This Rally for Science celebrates the discovery, understanding, and sharing of scientific knowledge as crucial to the success, health, and safety of the human race. We join together to champion not only science itself, but also publicly funded and publicly communicated scientific knowledge as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity. We unite as a diverse and nonpartisan group to celebrate Boston as a space for scientists and scientific research and to support of five main goals: Communication, Funding, Policy, Literacy, and Improvement.
- Communication: Publicly funded scientists should feel free to communicate about their research, data sets, and interpretations of their work as they see fit. Public outreach, education, and accessibility of scientific knowledge should be encouraged as an extension of this goal.
- Funding: Publicly funded scientific agencies are vital for public safety and continued scientific research, development, and application. These agencies should determine their own funding allocations and overall monetary distributions from the government for scientific endeavors should not decline.
- Policy: Public policy should be informed and guided by evidence-based scientific research, local scientific knowledge, and mainstream scientific consensus.
- Literacy: Initiatives to promote the public’s knowledge about scientific topics, understanding of how scientific research is conducted, and how to consume media about scientific studies must be supported for all age groups and demographics.
- Improvement: Scientific institutions and systems play a role in public distrust, lack of representation, and unequal benefiting in the fruit of scientific endeavors. Addressing these issues is vital if we want to encourage the public and their elected representatives to continue funding scientific research, trust that research to inform policy, and promote education and literacy.