Antoni Trilla Wins CSIC–BBVA Foundation Award for Scientific Communication

It is not the first time he has been recognised for his gift for communicating science—nor, in all likelihood, will it be the last. Antoni Trilla, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and Professor of Public Health at the University of Barcelona, head of the Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Service at Hospital Clínic and researcher at ISGlobal, has received the CSIC–BBVA Foundation Award for Scientific Communication for his contributions to scientific communication and outreach during the pandemic, an activity he views as closely linked to his speciality: epidemiology. The award is the latest in a long list of honours for Trilla, which includes the 5th Distinction of the Faculty Senate and Board of Trustees of the University of Barcelona and the Big Vang Medal for Scientific Communication.

Trilla shares this latest award with the journalists who write for the science section of El País and the scientists Alfredo Corell, Margarita del Val, José Antonio López Guerrero and Ignacio López-Goñi. “I am very proud to have been selected for this award and even prouder that it is a shared prize that recognises the scientific community’s response to society’s need for trustworthy information, even when that meant saying ‘we don’t know yet’ when we could not say otherwise,” commented Trilla.

The pandemic piqued the public’s interest in science and demonstrated the willingness of journalists to communicate it. According to a BBVA Foundation study titled Attitudes Towards Technology and Uses of ICTs in Spanish Society During COVID-19, 75% of the public has relied on conventional media for information about COVID-19.

Trilla: A Voice of Science

In our current infodemic—characterised by an overabundance of information, both rigorous and false—authoritative voices such as Trilla’s play a crucial role in providing quality communication that meets the exacting scientific standards of objectivity and verifiability. According to Trilla, “science and scientific evidence are the only way to tackle the coronavirus”, especially at a time when inaccurate, confusing, unvalidated and outright false data are proliferating and spreading rapidly.

“This pandemic has been broadcast in real time,” commented the epidemiologist. “We have been asked for answers with an immediacy that clashes with the typical pace of science. We have been overwhelmed by the rush of news—even scientific news, because we haven’t even had time to read new papers as they came out.”

Throughout the pandemic, Antoni Trilla has been a constant presence in the media. He has published articles and served as a source for articles in media outlets across the globe, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Le Figaro and—not least—La Vanguardia, which has published nearly 150 articles with Trilla’s byline in recent months. “The opportunity to write a column—first daily and then weekly—is a privilege that very few academics have enjoyed,” said Trilla.

Source:

https://www.ub.edu/portal/web/medicina-ciencies-salut/detall/-/detall/el-dr-antoni-trilla-guardonat-amb-els-premis-csic-fundacion-bbva