How activist should scientists be?
On a Friday evening in late September 2019, 21 PhD students from every
continent but Antarctica gathered in a dimly lit room on the second
floor of Sophienstraße 22a in Berlin. This was the climax of a week-long
summer school on ‘Transformative Human-Environment Research &
Participatory Methods’ organised by the IRI THESys at Humboldt
University. The preceding week’s lectures, discussions, and practicums
on the
democratization of knowledge production were fresh in everyone’s minds.
Should scientists strive to be objective? Is it possible (not) to align
our values with our scientific practice? What counts as ‘science’? The
summer school students and faculty, as well as a handful of members of
the public, took their seats among a few rows of chairs. At the front of
the room were five chairs arranged in a semicircle facing the audience.
The moderator, Krystin Unverzagt, welcomed the audience and explained
how the event would proceed. Unlike a typical panel, this would be a
‘fishbowl’ discussion; the moderator would take the central chair, and
each time an audience member wanted to add to the discussion, they would
walk to the front, take a seat, and make their point. They were then
free to stay for a few responses or return to the audience. Regardless
of the direction of the conversation, one seat in the front would remain
open, so there was always the opportunity for someone new to join. The
following is a reconstruction of the ensuing conversation,
collaboratively assembled by the participants the following day. The
editors—themselves participants of the event—have added headings and
made slight changes to wording for stylistic consistency
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