SA-German collaboration on public trust in science and visible scientists

2 April 2024

Since 2022, Prof Marina Joubert, CREST, has been a core collaborator in the so-called ‘Many Labs’ study, exploring global public trust in science. In addition to analysing the factors that affect trust in scientists, the study also investigates the prevalence and correlates of science-related populist attitudes. In 2022, the survey instrument was translated into 37 languages and fielded across 67 countries, resulting in 71 417 responses.

The first manuscript is under review at Nature Human Behaviour. It is available as a preprint, and featured in Nature News.

In addition to participating in the core study, financial support from Germany made it possible to add additional questions related to comparing publicly visible scientists in Germany and South Africa. In March 2024, Prof Simone Rödder, Universität Hamburg, and Prof Lars Guenther, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, visited South Africa to work with Prof Joubert on analysing and writing up data from this research project. Following a week-long writing retreat on the West Coast of South Africa, the research manuscript will be submitted soon.