Abstract
In the Covid‐19 crisis, society pins its hope on science to play an authoritative role in reducing uncertainty and ambiguity. But is science up to the task? We argue that this far from self‐evident. The demands on science in times of crisis run counter to the values of good, normal science. Crisis science needs to be fast, univocal, personalized and direct, while normal science is slow, contentious, collective and sensitive to complexity. Science can only play its atypical role if it is staged in the public arena. Some patterns of staging stand out; personalisation, visualisation and the connection to lived experiences. So far, the staging of science has been successful but is fragile. The Covid‐19 crisis shows the potential of well‐staged forms of alliance between science and policy, but when the general assumption is that scientists will ‘solve’ societal ‘problems’, the staging of science has gone too far.
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