Robert Dingwall

Robert Dingwall is a Professor of sociology whose focus is on the interdisciplinary study of law, medicine, science and technology.[1] He is employed by Nottingham Trent University.[2]

Biography

Dingwall studied at the University of Cambridge and then the University of Aberdeen. He has worked at the University of Oxford and the University of Nottingham.[1]

Dingwall began his career with a doctorate in medical sociology.[3]

Dingwall has chaired the Bioscience for Society Strategy Panel of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and previously served as a member of the Committee on Ethical Aspects of Pandemic Influenza and of the Civil Justice Council.[1]

Dingwall has also been a consultant to industry on the ethical use of pharmaceuticals.[1] He has also received commissions from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Food Standards Agency.[3]

Dingwall is a Fellow and Council member of the Academy of Social Sciences and an Honorary Member of the Faculty of Public Health at NTU.[1]

Dingwall rose to become Professor of Sociology at the University of Nottingham, where he founded the Institute for Science and Society and was supervisor to more than 30 doctoral students.[3]

Dingwall has become a member of the Faculty of Sociology at NTU in his emeritus years, and has served since at least November 2018 on NERVTAG,[1] a scientific advisory panel for epidemic preparedness of HMG.[4]

Public engagement

COVID-19

In early May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Dingwall was interviewed by a journalist at the Daily Telegraph over the Government's coronavirus warnings. He opined that:[4]

We have this very strong message which has effectively terrorised the population into believing that this is a disease that is going to kill you. And mostly it isn't. Eighty per cent of the people who get this infection will never need to go near a hospital. The ones who do go to hospital because they are quite seriously ill most of them will come out alive - even those who go into intensive care. We have completely lost sight of that in the obsession with deaths, the human interest stories about deaths, the international comparisons about death rates, the opportunities for intrepid television journalists to put on lots of PPE and go into high tech where people are acutely ill. All of that helps to create this climate of fear...

In the same interview, Dingwall stressed that:[4]

There is a fair degree of consensus now among people who are more expert on these things than I am that outdoor transmission is negligible... Fleeting contacts are really irrelevant - if a jogger runs past you in the park, this is not a big deal.

On 18 July, Dingwall criticised another SAGE report, which forecasted 120,000 deaths from COVID-19 in wintertime 2020–21. In his estimation "was based on flawed mathematics" and created an "environment of fear". As of February 2021 and despite the more virulent mutation that followed this statement, Professor Dingwall’s prediction stands correct.[5]

References
  1. "NERVTAG_Member_Bios_update_November2018" (PDF). gov.uk. November 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  2. "New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2020-05-04.
  3. "Robert Dingwall Professor School of Social Sciences". Nottingham Trent University. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  4. Hope, Christopher (7 May 2020). "Government has 'terrorised' Britons into believing coronavirus will kill them, says adviser". Telegraph Media Group Limited.
  5. Mendick, Robert (18 June 2020). "'Environment of fear': Scientists criticise modelling that predicted 120,000 winter deaths". Telegraph Media Group Limited.
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