesendanger, who worked on his analysis for the entirety of 2020, argued that identifying the origin of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus was likely the most pressing scientific question around. He also claimed that scientists had received ¡°unfair¡± media criticism when they ¡°brought up critical questions¡± about the issue.

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An international team of scientists has been in China investigating the origins of the pandemic under the auspices of the World Health Organisation. A full report was expected this month, but members of the team have said the lab leak hypothesis is ¡°extremely unlikely¡±, even if it cannot be ruled out entirely. Investigators that they lacked the power to conduct a formal audit of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In the dying days of the Trump administration, the US Beijing of withholding ¡°vital information¡± about the virus¡¯ origins and raised a series of questions about research at the institute.

The problem for scientists, said Mr Stollorz, was that the lab leak hypothesis had been tarnished by association with ¡°Trump-style anti-China bashing¡±.

¡°Many scientists feel it¡¯s more difficult to ask these tough questions,¡± he said, even though investigating a potential lab accident remained a ¡°very serious question¡±.

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david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com