All posts by Ricarda Ziegler

Ricarda Ziegler has a background in political science. In 2012, she joined Wissenschaft im Dialog which is an initiative for science communication by the major German research organisations. In her position as Strategy Officer Ricarda is involved in the design, development and evaluation of new projects and formats. She is also responsible for the science barometer which is an annual survey on public attitudes towards science and research in Germany.

Trusting science in an age of distrust

The trend against Experts and a public loss of trust in science have recently made headlines. For example, they translated as tweets questioning man-made climate change by the current US president. Or statements such as ‘I think that the people of this country have had enough of experts’ by British politician Michael Gove during the Brexit campaign. But is such a shift in public attitudes towards science actually taking place? And if so, who exactly has lost trust in whom? In this opinion piece, the results of three national surveys on public perception and trust in science from Germany, Sweden and Switzerland are outlined and give us some answers. It makes for some fascinating reading! Read more [...]