In May 2020, the Lancet published a global study on the use of hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19, which was widely publicised and prompted the World Health Organization to halt several Covid-19 clinical trials. Within a week, more than 120 researchers and medical professionals from around the world wrote an open letter to the editor of the Lancet, raising serious concerns about the methodology and data integrity. The article was soon retracted. This incident and similar retractions from other prestigious journals have raised questions about the implication for research practices. What does this mean for research using big data? Does this question the peer review process? What checks can we put in place to ensure data integrity and transparency?

In this special panel discussion organised by the RSPH Data Analysis in Population Health Hub, four ANU researchers with combined expertise in statistics, data science, clinical trials, infectious disease and epidemiology will present their take on the lessons learned following the recent retraction of Lancet and NEJM articles and the implication for research practices.

Panelists:
Dr John Maindonald, Visiting Fellow, Mathematical Sciences Institute
Associate Professor Shadbolt, Biological Data Science Institute and Medical School
Dr Colleen Lau, Research School of Population Health
Professor Emily Banks, Research School of Population Health

Download event flyer and panelist biographies.