Stories

Civic Science Fellow Narayan Sankaran (2024-25) shares reflections from the 2024 Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin:

Just two days after the U.S. election, as we were still digesting the implications, we flew to Berlin for the annual Falling Walls Science Summit, arriving in Germany the same day that country’s coalition government dissolved amidst growing economic and social tensions. It was against this backdrop of political instability and resurgent right-wing nationalism that leaders in science, business, and the public sector had gathered to explore ways to break down barriers in science and innovation.

I was there to participate in a roundtable conversation entitled “Preparing the next generation of Civic Science leaders,” convened to explore how to reorient science toward its civic responsibility. Given our focus, it was hard to ignore the broader civic context in which our conversation was taking place. In the shadow of such salient indications of a fragmenting society, it felt prescient to be discussing how science should shape society. This was especially true at a time when “science is moving into territory that is fundamentally challenging and changing what it means to be human,” according to fellow panelist DietramScheufele, a professor of science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who also serves as Chair of the Civic Science Advisory Committee.

As a neuroscientist, I found Scheufele’s comments to be particularly resonant. After decades of studying how our brain’s biology gives rise to our behavior, neuroscience has reached an inflexion point that is radically reorienting how we understand ourselves. For example, by exposing the biological basis of mental states that lead to violent behavior, neuroscience is challenging long-held legal notions of criminal responsibility. By creating neural technologies that read and manipulate the brain activity underpinning our thoughts, actions, and emotions, neuroscience promises a range of clinical treatments while also raising concerns about the erosion of our mental privacy, individual agency, and autonomy. As we continue to unlock the workings of the human mind, how should we use these insights to benefit society? And how do we do so in a time when society is increasingly divided on values?

For fellow panelist Frances Colón, senior director for International Climate Policy at the Center for American Progress, Civic Science offers a model for scientists to take responsibility “to democratize the tools of science.” Reflecting on her own experience appearing on Spanish-language radio to talk about public health during the pandemic, Colón highlighted the value in moving into a community to convey science within a framing that people authentically relate to, while “not underestimating your own community members—taking into account people’s legitimate fears, legitimate frames, and being there.”

I see Colón’s words as a guiding principle for my own work as a Civic Science Fellow. For me, it’s about establishing ways for neuroscientists to sit within the communities that their research will impact most. 

Admittedly, even at Falling Walls, I felt resistance to a framework that conceives of scientists as having civic responsibility that extends beyond the bounds of their technical discovery. Nevertheless, I found hope in the numerous conversations I had with early-career scientists who hadn’t previously heard of civic science, but for whom the concept immediately resonated—as if a sentiment they had long felt about what was lacking in our scientific lives had suddenly taken shape and had a name. 

Credit must be given to the Falling Walls Foundation for convening a meeting in which we could marvel at the technical achievement of a scientific breakthrough in the morning, and then grapple with its complex implications for society in the afternoon. Breaking the wall that divides science from its societal consequences feels like an important step in the right direction.