A study on the consumption of research and public participation in Latvia concluded that only 21% of the population are informed about specific Latvian researchers, and 20% about Latvian scientific achievements [1]. Therefore, the purpose of the social campaign of The Latvian Association of Young Researchers (LJZA) was to promote public interest in research and the processes taking place in it. Young researchers are rarely given the opportunity to talk about their research, its connection to everyday life, and to explain the impact of research on processes important to society. The initiator and driving force of the idea is LJZA member Rasma Pīpiķe. During the conversation festival LAMPA with the set of events "Think slowly", talking to eight young researchers from different fields, LJZA wanted to find out how slow thinking is practiced by each of the interviewees, as well as delved into different branches of research.
What does "Think Slow" mean?
The idea for the "Think slowly" concept came about during a discussion about the message that LJZA wants to convey to society. Inspired by psychologist and Nobel laureate in economics (2002) Daniel Kahneman's book "Think Fast, Think Slow", in which he describes two systems of thinking - the fast or impulsive and intuitive and the slow or conscious and structured - we came up with the concept of "Think slow" as a guiding principle choice.
"Clickbait" headlines and short-form text and video content on social networks do not allow for a full perception of information, but nevertheless attract the attention of many. We live in an information-saturated age where we can access both quality information content and be exposed to misinformation and fake news. Although in the daily rush and due to the number of responsibilities, we are not always able to delve into all current affairs, it is essential that we learn information from reliable sources, are able to critically analyze it, and are also able to look at our own opinion on various issues with healthy skepticism.
LJZA board member Tatjana Pladere emphasizes: "We invite you to think about how you think and why it is important. [..] We also learn to think slowly in research. This is what we can transfer and take from research in everyday life - to think in a structured and logical way. Whenever we have new data or a new, opposing theory, we need to understand why it is. [...] In order to do all this, we need slow thinking, going deep, and only then we will be able to understand how it is in reality."
On the world's smallest stage at the conversation festival "Lampa", the following were interviewed:
- Ilze Dimante, researcher at the Institute of Agro-Resources and Economics, member of the famous and united global community of potato people;
- Daniela Godiņa, researcher of the Latvian State Institute of Wood Chemistry and Ph.D. in natural sciences,
- Didzis Meļķis, manager of the citizens' initiative platform ManaBalss.lv and doctoral student in political sciences,
- Ingus Pērkons, researcher of the scientific institute "BIOR" and Ph.D. in chemistry,
- Ilze Bērziņa, lecturer of human rights at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Riga Stradiņš University and doctoral student in social sciences in the sub-field of legal studies,
- Oskars Teikmanis, researcher at the Institute of Electronics and Computer Science, doctoral student in computer science and member of the board of the Institute of Electronic and Computer Science,
- Laura Ansone, researcher and doctoral student in molecular biology at the Latvian Biomedical Research and Study Center,
- Alise Vītola, researcher, project "ARENAS - Analysis of extremist messages and responses to them".
Read and watch more about the conversation here in Latvian.
References
[1] EXEC. (2022). Consumption and participation of Latvian citizens in science content. Available here: https://www.izm.gov.lv/lv/latvijas-iedzivotaju-zinatnes-satura-paterins-un-lidzdaliba-2022
[2] LSM. (2024). Young researchers invite us to think slowly even about "urgent" issues. Available here: https://lr1.lsm.lv/lv/raksts/zinamais-nezinamaja/jaunie-zinatnieki-aicina-domat-lenam-ari-par-straujiem-jautajumi.a193968/
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