Events
Spinning narratives in scientific storytelling - join discussion at ReproducibiliTea
We are excited to invite you to our upcoming journal club session! This time, we will explore the fine line between storytelling and spinning narratives in science with our special guest Trevor Corson.
Storytelling or Spinning Narratives – What Is the Difference?
Storytelling is a powerful and increasingly popular mode for both scientific writing and science communication. However, bias and spin in scientific reporting are being called out as part of the credibility crisis in science. At the same time, public trust in science has been declining. Is it possible to craft compelling narratives without compromising scientific integrity? Where does bias come from, and could there be ways to tell stories while remaining objective? Join us as we open this Pandora’s box and dive into the role of narrative thinking and the philosophy of science!
Speaker: Trevor Corson – acclaimed narrative journalist, science writer, and health researcher at Helsinki University Hospital. He teaches "Storytelling for Scientists" in the Doctoral School and leads NeuWrite Nordic, a creative science-writing workshop.
Reading Material:
Main paper:
“Storytelling” (2013) by Krzywinski & Cairo and its commentary “Against Storytelling of Scientific Results” (2013) by Katz. [PDF link]
Encouraged extra reading:
“Hide Results to Seek the Truth” (2015) by MacCoun & Perlmutter. [PDF link]
Register here
Dissertation: Santeri Pakola
Opponent: Associate Professor Josep Piulats, Catalan Institute of Oncology
HiLIFE webinar / Viikki Monday Seminar by Claire Spottiswoode
Claire Spottiswoode is a South African field biologist who has held positions at the University of Cambridge and the Fitzpatrick Institute of Ornithology, University of Cape Town, where she is currently a professor and director of the first Max Planck international research centre on the African continent. Claire has held multiple prestigious research fellowships from the Royal Society of London and has been awarded the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London and the Bicentenary Medal of the Linnean Society for her work on the ecology and evolution of interacting species. Her current research on human-wildlife cultural coevolution uses a range of approaches, from molecular biology to ethnographic interviews, and encourages us to contemplate our participation in the evolutionary past, present, and future of species interactions.
Welcome to this exciting seminar!
Rose Thorogood and Deryk Tolman
Selected publications:
Spottiswoode, C. N., & Wood, B. M. (2023). Culturally determined interspecies communication between humans and honeyguides. Science, 382(6675), 1155-1158. https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.adh4129
Dixit, T., Chen, K. C., Stoddard, M. C., Mahadevan, L., Town, C. P., & Spottiswoode, C. N. (2023). Repeatable randomness, invariant properties, and the design of biological signatures of identity. Evolution, 77(10), 2224-2233. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-023-02232-4
Kliinisen kemian semnaarit
Timo Suonsyrjä
Biostatistics drop-in workshop
Are you a researcher needing support with any statistical aspect of your work? The Biostatistics Consulting Service here at Meilahti Campus holds drop-in workshop sessions every other week to answer smaller questions about your analysis - solving a particular problem, how to get started, etc. We provide service in Finnish, English and Swedish.
The next workshop is on Wednesday 2nd April, at 13:00-15:00 in Biomedicum 2B, in the Olohuone on floor 6. Come whenever you can. Note that you may end up waiting a while for your turn, especially early on in the session. We aim to spend no more than 15 minutes with each customer.
Bring:
- your computer
- your data
- your questions
and we biostatisticians will be on hand to help and guide.
Registration is not required, but you can help us prepare for your questions by filling in this form. The workshops are open to any researcher at the university's Medical Faculty, HUS or FIMM.
The following sessions are planned for 16th April, 30th April, 14th May and 28th May.
For more in-depth questions, please book a one-on-one consultation session using this e-form where we will have time to go into more detail.
From the Biostatistics Team