George SavvaNov 21, 2023
Dorothy Bishop
Defence against the dark arts: my proposal for a new MSc course
http://deevybee.blogspot.com/2023/11/defence-against-dark-arts-proposal-for.html
I do hope at least one university takes this seriously
#fraud #integrity #misconduct #training #sleuths
Defence against the dark arts: a proposal for a new MSc course

  Since I retired, an increasing amount of my time has been taken up with investigating scientific fraud. In recent months, I've become co...

Nov 20, 2023 at 9:10amWeb
Show threadEhudNov 20, 2023

@deevybee

I’ve been teaching something similar in various formats for several years. http://www.ehudlamm.com/fringe.html

In the last iteration I spent a third of the semester on @ct_bergstrom Calling Bullshit and included more material on conspiracy theories, as better scholarship has begun to appear.

Unfortunately, our history and philosophy students weren’t very keen on taking this course.

Ehud Lamm - Fringe Science

Show threadAlessia ViscontiNov 20, 2023

@ehud @deevybee @ct_bergstrom

I'm preparing a course explaining how to read a scientific paper, and these topics are so important and yet so overlooked.

I'll surely going to feast on any material you shared or will be sharing in the future 😬 Thanks!

Show threadCarl T. BergstromNov 20, 2023

@ehud @deevybee

That's surprising and disappointing. Our students seem to have an insatiable curiosity about kooks, cranks, conspiracy theorists, and all that.

Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Nov 20, 2023
@ehud @deevybee @ct_bergstrom I think calling it "Defence Against the Dark Arts" is a marketing masterstroke.
Show threadEhudNov 20, 2023
@mike @deevybee @ct_bergstrom Right!
Show threadMichael LoveNov 20, 2023
@deevybee we have a new course at UNC that had this or something like it as its title — taught by Alex Rubinsteyn. I think students are eager to hear about this
Show threadDorothy BishopNov 20, 2023
@mikelove
great stuff! But I think it needs to extend to training people to know how to challenge dubious findings, report suspicions and defend oneself against legal threats.
Most people feel very uncertain about what to do if they find misconduct, and the lack of any formal routes to do this is a major issue.
#misconduct
Show threadBenedikt EhingerNov 21, 2023

@deevybee
I want to teach such a course. I think it would be super fun!

Students would benefit enormously and a practical could be quite illuminating

Show threadMegan Lynch (she/her)Nov 21, 2023

@deevybee Part of the problem, as I've experienced it, is that universities will ignore their own ethics & integrity policies to support whichever academic is bringing in the most grant $ and/or prestige. I experienced this as a document I wrote on behalf of @ucaccessnow was not cited in a paper that substantially relied upon it.

The university did no real investigation and in fact put its weight behind the misconduct. Political behavior by unis should be covered.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N1HCiHed7A6G2_e3-jPVKzYSPAiURVYM-unOfyI8UdQ/edit?usp=sharing

Response to Appropriation of UC Access Now Demandifesto

2/22/2022 Sadly, I have a tale to tell of academic misconduct and I’d appreciate it if as many people can read and pass this along as possible because bad faith conduct in academia should be pulled out root and stem. I’ve been shocked by the low level of ethics in academia, but as I do not yet...

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