Why evidence matters

证据为何重要

LSE: Public lectures and events

2026-06-20

1 小时 1 分钟
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How can scientific evidence help us in an age of “alternative facts”? As chief data reporter for the Financial Times, John Burn-Murdoch uses statistics and graphics to dig into the most pressing issues of the day, covering everything from the economy to climate change, social issues and healthcare. His high-profile use of visualization and data science helped audiences around the world understand the complexities of the coronavirus pandemic. He helps to inject data and evidence-based argument into what can be very polarising topics.
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  • Welcome to the LSE Events podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

  • Get ready to hear from some of the most influential international figures in the social sciences.

  • My name's Emily Jackson.

  • I'm a professor in the law school

  • here at LSE and I'm incredibly honoured to introduce our exceptionally distinguished panel.

  • So on my far right is John Burr Murdoch.

  • He's a columnist and the chief data reporter for the Financial Times for which he writes the weekly data points column.

  • He's also a visiting senior fellow at the Data Science Institute at LSE.

  • I know many of us benefited hugely from his translation of scientific data into digestible charts during the pandemic.

  • But his work for the entity goes much, much further than that.

  • And his wonderful AI shift newsletter exploring how AI is transforming work recently won best newsletter in the world.

  • Next to him is Helen Pearson, who's been writing for In Editing Nature,

  • the world's leading science journal for more than 20 years, winning Editor of the Year Award for the Association

  • of British Science Writers and last year winning the European Science Journalist of the Year.

  • Her first book, The Life of Project, was Science Book of the Year for the Observer

  • and was longlisted to the Orwell Prize.

  • Helen's second book, Beyond Belief, how evidence shows what really works, has just been published

  • and is a story of movement to promote evidence-based thinking and policymaking.

  • Near East to me, David Shookman worked at the BBC for decades,

  • reporting on crucial moments in history, including the fall of the Berlin Wall.