The COVID-19 emergency crisis emphasized the strong interconnection between scientific consensus/dissent, cost-effectiveness of policy interventions and their implications for public health, social welfare, economics and society at large. The debate over (mandatory) vaccination, the evaluation of the therapeutic benefits and safety associated with off-label drugs, or still-to-be approved treatments, the psychosocial effects of distancing and lockdown measures, cost-effectiveness considerations of containment measures, the economic and political implications for our welfare, and issues of social as well as economic justice bring to light the deep interconnection of scientific enterprise, health systems, and society.
Furthermore, plagued by deep uncertainty and manipulative attempts, the media system may have fostered polarization of debates and a credibility crisis towards science and the political institutions. Scientific dissent on policy matters are giving a new perspective to the traditional science from pseudo-science. In turn this raises the theoretical question about how to characterize scientific rationality in such contexts and how to deal with scientific ecosystems characterized by vested interests and hidden agendas: who decides what is science and what is scientific?
The conference gathers scientists, economists, policy-makers and methodologists of science as well as the medical profession in order to take stock, analyse best practices around the world, and advance a multidisciplinary, evidence-based debate on industry and non-industry sponsored scientific research, containment measures, prevention and treatment prospects, resources allocation and their impact for health and society, in view of advancing proposals for the development of virtuous mechanisms that reward overall public and individual health and well-being.
Participants in the discussion:
Speakers
Fiorella Battaglia (LMU, Munich)
Alberto Chierici (NYU, Abu Dhabi)
Juan Carlos de Martin (PoliTO, Turin)
Alberto Donzelli (Fondazione Allineare Sanità e Salute, Milan) Cristoph Lütge (TUM, Munich)
Caterina Marchionni (HELSUS, Helsinki) Antonello Maruotti (LUMSA, Rome)
Marta Bertolaso (UCBM, Rome)
Paola Binetti (UCBM, Rome)
Paolo Ciocca (CONSOB, Rome)
Vito Fazio (IFT-CNR, Rome)
Sebastiano Maffettone (ETHOS Luiss Business School, Rome) Giorgio Minotti (UCBM, Rome)
Laura Palazzani (LUMSA, Rome)
Massimo Ciccozzi (UCBM, Rome)
Alessandro Vespignani (Northeastern University, Boston)
Links for attending the conference online (on Teams):
- – 10 September 2021: link teams
- – 11 September 2021: link teams
