Pandem-icons' — exploring the characteristics of highly visible scientists during the Covid-19 pandemic

• Published in: Journal of science communication Vol. 22; no. 1; p. 1
• Main Authors: Joubert, Marina, Guenther, Lars, Metcalfe, Jenni, Riedlinger, Michelle, Chakraborty, Anwesha, Gascoigne, Toss, Schiele, Bernard, Baram-Tsabari, Ayelet, Malkov, Dmitry, Fattorini, Eliana, Revuelta, Gema, Barata, Germana, Riise, Jan, Schröder, Justin T., Horst, Maja, Kaseje, Margaret, Kirsten, Marnell, Bauer, Martin W., Bucchi, Massimiano, Flores, Natália, Wolfson, Orli, Chen, Tingjie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sissa Medialab srl / Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati 01-01-2023
• Subjects: Australia; Brazil; Canada; China; Communication; Denmark; einstein; engagement; Epidemics; experts; Filosofi; gap; Germany; Historia; History; History of public communication of science; Israel; mass-media; Philosophy; public communication; Public understanding of; Public understanding of science and technology; Russia; sagan; Sagan, Carl; Science and media; science and technology; science communication; Scientists; Social aspects; South Africa; Spain; Sweden; United Kingdom; Canada; Sweden; China; Brazil; Denmark; South Africa; United Kingdom; Israel; Australia; Germany; Spain; Russia
• ISSN: 1824-2049; 1824-2049
• DOI: 10.22323/2.22010204

The Covid-19 pandemic escalated demand for scientific explanations and guidance, creating opportunities for scientists to become publicly visible. In this study, we compared characteristics of visible scientists during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic (January to December 2020) across 16 countries. We find that the scientists who became visible largely matched socio-cultural criteria that have characterised visible scientists in the past (e.g., age, gender, credibility, public image, involvement in controversies). However, there were limited tendencies that scientists commented outside their areas of expertise. We conclude that the unusual circumstances created by Covid-19 did not change the phenomenon of visible scientists in significant ways.