Saloni Dattani: making science better, important questions in science, open science, reforming peer review, vaccines and optimism.

Ben Yeoh Chats

Saloni Dattani is a founding editor at Works in Progress, a researcher at Our World in Data and a commissioning editor at Stripe Press. She has recently been profiled by Vox as part of the Future Perfect 50. Saloni is an excellent thinker on progress and science with recent articles for Wired (on making science better) and Guardian (on challenge trials).

Saloni tells me what are the most important questions in science that we should be working on.

We discuss making science better and thinking around challenge trials, making science more open source, reforming peer review and thinking around experimental clinical trial design.

We talk about vaccines, why Saloni tends to optimism and what risks and opportunities she is thinking about.

Borrowing from Tyler Cowen, I ask:

How ambitious are you ?

Which of your beliefs are you least rational about?” (Or what is she most irrational about?)

What is something esoteric you do ?

We play over rated / under rated on:

Substack, Misinformation, Doing a PhD, Women in Science; Vaccines and Drugs

We end on Saloni’s current projects and advice.

Transcript and video available here: www.thendobetter.com/arts/2022/11/8/saloni-dattani-improving-science-important-questions-in-science-open-science-reforming-peer-review-podcast