Michael Platow, Australian National University
associate director of science education
Micheal Platow has led a team of researchers at the Australian National University to launch a global study that will help understand and prevent racism linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Prejudice Census aims to better comprehend and reduce racial discrimination following a spike of coronavirus-related incidents. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, a quarter of racial discrimination complaints it has received in the past two months were related to coronavirus. The survey is asking people to record their experiences of racism – whether they are the victim, perpetrator, or witness. Platow said it is important to collect this data when there are threats to life and liberty, because understanding more about these experiences helps us fight them.