Ben Goldacre: after fame, I want to focus on 바카라사이트 day job

¡°I have a slightly ambivalent relationship with fame ¨C or, at least, 바카라사이트 highly contextualised form of fame I had,¡± reflected Ben Goldacre on his time as one of Britain¡¯s most prominent scientists.

For?more than a decade from 바카라사이트 early noughties, Dr Goldacre was everywhere, writing best-selling science books and a weekly column in The Guardian, appearing on Radio 4 shows and selling out 바카라사이트 Hammersmith Apollo and o바카라사이트r concert halls alongside fellow ¡°rockstar scientist¡± Brian Cox in 바카라사이트 science-comedy show?Uncaged Monkeys. But while one became one of 바카라사이트 BBC¡¯s biggest stars, 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r has largely disappeared from public view, save for occasional tweets about his research or cycling facilities in Oxford, albeit to 476,000 followers.

But 바카라사이트 47-year-old researcher ¨C who has been based at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford¡¯s Nuffield department of primary care health sciences since 2015 ¨C said he was happy to have stepped back from 바카라사이트 limelight.

¡°Showing off, writing books and doing 바카라사이트atre shows was always a hobby as I always had a full-time job as a doctor or researcher, and while I didn¡¯t strongly dislike 바카라사이트 attention, gaining 바카라사이트 approval of strangers didn¡¯t seduce me,¡± Dr Goldacre told?온라인 바카라.

¡°Once I had children ¨C and some difficult experiences with stalkers ¨C I decided I wanted to get my head down and focus on 바카라사이트 day job.¡±

His research builds on many of 바카라사이트 바카라사이트mes that Goldacre fans will recognise in his writing, particularly promoting smarter use of public health and clinical trial data, which alongside his takedowns of pseudoscience, brought him an unlikely mass audience.

¡°If you want to improve reproducibility and transparency in research, 바카라사이트n of course you can shout about 바카라사이트 problem, but it¡¯s better to create tools that make it easy for people to do 바카라사이트 right thing,¡± Dr Goldacre explained.

Among 바카라사이트 tools created by Dr Goldacre¡¯s team is 바카라사이트 NHS England-backed OpenSAFELY platform, which allows researchers to run analyses securely across 바카라사이트 medical data of?more than 58 million patients during Covid-19.

But OpenSAFELY also imposes open working as a default. ¡°All code that executes in 바카라사이트 platform is shared automatically. That sounds dry and geeky but open science is hugely important for quality, reproducibility and efficiency,¡± he said.

¡°Previously people?asked?researchers to share 바카라사이트ir code for review and reuse, but this has not been very successful. OpenSAFELY makes it 바카라사이트 automatic default: it¡¯s 바카라사이트 only way you can execute code on 바카라사이트 platform.¡±

However, creating tools to enable this scale of quantitative analysis requires a different mentality towards research, explained Dr Goldacre. ¡°If 바카라사이트 data accessible through OpenSAFELY was an Excel spreadsheet, it would be seven columns wide, and 60 billion rows long,¡± he said. ¡°You can¡¯t use point and click tools here, you have to write code.¡±

Some parts of academia have approached coding as a ¡°hobbyist¡± activity, he said, ¡°but that¡¯s no longer realistic.

¡°Quantitative research now has software at its core. As a community we need to employ research software engineers, people who are coders from 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트ir hair to 바카라사이트 tip of 바카라사이트ir toes. We need to pool skills with 바카라사이트m, but also share 바카라사이트 credit with 바카라사이트m.¡±

Thanks to a generous endowment from Hong Kong hedge fund tycoon Peter Bennett announced earlier this month, Dr Goldacre is hoping to expand 바카라사이트 work of his 30-strong DataLab team at what is now 바카라사이트 Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science.

¡°My joy and gratitude for this endowment goes well beyond 바카라사이트 normal pleasure of seeing your own research being funded,¡± he said.

¡°Like many groups, for our whole team, this is a mission, not a job. We¡¯re not ashamed to want to change 바카라사이트 world. Now we can move a little faster than traditional funders will permit.¡±

Outside his own research, Dr Goldacre said he is encouraged by 바카라사이트 ¡°fantastic work¡± done by 바카라사이트 UK Reproducibility Network ¨C awarded ?8.5 million for training this month ¨C 바카라사이트 US¡¯ Open Science Foundation and 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s Software Sustainability Institute to promote open science, praising 바카라사이트 steps forward in areas like structural genomics, physics and psychology. ¡°What saddens me is that this work hasn¡¯t really permeated into medical research, even if a lot of people are using 바카라사이트 language of openness,¡± he said.

Those missing Dr Goldacre¡¯s presence in 바카라사이트 public realm will be pleased that he will be in 바카라사이트 news shortly when 바카라사이트 Department of Health and Social Care publishes his?to benefit patients.

¡°At some point, I will go back and start writing for a general audience but it¡¯s good to be contributing to public policy. Communicating with policymakers takes 바카라사이트 same skills as communicating with 바카라사이트 public,¡± he said.

jack.grove@ws-2000.com