ISC Presents

In this last episode, we invite Cory Doctorow, a science fiction author, activist, and journalist from Canada. He is the author of many books, most recently The Lost Cause, a solarpunk science fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. Our conversation touches on digital rights management, social justice and sustainability in the digital world.

Qiufan Chen is an award-winning Chinese speculative fiction writer, author of Waste Tide and co-author of AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future. He is also a research scholar at Yale University and a fellow of Berggruen Institute. Our main discussion centres around artificial intelligence, how we can harness the power of this technology while avoiding the dangers it poses.

This fourth episode invites Fernanda Trías, an award-winning writer from Uruguay and an instructor of creative writing in Colombia. She has published a short story collection and four novels, including the English-translated book Pink Slime. We ask her whether horror can bring about change, and why there is the need to integrate the arts and sciences.

In this third episode, we invite Vandana Singh, a science fiction writer hailing from India, to speak about her views on the science and fiction intersection. She is also a transdisciplinary scholar of climate change and a professor of physics and environment. We discuss the limits of data, the power of narrative, and whether our conception of time could help us think about responsibility in science.

Barbadian writer Karen Lord is an award-winning author of Redemption in Indigo, The Best of All Possible Worlds, and The Galaxy Game. Her latest book, The Blue, Beautiful World, was published in August 2023. We hear from her the lessons from the COVID pandemic, short-termism, and the power of literature to reach through time.

In this first episode, we speak to Kim Stanley Robinson, a New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. He is the author of more than twenty books, including The Ministry for the Future. Listen to our conversation that covers many topics including the dangers of escapism, climate grief, and the myth of scientific objectivity.

In the last episode, we spoke about the many ways that distrust in science is expressed and the need for scientists to consider their own positions, including who they speak to and for. Which leads us neatly into today’s episode, where we focus on the link between communicating science and building knowledge. We need to look at how people process information and their own experiences to make knowledge that they can base decisions on. And the question is, what should science communication be doing about that?

This  is a rerun of our 4-part podcast series 'Unlocking Science', where we discuss everything from social media and trust to identity and knowledge, seeking to discover how we can unlock science for everyone.

In this episode, we explore different ways that distrust can be expressed and what drives that historically, situationally, even structurally. We will also look at how competing narratives can mean making sense of the science is an often difficult, complicated task.

This  is a rerun of our 4-part podcast series 'Unlocking Science', where we discuss everything from social media and trust to identity and knowledge, seeking to discover how we can unlock science for everyone.

In this episode, we explore how our sense of identity affects our willingness to trust certain sources of information. We look at why the authority of traditional gatekeepers of expertise, like science academies, seems to be eroding. Have we misunderstood what social media can do and what might this have to do with the rise of identity politics? And of course, we will also reflect on what should be done by the science community for all of this.

This  is a rerun of our 4-part podcast series 'Unlocking Science', where we discuss everything from social media and trust to identity and knowledge, seeking to discover how we can unlock science for everyone.

In this episode we explore how uncertainties play a role in the process of scientific discovery and why this is such a challenge for the way we need to talk about science – with Courtney Radsch and Felix Bast.

This  is a rerun of our 4-part podcast series 'Unlocking Science', where we discuss everything from social media and trust to identity and knowledge, seeking to discover how we can unlock science for everyone.