POIESIS Policy Recommendations for Promoting Trust in Science through Integrity, Integration, and Communication

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What is this about?

This report presents the final POIESIS policy recommendations which provide guidance on how European and national policymakers, research performing organisations, research funding organisations, researchers, and mediators can work to maintain trust in science and address current and future challenges. These recommendations address the three core areas of research integrity, societal integration in science, and science mediation, and build directly on the findings of the POIESIS project to provide robust empirically founded recommendations. Furthermore, all recommendations are accompanied by specific actions for relevant stakeholders, who are to be pivotal in ensuring societal trust in science.

Why is this important?

POIESIS sets out to probe the impact of integrity and integration on societal trust in science. The project takes its departure in three widely held and intuitive assumptions on the relationship between science and society. First, that trust in science depends on scientists’ capacity to demonstrate high standards of research integrity and breaches to research integrity will lead to mistrust. Second, that citizen and civil society’s involvement in co-creating research and innovation agendas and contents makes research more relevant and responsive to society, strengthening co-ownership and trust. And finally, that institutions foster integrity and societal integration by enabling and supporting researchers to act responsibly. Crucially, POIESIS reaffirms that trust in science is high, but simultaneously identifies cracks in the relationship between science and society that should be kept in mind to ensure that trust in science is maintained or even strengthened. POIESIS provides a firmer understanding of how integrity, integration, and trust are connected, and provides directions for how challenges to these relationships can be addressed in future research and science policy.

For whom is this important?

Academic institutionsAcademic leaders (deans, department heads)All stakeholders in researchAll stakeholders in science communicationAnyone interested in the broader culture of research integrityCitizen ScientistsEducators and public engagement organizationsFunding Agencies and Policy MakersResearchers and ScientistsScience communicators and media professionalsPolicy Makers and Funding Agenciesresearch integrity researchers

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