Given their power to influence the world, how can we ensure that mathematical models are developed in a transparent and accountable way, providing information that is useful and relevant without being over-confident or subject to hidden bias?

We've heard a lot about models recently. Some have been in the news, like the epidemic models that shaped government decisions about lockdowns and the climate models that inform us about the potential consequences of our greenhouse gas emissions. Some are more personal, like the models that try to predict which advert you are most likely to click on. Some are behind the most complex financial trades, helping to make fortunes for their developers. 

Meet our speaker

Erica Thompson (@H4wkm0th) is a Senior Policy Fellow in Ethics of Modelling and Simulation at the LSE’s Data Science Institute. She is also a Fellow of the London Mathematical Laboratory, where she leads the research programme on Inference from Models. 

How can I watch the film?

Visit the Festival Hub or watch via the YouTube playlist.

More about this event

This event is part of the 'Festival Shorts' series. Festival Shorts are 10-minute talks by LSE experts released during Festival week, available to watch via the LSE Festival Hub.  

The LSE Festival: Shaping the Post-COVID World is running from Monday 1 to Saturday 6 March 2021, with a series of events exploring the direction the world could and should be taking after the crisis and how social science research can shape it.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEFestival #LSECOVID19