Christine Stabell Benn
Title: Professor
Age: 52 years
Areas of research: The effect of vaccines on the overall health of the real world – that is, after the vaccines have been introduced. We test whether things are going as expected.
Among other things known from the following media: DR2, TV2, P1, TEDx, Berlingske, Politiken, podcasts, Twitter and LinkedIn .
Hobby(s): Family and friends, piles of non-fiction and fiction, jogging with my daughter and working out at my gym (when it’s not on lockdown) – and knitting for my loved ones.
Why are you featured in the media?
Because I believe I have an obligation to share my knowledge and to try to
nuance the debate when it tends to become one-sided.
How do you relate to ongoing discussions, e.g. on social media?
I love the quick access to new research results and the immediate
discussion of new research results, such as on Twitter. I eagerly
participate in polite knowledge exchange and learn a lot from the input of
colleagues and lay people alike. I tend to back out if people get rude
and/or have clearly formed an opinion in advance and won’t budge, no matter
what. Fortunately, such people are few and far between.
What responsibility do you feel for the way your statements are used?
I’ve given that a lot of thought. Especially because some people have
argued that I should refrain from sharing our research findings about
negative non-specific effects of non-live vaccines among girls in Africa
because the findings might end up being abused by anti-vaxxers.
It annoys me, of course, when ‘cherry-pickers’ only convey our negative
results and not the many positive ones. But then, you can’t avoid
cherry-picking unless you’re prepared to stay silent for good.
Censorship/self-censorship contributes to one thing only: increasing
distrust. We need to be able to discuss the pros and cons of vaccines in an
open and transparent way, just as we would with any other healthcare
measure.
What do you do when you want to disconnect from the COVID-19 media
exposure?
I turn to my hobbies.
If you had to come up with one piece of good advice for others who want
to take on the role of an expert, what would it be?
Get an advisor!
An American colleague once told me, ‘Go where the fire is for ideas. You
know that you have found the sweet spot, the important research subject,
when everybody is skeptical, but no one can explain why’. I have been
fortunate to find hotspots in my research as well as in the public debate.
But, just as firefighters have protective gear when they venture into a
blaze, it is also extremely important that you as a researcher and
participant in the debate have someone to lean on when having to take the
flak that inevitably comes with challenging existing knowledge. In my area
of research, I have been privileged to have an older mentor, and for my
debating, I have allied myself with a skilled communications consultant.
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Perhaps it could be an idea for SDU to make a communications adviser more
systematically available to those who are considering engaging themselves
in the debate as an expert? Although I’m fully aware that SDU is already
doing something and that you can turn to your faculty for help, it’s
clearly a problem that many skilled professionals stay away or withdraw due
to the sometimes harsh tone.
The result is that the debate is mostly left to those who are little
thick-skinned. Is that what we want? I, for one, do not. It prevents us
from putting our entire pool of talent into play – and it would do us good
to hear from the more thoughtful voices.
It would be a great gain, both for the tone of the debate and for the
knowledge that comes into play, if all the experts who had something on
their minds could safely participate in the debate with an adviser behind
them.
You have been the centre of much of the debate – e.g. on Linkedin. How
has it affected you?
The vast majority of responses, perhaps 90 percent, have been
overwhelmingly positive, but harsh words have also been spoken. Perhaps
it’s human nature that we tend to remember the harsh words better.
Some of the criticism misses the mark by a long shot; it’s put forward by
people who have formed an opinion in advance and view all other opinions as
a threat that must be mowed down as soon as possible, and who are therefore
impervious to arguments. I think I’ve become better at ignoring that kind
of criticism – and it doesn’t deserve any better.
However, I do my best to listen to relevant criticism. I then tell myself
that I learn the most from this kind of criticism – however unwelcome it
may seem in a particular situation. My mentor once thanked his opponents in
a speech of thanks, for without them he would never have got as far as he
did. I guess that's my perspective, too.
In your opinion, what will it take for us to have a better collective
conversation about COVID-19?
We've had a huge collective conversation about COVID-19 for the last 11
months. I've never talked so much for so long about a single topic. Still,
the conversation can definitely get better.
I’m a member of an organisation for university affiliates, ‘Heterodox
Academy’, whose mission is to ‘support open inquiry, viewpoint diversity,
and constructive disagreement in research and education’. One of the
initiators, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, has written an outstanding
book, ‘The Righteous Mind. Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and
Religion’. I honestly believe that if everyone read his book, and did so
thoroughly, our collective conversation would improve a lot.
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It's about how our brain can trick us into selectively listening to
arguments that support our preconception, and about the curiosity that we
should feel when others have entirely different opinions, and about the
fact that we should consider arguments that question our preconceptions as
an opportunity to get wiser.
Among other things, the book has made me curious about Trump supporters in
a different way. I’m no longer able to think of them as ‘idiots’. Instead,
I find my self thinking that when almost 50 percent of US voters vote for
him, it’s not because all of them are stupid – and I get curious about
their mindsets, fears and desires. It's actually a great conversation
starter.
Photo: Lasse Bech Martinussen