The Inaugural Lecture of Richard Holliman

Richard Holliman, Professor of Engaged Research, will deliver his inaugural lecture on the need to investigate and inform practices of representation and engagement to reduce epistemic injustice and promote fairness in knowing.

Science has the power to influence our lives, raising questions about how it should be governed, represented and funded. Who should have a voice in framing scientific investigations? How should contemporary scientific research be conducted? Who should be involved in shaping how the outputs from scientific investigations impact on society and the economy?

To celebrate The Open University at 50, I will explore selected examples from the OU’s curriculum, research and knowledge exchange portfolios in this inaugural lecture. In so doing, I will address normative, substantive and instrumental motivations for how we should continue to engage with the sciences. I will argue that engagement with the sciences should have a moral imperative, to act as a route to promoting epistemic justice, or ‘fairness in knowing’.