Horizon 2020-funded researchers' tool to mitigate fake news wins the EUvsVirus hackathon

Members of the Horizon 2020-funded Path2Integrity project developed the ‘Trust in Science’ tool, one of the 117 winners of the EUvsVirus hackathon. Their tool is based on Path2Integrity’s initial results and won in the category of Social and Political Cohesion, and in particular in Mitigating the spread of fake news. The team has been invited to the Matchathon to meet with end-users and investors, on 22-25 May.

Throughout the pandemic, myths about the virus have also been circulating: for example, that Covid-19 can be transmitted through houseflies, or that specific drugs can prevent and cure the virus. Many of these myths put people’s lives at risk.

The prize-winning solution seeks to combat mistrust in science and to contest the misinformation and disinformation seen during the pandemic on basic questions such as how we can protect ourselves or how to combat the virus.

The ‘Trust in Science’ interactive tool enables citizens, mainly undergraduates and graduate students, to better understand research on Covid-19. The tool intends to empower citizens to recognise trustworthy scientific information and to advocate for research integrity.

“We think that citizens want to have and need reliable, honest, respectful and accountable [scientific] information on Covid-19,” the team states. And, “researchers with integrity are able to explain step-by-step how they arrived at their research results.”

The tool is inspired by the social distancing measures and is based on the Learning Cards developed by the Path2Integrity project, to teach youngsters the importance of integrity and ethics in research.

Launched last year, Path2Integrity is managed by the Research Executive Agency (REA). By supporting different learning methods and creating training material for schools and universities, the project intends “to contribute to establishing a culture of research integrity,” where decisions based on more efficient, appropriate, useful and reliable scientific evidence, leadto a better future.

Path2Integrity’s coordinator, Julia Prieß-Buchheit, and lawyer and ethics expert, Katharina Miller, launched the ‘Trust in Science’ initiative during the EUvsVirus challenge. Some of Path2Integrity’s advisory board members joined and formed the hackathon team with other experts.

The ‘Trust in Science’ team has now been invited to the online Matchathon from 22 to 25 May to facilitate match-making with end-users, and provide access to investors, foundations and other funding opportunities from across the EU.

“We expect to get support in disseminating our tool, especially to different education sectors, ministries and associations. We aim to get in contact with the WHO and UNESCO to use our tool in Europe and beyond,” explains Julia Prieß-Buchheit.

2 160 ideas from across the world competed in the EUvsVirus hackathon from 22 to 25 April. Participants were asked to propose solutions for 37 challenges in the domains of Health, Business continuity, Social and Political Cohesion, Remote teleworking and Education, and Digital Finance.

The EUvsVirus hackathon was organised by the European Commission in close collaboration with the EU member states. It aimed to connect civil society, innovators, partners and investors across Europe and beyond in order to develop innovative solutions for coronavirus-related challenges.