The PT POIESIS team, led by Professor Marta Entradas and supported by Dr. Inês Sousa and Dr. Feng Yan, has just wrapped up an insightful interview study to investigate the views of experts on the science-society relationship and the role of scientific integrity and public integration in trust in science.

Six researchers in the fields of climate change and public health, and 11 mediators of the relationship between science and society were interviewed online. The interviews took place between April and June 2024, and lasted, on average, around 49 minutes.

The interviews delved into the crucial topic of building trust in science and here are the main discoveries:

From the opinions of the interviewees, the traditional media, through science journalists, play an important role in sharing cases of (lack of) scientific integrity, but the public shows little attention to this type of information - either because of their lack of scientific literacy or the high level of trust they place in scientists.

The mediators considered that science communication by researchers is a responsible research practice that can involve different activities (e.g. media interviews, opinion articles, podcasts, participation in educational programmes, etc.). Researchers considered communication to be an important part of their work, but not all of them see it as a priority, and some recognised the need for training in this area.

All the interviewees recognised the importance of social integration in science. However, the mediators and social scientists considered that public involvement should follow a true bottom-up approach, with involvement at all stages of the research process. The remaining researchers (natural sciences) considered that the public should be involved in only certain stages of the process. Stay tuned for more updates on this groundbreaking study!