Australia among top five countries for high trust in scientists

Most people worldwide trust scientists and think they should actively shape government policy, according to a major new international study involving researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) and La Trobe University.

The study of more than 71,000 people from 68 countries found Australia ranked equal fifth highest for trust in scientists out of all countries surveyed.

Egypt ranked first, while none of the 68 countries surveyed reported low trust in scientists. Participants were asked to rank their views on the role they think scientists should play in society on a scale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

According to study co-author Dr Zoe Leviston from ANU, about two-thirds of Aussies believe scientists should actively advocate for specific policies, while more than 60 per cent think scientists should be more involved in the policymaking process.

“Public trust in scientists is vital. It can help us with personal decision making on matters like health and provide evidence-based policymaking to assist governments with crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change,” Dr Leviston said.

“Sixty-eight per cent of Australians agree or strongly agree that scientists should communicate their findings to politicians, while 80 per cent believe scientists have a responsibility to communicate about science with the general public.

“Globally, 78 per cent of respondents perceive scientists to be qualified, while 57 per cent perceive scientists to be honest.”

The study also looked at the relationship between people’s political views and their trust in scientists.

Study co-author Dr Mathew Marques, from La Trobe University, said in Western countries, people with right-wing political views have less trust in scientists compared to those with left-wing political views. Interestingly, Australia bucked the trend.

“Unlike in North America and many western European countries, in Australia having a right-wing versus left-leaning political orientation didn’t seem to matter,” Dr Marques said.

“This could mean political polarisation around science is not as much of an issue in Australia as it is for specific scientific issues like climate change.”

Survey respondents were also asked to rate which areas of research they think scientists should prioritise, from most to least important.

“The majority of people around the world think scientists should spend more time trying to improve public health outcomes, developing clean energy technologies and finding innovative solutions to reduce poverty,” Dr Leviston said.

It found most countries worldwide, except for African and Asian countries, think scientists are prioritising developing defence and military technologies more than they should.

The researchers determined people’s trust in scientists by measuring views about scientists’ perceived competence, benevolence, integrity and openness.

The data was collected between November 2022 and August 2023. The study involved a global team of 241 researchers.

The findings are published in Nature Human Behaviour.