Researchers in times of Corona
Hanna Helder studied German language and literature at the Albert Ludwig University in Freiburg. In addition to her studies, she has gained a lot of experience in radio and print journalism through internships and freelance work. She has been at the Burda School of Journalism since October 2018 and writes, among other things, as a trainee for
More about the experts All content is checked by medical journalists.Rarely have researchers been in the focus of attention as they were in the Corona crisis. Unusually passionate, they discuss on the open stage.That could change the way we perceive science.
So far, researchers have generally been seen as withdrawn, matter-of-fact contemporaries. Differences of opinion were mostly dealt with in specialist journals or at conferences. But that changes in the Corona crisis. Debates are taking place in public. Two of the most famous researchers, the virologists Christian Drosten and Alexander Kekulé, are currently working hard. That could change the way we perceive science.
Science is more exposed to the outside world
The expert for science communication Sven Engesser from the TU Dresden observes that rivalries between researchers are no longer resolved internally, but rather communicated to the outside world. "This is also due to the fact that everyone involved is very exposed and under pressure." Scientific results would be much more relevant in the Corona crisis than in the past. "It rarely happens to basic researchers that an unpublished study influences policy decisions."
Current discussions
The current discussion is triggered by preliminary results published by Drosten on the risk of infection by children and a related warning against opening schools and kindergartens in Germany without restrictions. The study has been criticized in some areas, as could be read in the "Bild" newspaper.
However, the latter had taken quotes from specialist colleagues out of context and used them without their consent and derived false claims from them.
Drosten, chief virologist at the Berlin Charité, and his team have revised the statistical analysis of the data according to their own information and want to submit them for publication, as the scientist also said in a "Spiegel" interview published on Friday.
Researchers are only human too
How public debates affected the population is difficult to say, says communications expert Engesser. "Some people will be disappointed to realize that researchers are fallible and human. Others will find just that authentic and personable." Basically it is like this: "Anyone who was hostile to science will probably become even more hostile to science - and vice versa." (hh / dpa)
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