‘Bristol has scientific discovery woven into its very core’

Science isn’t just facts. It’s not simple, and it’s not easy. It’s not just a subject at school where you learn equations and the periodic table. At its heart, science is a method for critically appraising the world. Ultimately, what scientists do is come up with a theory about how they think the world, or the portion of it that they’re interested in, works, and then spend all their efforts trying to prove themselves wrong, by searching for evidence that disagrees with their theory. This constant questioning information you’re presented with, this critical thinking, has never been more important. We currently have people in positions of extreme power who think alternative facts are legitimate, who state that they’ve had enough of experts, and who will write lies on the side of a bus.

So we, as a society and as a world, need science, not necessarily the subject you learn at school, but the toolkit for helping us all sift out the truth from spin, the evidence from the hyperbole.

However, we’re not necessarily that good at this. Humans – and I include trained scientists in this – are pretty bad at being objective. We seek out and prioritise information that supports what we already believe. Psychological studies have shown that having a science education or an understanding of science won’t necessarily mean a person is more likely to be objective. So we’re fighting an uphill struggle to be critical, against our instincts to confirm our biases.

But all is not lost! Just knowing about these biases that we all have is the first step towards countering them. We need to stay alert and never be complacent about accepting authoritative information we receive, without the evidence to back it up. Even if it’s something we really want to be true!

I’m not just speaking to scientists here. If you didn’t study science, it doesn’t mean these tools aren’t open to you. I passionately believe that science and the arts inform each other, and make both better. It was studying a book about mental health in the first world war for English A-Level that made me want to become a psychologist. And so many amazing works of art, sculptures, great works of literature, use tools from science, engineering and mathematics, and more recently technology, to create beautiful and moving art.

Now, Bristol. I lived, worked and studied as a scientist here for nearly 12 years, and this city will always be my home. Bristol has a strong scientific heritage so I’m really proud to march here. I’m not going to dwell on people like Brunel, great though he was, who we all already know about. I’m going to talk about Elizabeth Blackwell – she was the first woman to be awarded a medical degree in the USA – and she was born here in Bristol. Elizabeth was keen to support women to follow her and achieve what she had done too, and became a strong advocate for encouraging women in to the study of medicine, at a time when it was practically unheard of.

I’m talking about Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, currently the only British woman to have received a Nobel Prize for science, being awarded the prize for Chemistry in 1964. Dorothy was chancellor of the University of Bristol for nearly two decades.

But even more than that, over the last 25 years, Bristol has had scientific discovery and innovation woven in to its very core. I was lucky enough to be able to use data from the Children of the 90s study for my PhD research. This groundbreaking study approached all the pregnant women in the area surrounding Bristol between 1990 and 1991 and invited them to take part. Around 14,000 women said yes, and they and their children have been followed up ever since. Data collected on these generous individuals includes (amongst many other things) personality measures, bone density, hair samples, blood, sweat and tears – there are even buckets of placentas stored in formaldehyde in a warehouse in Somerset. And the data has been used by hundreds of scientists around the world to investigate all sorts of health questions. The people of Bristol are almost certainly responsible for saving and improving the lives of children and adults across the world. Something to be extremely proud of!

I used the data from the children when they were teenagers, to investigate links between drug use – cannabis and cigarettes – and mental health. While doing this it became really apparent to me that there’s a huge amount of misinformation in the public domain around drugs and drug use – from the level of governmental policy around drugs, to public perceptions of drug users. This is why I set up my podcast Say Why to Drugs – to provide scientific evidence around these drugs without spin, and also without judgement.

Drug use is currently on the decline, but harm from drugs is on the rise. And there are links to mental health, but it’s hard to work out in what direction cause and effect might operate. It’s crucial to never lose sight of the humanity – people who have very little support might be choosing this path, and they might want and need help and support rather than condemnation or judgement.

I have been extremely proud to live in Bristol – it’s a city that, despite or maybe even because of its dark history involving the slave trade, in modern times supports and embraces its multiculturality and diversity. I was proud when Bristol voted emphatically to remain in the EU, bucking the trend in the surrounding areas. Science as a research field needs to work on its diversity and representation. It’s why I’ve been involved with organisations like ScienceGrrl – to promote women in science as role models for young girls. But we need to foster multiculturality too.

As a practising scientist I work alongside many people from around the world, including a number of Irish and mainland EU nationals. Scientific collaboration is essential to progress and discovery. We should be building bridges, not putting up walls.

This is a speech that Dr Suzi Gage gave in Millennium Square before Bristol’s March for Science on April 22, 2017. Suzi is a former post-doctoral researcher at the University of Bristol, currently a drugs and mental health researcher and lecturer at Liverpool University, a science blogger for The Guardian, and Say Why To Drugs podcaster.

Photo by Jim Moray

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