A Multi-Stakeholder View on Methods to Foster Public Trust in Science
摘要
This chapter explores methods identified as having the greatest potential to address societal mistrust in science in practice. Five categories are given, divided by their main objective, namely methods to raise interest in science, to enhance understanding on how science functions, to promote the integrity of scientists and scientific institutions, to democratise science, and to build up a reflexive mindset and resilience against misinformation. Our findings emphasize the need for a multi-level and multi-dimensional perspective in all relevant stages of method design and implementation. We start from the premise that different trust issues pertain to target groups and scientific topics. These issues cannot be tackled without the proper insight into the underlying political and economic context in which mistrust in science evolved. The key prerequisite of a successful method is therefore a precise identification of the inherent socio-economic or political issues, which can be better addressed through a sustained engagement of relevant local stakeholders. Our results are primarily based on three multi-stakeholder focus group discussions in Austria, Belgium and Greece. These debates brought together a broad range of stakeholders responsible for guiding societal trust in science, i.e., researchers, science communicators, journalists, policymakers and industry actors. Our aim was to enhance understanding of their interlinked roles in fostering trust in science. Qualitative content analysis had been used to identify key themes that were translated into the presented methods.