COVID-19

The COVID 19 pandemic poses an unprecedented challenge to science and higher education. Scientists are working hard on solutions to highly complex problems. They are working flat out on finding cures and vaccines. They must assess the consequences of the pandemic for society. They have to advise politicians and provide information to a highly agitated public. And all of this within a climate of extreme uncertainty.

What is your take on Covid-19? We welcome contributions on this topic.

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How good science communication can support researchers in cases of hostility

Jul 31, 2023 | #COVID-19, #Impact

Threats and attacks on researchers can lead them to self-isolate and retreat from public communication. We look at strategies to prevent this from happening.

Sharing knowledge: Impact of Covid-19 on digital teaching

Jun 14, 2022 | #COVID-19, #Ethics, #Infrastructure

In this short analysis the three authors aggregate findings from four research projects to answer questions regarding the accelerated digitalisation of education due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Who is an expert? Inclusion and exclusion of expertise in global pandemic prevention

Apr 20, 2022 | #COVID-19, #ScientificAdvice

The case of pandemic prevention is one of many examples to show that holistic perspectives in disaster prevention and related fields have gained prominence in recent years.

What the Covid-19 experience has taught us about the limits of evidence-informed policy making

Apr 6, 2022 | #COVID-19, #ScientificAdvice

In this short analysis P. Atkinson highlights the uncertainties associated with the field of evidence-informed policy making, especially in crisis situations such as Covid-19.

Another Year in Elephants

Dec 22, 2021 | #COVID-19, #Power

A wrap up of 2021 on Elephant in the Lab by the Editorial Team

Opening up the black box of teaching in a digital era

Aug 2, 2021 | #COVID-19

The Pandemic hit the vast majority of European HEI unprepared. The members of AEDiL saw this as a starting point for a collaborative project taking innovative methodological pathways.

Possibilities for Change – Higher Education and Digitalisation

Jul 19, 2021 | #COVID-19

Bronwen and Moritz highlight the institutional challenges posed to Higher Education Institutions by the pandemic and outline how these can be viewed as a window of opportunity

A Year in Elephants

Dec 22, 2020 | #COVID-19, #Infrastructure, #Power

A look backwards from the editorial team.

Academic voices during the pandemic

Oct 6, 2020 | #COVID-19, #GlobalScience

Julia T. Scho on the challenges and positive experiences of researchers and scientists working around the globe during the pandemic

How current travel restrictions open up new possibilities for researcher mothers

Alena Sander sheds light on one particular window of opportunity for researcher mothers during the COVID 19 pandemic with the potential to have a lasting positive impact on women’s career path in academia.

The Return to Science at The Turn of Modernity

Jayat Joshi on the role of science as a guiding principle of political and societal action in extraordinary situations like the COVID-19 pandemic

How science communication can challenge conspiracy theories in times of Covid-19

Mike Schäfer & Jing Zeng on the particularities of conspiracy theories on COVID-19, how to face them, and what role science communicators play while doing so.

How Conspiracy Theorists Get the Scientific Method Wrong

Philipp Hübl on the characteristics of conspiracy theories the motivation behind their spread, and rational thought as a shield against it

Communicating Science in Covid Times

Stefanie Molthagen-Schnöring on science communication in times of a global pandemic and why communication with “the public” shouldn ´ t be its goal

Science Without a Question

Fabian Stephany on the CoRisk-Index, its development during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and the role of implicit theory

The Great Update of Research

Our editor, Benedikt Fecher on research in post-COVID-19 times and the prospective falsificationist rationale

Could this be the start of a new era in scholarly communication?

We need to learn from the practices during the corona pandemic to shape the “new normal” of scholarly communication instead of falling back into old patterns, says our Advisory Board member Rebecca Lawrence

Suddenly famous: a virus and the media

Science journalists find experts, deal with new developments intensively, do fact-checking, analyse data and communicate knowledge to the public. All of this has been important in the past weeks and may lead to a difference in the future, says our author Juliane Meißner.

When your lab is the world but the world is closed down

Samantha Ruppel on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the researcher and her field, the ethical standards guiding her work, the cooperation among scientists and the topics they´re working on.

The Science Must Go On

In this opinion-piece Katharina C. Cramer discusses the impact of the Corona-Crisis on large scale research infrastructures and their limits of performance in the current situation.

Higher Education in Crisis Times

In this interview with Teresa Völker, Prof. Villa talks about the initiative “Nicht-Semster” (calling for a cancellation of the regular spring semester during the Corona crisis) and how the crisis impacts the infrastructure of the german higher education system.