Interview with Jeremy G. Frey: University of Southampton, UK, recorded at the BEILSTEIN OPEN SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM (22 – 24 May 2017). Jeremy Frey discusses uncertainty in chemistry with Carsten Kettner. Uncertainty in what scientists have done, what you may have done yourself, uncertainty in the results that come out – essentially anything. His own approach to research is to find ways to minimize all types of uncertainty. The first step is of course to document oneself exactly what one did; the problem being that when one carries out an experiment for the first time, one does know what information is essential. On the one hand scientists need better training, but on the other it is sometimes very difficult to describe experiments and give a foolproof description of the method to allow reproducibility. A scientist, who is doing something completely new, pushing at the boundaries, will probably not be able to reproduce the results satisfactorily until the process is fully understood. And it is important for people in science and in the media to realize that at the cutting-edge of discovery, initial lack of reproducibility can be expected and is acceptable. Jeremy concludes that it is vital to correctly manage uncertainty in science.