Panel Debate in Lund: Publish or protest – should climate scientists be activists?

On May 8th SUA member Jessica Jewell participated in a debate in Lund discussing the hot topic of researchers role and climate activism.

The panel consisted of:

• David Alcer, doctoral student researching on solar cells, made headlines when he jumped onto the stage during Melodifestivalen in Malmö with a sign reading “Restore the wetlands”.
• Jessica Jewell, Associate Professor in Energy Transitions at Chalmers University researching the feasibility of accelerating energy transitions and the role of science in shaping climate policy. Member of Sveriges unga akademi.
• Daniel Lindvall, sociologist at Uppsala University, researching issues related to democracy and climate policies, and author of books like “Upphettning – Demokratin i klimatkrisens tid”.
• Kimberly Nicholas, Associate Professor at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) and author of ”Under the Sky We Make: How to Be Human in a Warming World”.

The moderator leading the discussion was journalist Lars Mogensen.

Scientists play an important role in democracies. I get pretty nervous when we start to ask scientists to be the counter-balance to specific vested interests. […] Scientists’ role is to come out and correct misinformation, from whatever side it comes, regardless of their biases, and to participate in the deliberative process as an independent arbiter of knowledge.