The power of academic masses

And now for some good news - because you may need it in these uncertain times: It may not appear that way, but trust in science across the world and in the Netherlands remains high. And academics are among the most-trusted groups in Dutch society. 

This trust in our expertise and our judgement is our superpower. Our credibility is why media, politicians and others regularly ask us to reflect on current affairs. Society expects us to engage.

But who of us takes up that gauntlet? Which academic has spare time to engage more with society? 

Too few of us. We probably all know enthusiastic and talented colleagues who are keen to do more public engagement, but who simply don’t have time – because their teaching or research load is so high. They refrain from engaging, or – even worse – do it in their own time. As a hobby. 

Deans and other managers who let this happen should be ashamed. Public engagement shouldn’t be considered as something nice to do on the side, in one’s own time. Public engagement should be a core aspect of the job of any academic who wants to. Anyone who want to engage with society should get the time and training to do so. I know that money is tight and work pressure is high, but poorly executed public engagement will in the long run only worsen our precarious academic situation.

And we need many more academics to engage, including PhD candidates, postdocs and young academics. Leaving public engagement to the “superstar communicators”, the television-professors, is risky. Much better to organize a broad, diverse group of science communicators. I experienced that in Australia.

My first strides in science communication happened in 2013, when I was a postdoc in Sydney. I enrolled in a special training program by the Australian Climate Council to increase the number of “climate voices” in the Australian media. Twelve years ago, the media down under were so polarized that the few climate professors that were in the media were personally targeted. A situation like we unfortunately have seen in Netherlands too, during covid… 

The solution of the Australian Climate Council was to increase the number of academics who spoke out. Rather than a few superstar climate communicators, they fostered a large group of many, diverse academics. And it worked! 

It was like whack-a-mole: climate scientists would pop up everywhere in the media. The climate-denial industry didn’t know anymore who to attack. The quality of climate change reporting improved and climate awareness among Australians increased. 

I therefore call for more coordination in public engagement. Rather than aim for a few professors on Nieuwsuur, let’s aim to put many researchers in community centers and public libraries. People are much more likely to be convinced by academics they meet in person, than by talking heads on television.

Strength in numbers!

This column is partly based on Erik van Sebille’s opening speech at WetenschnappsXXL on 21 January 2025.