Fighting Truth Decay: how to navigate health in a post-truth world

Co-presented with the Charles Perkins Centre

On the eve of World Obesity Day, join us to unravel the role of corporate interests in influencing public perception of science, particularly health research.

Science, including health research, has been particularly susceptible to “Truth Decay” – the increasing reliance on opinion over fact. How have we reached a point where the public does not know what to believe about immunisation, dietary recommendations, the effectiveness of drugs, or the harms of chemicals? Conflicts of interest and bias are two key drivers of Truth Decay related to health. Corporate interests have a long, long history of influencing how people understand science – particularly science as it relates to their products or profits.

This event will explore the role of corporate interests in influencing the production, dissemination and use of health evidence and describe systemic changes that are needed to fight Truth Decay in order to address large scale and complex problems. Delivered on the eve of World Obesity Day, this event will consider the impact of Truth Decay on the Obesity Epidemic, the role of media in an environment that promotes obesity, and what’s needed to tackle this challenging problem.

The speakers:

• Professor Lisa Bero, director of the Evidence, Policy and Influence Collaborative Research Program at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney
• Catriona Bonfiglioli, journalism studies academic at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
• Professor Stephen Simpson, Academic Director of the Charles Perkins Centre, foundation member of The Obesity Collective and Chair of its Curators group, and Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Sydney
  

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