Academies ‘must rebuild trust in experts’

Science academies need to change the way they work to prevent evidence-based policy being swept aside by the populist surge, a report has warned.

The “troubling trend toward ‘anti-expert’ and ‘anti-elite’ politics and populism” demands a response from national and international academies, according to the report from the International Network for Government Science Advice (Ingsa).

Populism’s undermining of traditional media and its adoption of social media have left a “gaping void” in public information provision, said the report, published on 19 June.