Summer School: Trust in Science

Trust in science is of central importance for democratic societies, which aim at participatory decision-making processes. To enable well-informed public discussions and to promote acceptance for political decisions on this basis, scientific results must be widely trusted. However, various forms of mistrust and skepticism about science, as well as confusion about scientific results, seem to be on the rise. They are thus increasingly becoming a social problem.

A key challenge in fostering trust in science is to adequately communicate intra-scientific practices. Science is a complex endeavour in many respects, which is why the interpretation of scientific results is challenging even for scientists themselves. Consequently, uncertainty and profound debates characterise the inner-scientific discussion. However, if the interpretation of scientific results is challenging and already controversial within the scientific community, how are they to be communicated to the outside world without generating mistrust?

The summer school will address this complex of problems from various angles. We aim to better understand the inner-scientific complexity and discuss the question of how it should be dealt with in the interplay between science, politics, media and the broader public. Central questions to be addressed are for example: What makes the interpretation of experimental results so complex that they are usually contested? How should science communication deal with the uncertainty of scientific results and the fact that they are disputed among scientists without causing mistrust? How can science communication reach audiences that are notoriously neglected?

A detailed description of the sessions will be added to our website.