Demystifying risk

I have some news I'm excited to bring you (3 minute read)

Climate change, gene technology, artificial intelligence, environmental pollution, infectious disease, vaccines… there are many contentious, current issues which are, at their core, questions about risk. Scientists, regulators, companies and communities are often at odds, with very different perceptions of how serious the risk is, and what should be done about it. As a result, we often struggle to make good decisions, as individuals, communities and societies. At worst, disagreements about risk can escalate into angry conflict.

Right now, New Zealand is reviewing its gene technology regulations and reflecting on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries around the world are wondering what will happen when the next pandemic hits and grappling with how to regulate artificial intelligence. And climate change continues to accelerate while we fail to take necessary actions. We urgently need to have better conversations about risk – conversations which are respectful, open and nuanced.

Conversations about risk have been central to my career in biosecurity and conservation. Now that I’m working as a freelancer, I have the opportunity to take the lessons I learned working inside government and share them with the wider community. This is why I’m working with the Dark Times Academy to bring you a course which will demystify risk. We aren’t just looking at the tangle of jargon and the approaches used by scientists and regulators – although there will be some of that. We will be looking at what drives perceptions of risk, why people see risks differently and examining where our own views come from. We will be identifying what questions to ask and how to be an effective voice in these important conversations.

Annapolis, Maryland, USA (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

I’m not doing this alone. The most exciting part of this course is that I’m going to be joined by some amazing experts. So far, I can announce two of them. For our session on risk communication, we will be joined by Peter Sandman. Peter’s work on outrage has been informing and inspiring me since I read his legendary book on community outrage in the late 1990s. He has an outstanding ability to communicate in a way which is clear and entertaining. I’m incredibly grateful for his generosity in contributing to this course. We will also be doing a session on statistics where we will be joined by Andrew Robinson from the Univeristy of Melbourne. Andrew’s a statistician whose enthusiasm and commitment to making his work useful in the real world impressed me from our very first meeting. Like Peter, he’s a very entertaining speaker. I will announce some further speakers in the weeks to come.

I would love for you to join us on this course. It’s entirely online, with discussions, activities and plenty of useful resources – but no assignments. Check the link for more detail of the course content as well as dates and times. There are also some other great courses coming up from Dark Times Academy, so check those out too.

Demystifying risk: effective conversations about risks to health, the environment and society

Dark Times Academy: upcoming courses