Niels G. Mede

Niels G. Mede

Science Communication Researcher

University of Zurich, Switzerland

Biography

I am a Senior Research and Teaching Associate at the Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) of the University of Zurich, where I also completed a PhD in communication studies. My work focuses on science communication, public opinion, populism, digital media, climate change communication, and survey methodology. Together with main project lead Viktoria Cologna (Harvard University), I am currently conducting a global Many Labs study on trust in science and science-related populism – find more information on our project website.

Over the last years, I was a visiting researcher at the Department of Life Sciences Communication of the University of Wisconsin—Madison (2022), the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford (2023), and the Digital Media Research Centre at the Queensland University of Technology (2024). You can also find me on Mastodon and Bluesky.

If you have questions about my research, you can ask them to this Poe Bot. He has been trained with all of my publications and will reply based on these.

Interests
  • Science communication
  • Digital media
  • Public perceptions of science
  • Threats and attacks against science
  • Climate change communication
  • Comparative analysis
  • Survey methodology
  • Open Science
Education
  • PhD, Communication and Media Research, 2022

    University of Zurich, Switzerland

  • MA, Communication Science, 2018

    University of Münster, Germany

  • BA, Media Management, 2016

    Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, Germany

Publications

Trust in climate science and climate scientists: A narrative review
2024 — PLoS Climate, 3(5).
Trust in climate science and climate scientists: A narrative review
Assessing Large Language Models on climate information
2024 — Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Machine Learning, PMLR 235.
Assessing Large Language Models on climate information

Recent Preprints

Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries: The TISP dataset
To analyze the science-society nexus across different cultural contexts, we conducted the global Many Labs study “Trust in Science and Science-Related Populism” (TISP), which involved a cross-sectional survey with 71,922 participants in 68 countries. This preprint describes the dataset, survey materials and psychometric properties of key variables.
Perceptions of science, science communication, and climate change attitudes in 68 countries: The TISP dataset
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries
This large-scale collaborative study analyzes the public trust in scientsts in 68 countries worldwide, predictors and correlates of trust, cross-national and cross-cultural variation, as well as public perceptions of the role of science in society and policy-making.
Trust in scientists and their role in society across 68 countries

Invited Talks and Keynotes (selection)

Zum Umgang mit Mis- und Desinformationen in der Wissenschaftskommunikation – Perspektiven aus Praxis und Forschung

Double keynote with Sven Egenter at the Wisskomm Connected Conference 2024, 11-12 September 2024.

Communicating science in digital media: Challenges and potentials across countries and contexts

Talk in the Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC) at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 11 July 2024.

The populist challenge to science communication: Comparative evidence from a 67-country survey and potential remedies

Talk in the London Public Understanding of Science Seminar Series at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), 31 January 2024.

A double-edged sword? Science-society dialogue and its trade-offs

Keynote at the ScienceComm '23 in Bern, Switzerland, 2 November 2023.

Populist attitudes towards science and how they relate to media use and communication behaviour: Global survey evidence from the TISP Many Labs project

Talk at the Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab (CSDMLab) of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, 18 October 2023.

Populist attitudes towards science across the world: Global survey evidence on communicative antecedents and correlates.

School of Psychology of the University of Kent, 19 July 2023.

Communicating climate change in digital spaces: How sceptical views of science and knowledge overconfidence challenge science communication on social media

Oxford Internet Institute (OII) of the University of Oxford, 22 June 2023.

Populism scholarship – where are we going, where should we be going, how can we get there?

Symposium “Populism, Polarization, Propaganda in Times of Crisis” at the University of Zurich, 18 October 2022.

Wer braucht schon die Experten? Wissenschaft in Zeiten von Populismus, Falschinformationen und Verschwörungstheorien

Rämibühl Realgymnasium Zürich, 3 October 2022.

Trust in science and science-related populism across the world: Implications for science communication

Health and Risk Communication Center at the Michigan State University, 9 May 2022 — with Viktoria Cologna.

Trust in science and science-related populism: Implications for the role of science in politics and society

Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, 25 April 2022 — with Viktoria Cologna.

Was denkt die Schweiz über die Rolle der Wissenschaft in der Corona-Pandemie? Forschungsbefunde zu öffentlicher Wahrnehmung von Wissenschaft in Krisenzeiten

Input talk at panel discussion with PD Dr. Christian Althaus at the Paulus Academy Zurich, 28 April 2021.

Social Media im Dialog von Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft: Neue Chancen und hohe Erwartungen

Social Media Webinar 2020 of the Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT), 29 October 2020.

The “replication crisis” in the public eye: Germans’ awareness and perceptions of the (ir)reproducibility of scientific research

ReproducibiliTea Journal Club of the Center for Reproducible Science (CRS) at the University of Zurich, 1 October 2020.

Teaching

Comparing science communication across countries: Secondary analyses of population surveys
Reception and effects of digital science communication
Hate speech in digital media
Science communicators’ views of public criticism of science
Media use and public opinion during the COVID-19 pandemic
What does the public think about science? Secondary analyses of population surveys
Science communication and populism
The relationship between science and journalism in times of alternative facts and fake science