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SUMMARY:How to (Re)Use Big Data w/Prof Sabina Leonelli - Prof Sabina Leone
 lli\, University of Exeter
DTSTART:20180129T173000Z
DTEND:20180129T190000Z
UID:TALK95035@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Jens Steffensen
DESCRIPTION:Big data bring great opportunities for both understanding the 
 complex world we live in and making our lives better—but they are also r
 ipe for misuse. In many areas of science increasingly powerful technologie
 s allow researchers to generate a whole lot of data\, which are then disse
 minated via digital databases. Having heaps of data available online sound
 s great\, but it raises real problems. How are we to explore and make sens
 e of this enormous quantity of data? Philosophers have had a lot to say ab
 out how we can make robust inferences by triangulating between multiple li
 nes of evidence\, and how we handle data in order to yield meaningful and 
 reliable knowledge. I will draw on this literature to examine the conditio
 ns under which big data should be aggregated and interpreted. I then discu
 ss the ways in which big data misuse could significantly damage the credib
 ility and trustworthiness of scientific research as a whole.\n\nAbout the 
 speaker\n\nSabina Leonelli is a professor in philosophy and history of sci
 ence at the University of Exeter\, UK\, where she co-direct the Exeter Cen
 tre for the Study of the Life Sciences and leads the “Data Studies” re
 search strand. Her research focuses on the philosophy of data-intensive sc
 ience\, especially the methods and assumptions involved in the production\
 , dissemination and use of data in biology and biomedicine\; the ways in w
 hich the open science movement is redefining what counts as research and k
 nowledge across different research environments\; and the epistemic status
  of experimental organisms as models and data sources\, particularly in pl
 ant science. Her work involves collaborations with natural and social scie
 ntists\, and historians of science\; involvement in science policy initiat
 ives such as the European Open Science Cloud and Open Science Policy Platf
 orm\; and multiple sources of funding including a European Research Counci
 l award (2014-2019). She has widely published in the philosophy of science
  as well as biology and STS\, and her monograph Data-Centric Biology: A Ph
 ilosophical Study appeared in 2016 with Chicago University Press.
LOCATION:Winstanley L.T.\, Trinity College
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