The UNSW Early Career Academic Network (ECAN) is thrilled to announce that our flagship Scientia Series event is returning for the fourth time in 2018. This year’s topic is Academia in the Age of Anti-Intellectualism.
In 2016, the Oxford Dictionaries chose post-truth as the word of the year: “Relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief”.
In what has been dubbed the post-truth information age, anti-intellectualism is burgeoning, manifested by a mistrust of education, science, and the arts. What challenges do academics and other public intellectuals face in this post-truth information age? And what advantages or disadvantages might early career academics have in combating growing populist disdain for experts and intellectuals?
Panellists:
Dr Rebecca Sheehan, Macquarie University
Gideon Haigh, Journalist, author, cricketer
Dr Will Grant, Australian National University
We hope you can join us for what always proves to be a lively discussion, followed by drinks, canapés and networking. Free and open to all.
