(Online) Symposium: Contested Science

Why do people sometimes reject scientific facts? Are there still people who deny human-caused climate change and how can we convince them? What is going on with vaccine skepticism in times of covid? And importantly, how can we communicate science more effectively?

Join us for a symposium about contested science!

The symposium will take place on May 17, 12.30 – 17.00 on Zoom. In collaboration with the Behavioural Science Insitute (BSI) at Radboud University, NeFCA’s Science Communication division will host five excellent researchers who will discuss science denial, resistance to facts, misinformation, and more. You will hear and discuss insights about why people might reject scientific facts, as well as research investigating more effective science communication techniques. Dr. Natalia Zarzeczna, from the Psychology Research Institute of the University of Amsterdam, will present plans for an ERC project on the psychology of science skepticism, focusing on psychological distance and skepticism towards gene editing. Dr. Bastiaan Rutjens, assistant professor at the Psychology Research Institute of the University of Amsterdam, will present a recent cross-cultural study about science skepticism in 24 countries. Prof. dr. Stephan Lewandowsky, Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Bristol, will present recent work on climate change denial and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. dr. Marieke Fransen, Professor of Positive Communication Science at Radboud University, will present her research on how and why people might be resistant to facts. Finally, prof. dr. Sander van der Linden, Professor of Social Psychology in Society at the University of Cambridge, will present his research showing how people can be ‘psychologically inoculated’ against misinformation.

Additionally, all speakers will be available in break-out rooms for informal questions and comments at the end of the symposium.

Please join us! Also feel free to join for parts of the symposium, if you are not available all afternoon.

You can sign up here, the full program will be available soon!

We hope to see you at this exciting event!

Best, also on behalf of the Science Communication division and BSI co-organizer Rebecca Kahmann,

Aart van Stekelenburg