Hundreds of scientists protested government efforts to restrict educational access to Western science theories, including Darwin’s theory of evolution, in June 2023 in India. Similarly, scientists in Mexico participated in a research strike in May 2023 to protest a national law they claimed would threaten the conditions for basic research. And during the same month in Norway, three scientists were arrested for protesting the nation’s slow-moving climate policy.
As these among many other actions show, scientists today are speaking out on a variety of political and social issues related to their own research fields and in solidarity with other social movements.
We are social scientists who study the relationship between science and society. Through our work, we’ve noticed more scientists seem empowered to advocate for a wide range of policy issues. We’re interested in how the surge in science activism may be changing the norms of scientific research.
