🌅 People Want Researchers Involved in Policymaking

SOURCE

Cologna et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• The largest global survey of its kind since the COVID pandemic found 52% of respondents across 68 countries believe researchers should be more involved in policymaking, while 49% go further by saying scientists should advocate for specific policies. The study also found the vast majority of people believe the scientific process is the best way to test whether an assumption is true or false (75%) and that scientists should spend time communicating science with the public (83%).

WHY IT MATTERS

• The study found respondents around the world have a relatively high level of trust in scientists (mean trust level of 3.62 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being low trust and 5 being high trust), as majorities perceive them to be qualified (78%), honest (57%), and concerned about people’s well-being (56%). In most countries, politics and trust in scientists were unrelated, however, in Western countries, the survey showed people with right-leaning views have less trust in science than people with more left-leaning views.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• Rather than politics, the study found a person’s social dominance orientation—a measure of their preference for inequality between groups—was a greater predictor of trust in science. People who scored high in this orientation—meaning they endorse social inequality and prefer to see more of it among groups—were significantly less likely to trust scientists than those with a lower orientation.