Perspectives on Public Trust in Climate Scientists
5th March 2013
Speaker: Dr Rosie Robison, Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University
Location: Understanding Risk Research Group Seminar Room - 51a Park Place
Time: 14:30-15:30pm
In this informal talk Rosie will discuss measures of public trust in science and scientists over recent years. In research undertaken with Emily Shuckburgh (British Antarctic Survey) and Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff University), it was found that only 38% of the British public agreed with the statement “we can trust climate scientists to tell us the truth about climate change” in 2011. She will discuss possible root causes for this apparent lack of trust, and review trust building mechanisms which have been suggested by individual authors and institutions. Rosie will also ask the wider question: how important is public trust in climate scientists, in furthering public engagement with climate change? Rosie is happy to receive any questions/comments people might have about the whole area of trust in scientists before the talk, and will try to address as many of them as possible.
Dr Rosie Robison is a Research Fellow at the Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Her work broadly falls under two themes: personal energy use and science communication. She is particularly interested in work which crosses disciplinary boundaries, coming from a mathematical background, and now working on projects with, amongst others, psychologists, engineers, sociologists, energy modellers and psychotherapists. She has worked on projects looking at direct effects of climate change, ice flow in Antarctica, climate science communication in the media, electric vehicles, air source heat pumps and the use of digital tools to monitor energy usage.