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‘How (Data) Science Supports Life with COVID-19: or, Why We All Need to Slow Down’

Given the reward system’s focus on the quantity and short-term impact of results, researchers particularly in fields such as biology, biomedicine, epidemiology & data science are primed to look for low-hanging fruits specific to their existing skills and expertise, without however:

• devoting attention towards developing datasets and models for longer-term re-use by multiple stakeholders;
• considering diverse types of data sources and how they may relate to each other;
• reflecting on the broader impact of results;
• ensuring engagement by relevant stakeholders.

In this talk, I argue that these trends have magnified during the pandemic, with serious consequences for the reliability and usefulness of the research.  I discuss some examples from applications of data science to the analysis of contagion rates and sources, and ways in which data use can be re-imagined to offset the shortcomings and instrumentalization confronted by some such projects. I then argue that one way to mitigate this risk is for researchers to  recognize that biomedical and epidemiological expertise needs  to be complemented by other research perspectives (including from social science and humanities), comparisons with other locations/studies, as well as  non-scientific – yet relevant – expertise such as derived from community engagement. I conclude that emergency science can be fast, but should never be rushed; and the need to allow for interdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder consultations is heightened when results carry significant public health implications.
 

Sabina Leonelli is Professor of Philosophy and History of Science at the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Exeter, where she leads the â€˜Data Governance, Algorithms and Values’ strand of the Exeter Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. She is also Vice president of the European Philosophy of Science Association. Her research spans the fields of history and philosophy of biology, science and technology studies and general philosophy of science, and currently focuses on four interrelated strands:

1. the philosophy, history and sociology of data-intensive science, especially the impact of Big and Open Data on research and wider society;
2. the scientific and social implications of implementing Open Science policies and procedures;
3. the philosophy and history of organisms as research models, with a focus on experimental organisms and
4. the history and epistemology of the plant sciences, especially the global circulation of plant data.

Prof. Leonelli is interested in the implementation of Open Science and in regular dialogue with national governments and scientific societies / institutions on this issue. Since 2010, her publications are freely accessible from the , which she coordinates. In 2018, she received the Lakatos Award (awarded for an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science) for her book Data-Centric Biology: A Philosophical Study (Chicago UP, 2016). Her new edited volume Data Journeys in the Sciences will soon be downloadable in Open Access format from Springer.