Philosopher Wins €3 Million Grant for Project on Public Trust in Expert Opinion

Maria Baghramian, Head of the School of Philosophy at University College Dublin, has won a €3 million (approximately US$3.3 million) grant for three-year research project on “the role of science in policy decision making and the conditions under which people should trust and rely on expert opinion that shapes public policy.”

The project, “Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action,” will, starting in 2020, “bring together 20 philosophers, social and natural scientists, policy experts, ethicists, psychologists, media specialists and civil society organisations to study trust in and the trustworthiness of policy related expert opinion,” according to a press release. It follows up on the earlier project, “When Experts Disagree,” led by Professor Baghramian and Luke Drury (Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies). Others involved include Bobby Duffy (KCL), Gloria Origgi (CNRS, Paris), José Van Dijck (Utrecht), Onora O’Neill (Cambridge), Cass Sunstein (Harvard), Susan Owens (Cambridge), and Dan Sperber (CEU).

The funding is from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program.

Professor Baghramian says the aim of the project is  “to better understand the nature and conditions of trust in the public domain and to discover indicators which can be used in measuring and establishing the trustworthiness of those involved in social and political decision making.”

There’s more information about the project here.