How it all started

[patrick]

Note: information about the all of the people mentioned in this post is available on the InSECT Project website.

The InSECT Project was started by Harry Collins in 2024, out of concern for the way in which the erosion of trust in science and scientists had reached epidemic proportions following globally significant events including the response to both MMR and COVID-19 vaccinations, climate science scepticism and the rise of politicians on both sides of the Atlantic for whom truth is defined in whatever way they see fit at the particular moment at which they are speaking. As a leading academic in the field of the sociology of scientific knowledge, Harry felt that it was necessary to find a way of bringing the insights produced by his work to a wider audience in defence of democracy and civil society and to counter growing mistrust in science.

Harry was soon joined by Ryan Batkie and Elizabeth Zodda in the US, and by Patrick Fullick, in Spring 2025. Michael Reiss joined as the fifth member of the team in Autumn 2025. Harry, Patrick and Michael are based in the UK.

The team encompasses people with a range of expertise, with four of us having experience of different kinds across all three sciences in school classrooms, as teachers, researchers and curriculum developers. We all share a concern about the effects of the erosion of trust in science, and in the erosion of truth - through this project we are addressing this directly by involving the audience that we think will be most receptive (young people) and who have the most need and the most to gain by learning to understand why, when and how they should trust knowledge generated through science and how to distinguish between different types of expertise.

The project is conceived as being a kind of 'movement' of like-minded people who share our concerns and who are in a position to collaborate in order to develop, share and use a new kind of teaching about science which involves teachers from a diverse range of subjects and backgrounds - science is simply too important to be left to science teachers alone! As the project develops we will be working to develop assessment materials too, to help teachers to incorporate the new materials into existing courses like the IB Diploma's Theory of Knowledge and the EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) which is a British qualification becoming increasingly popular outside the UK.

We encourage you to find out more about the project by reading and engaging with the content here, and by asking questions and posting your thoughts for discussion. It's great to have you with us!