The POIESIS Focus Groups with Institutional Actors in Germany

Another round of interesting discussions and findings from Wissenschaft-im-Dialog (Germany)

In February 2024, POIESIS member Dr. Anne-Sophie Behm-Bahtat from Wissenschaft im Dialog organised three online focus groups with different institutional actors from all over Germany as part of Work Package 3. The participants in the three groups – university communicators, research integrity officers, and members of research funding organisations – discussed the role of institutions for public trust in science and what can be done to improve conditions for research integrity and societal integration in institutions and beyond.

The three different groups of institutional actors had lively 2-hour long discussions exploring the topics of trust in science, integrity and integration from different institutional angles. Altogether, participants did not so much see a crisis of public trust in science but rather a crisis of trust in public institutions. They underlined the importance of a comprehensive 'culture of integrity' at all institutional levels and also discussed why the 'how' of societal integration might actually be more important than the 'how much'.