Tools for Raising and UnderStanding Trust in systems science through citizen engagement (TRUST)

Researchers from IIASA's Advancing Systems Analysis (ASA) Program, Biodiversity and Natural Resources (BNR) Program, Energy, Climate, and Environment (ECE) Program as well as from the Population and Just Societies (POPJUS) Program are joining forces to carry out the IIASA TRUST Strategic Initiative. 

TRUST is based on an integrated methodological approach organised in six work packages. Through these work packages TRUST will establish the knowledge base on trust dynamics in participatory systems science (WP1), informing the development of a trust in systems science survey (WP2) for gauging levels of trust in scientific outputs and towards scientists among focus groups before and after joining case studies in the test module (WP5). In WP3, TRUST initiates a network on participation-driven science tools open to IIASA and NMO researchers as well as partners from the wider research community in the fields of trust and public engagement. Harnessing insights from the network and consolidating knowledge from across IIASA and beyond, WP4 focuses on developing a toolkit on science engagement tools. The resulting knowledge framework then serves as the basis of our investigation into trust in system science in the test module (WP 5), where we plan to implement various participation-driven approaches from the toolkit to research trust dynamics within participatory scientific processes. WP6 focuses on communicating TRUST activities and insights with the TRUST network (WP3) and the public. 

By initiating research that invites reflections about our own approach to engaging stakeholders in our research, TRUST opens the door to more self-aware scientific processes in systems analysis and beyond, and invites researchers to think about the need to earn the trust of the wider public.

Please feel free to get in touch with the TRUST team if you are planning participation-driven research and would like to work with us.