Now out in Public Understanding of Science. Huge thanks to my co-authors @ninavaupotic.bsky.social, Isabel Richter, Bart Koelmans & @sabinepahl.bsky.social.
Read more here: doi.org/10.1177/0963...
🧠 People’s attitudes towards science matter (e.g. trust in scientists, beliefs about science), but they don’t change how uncertainty messages influence them.
Bottom line: Not all uncertainties are perceived equally & how we phrase them can shape public responses to environmental & health issues.
⚠️ Communicating that scientists don’t agree (consensus uncertainty) can lower people’s perception of risk and, via reduced credibility, may even reduce support for related policies.
💡 But communicating that we still have knowledge gaps (deficient uncertainty) doesn’t create the same effects.
📢 New publication:
How should we communicate about scientific uncertainty - especially around environmental & health risks like microplastics? 🗣️💬
We ran an online experiment with 1,126 participants in Austria and found:
Open Letter by scientists to the Council:
"Climate Neutrality Is Europe’s Greatest Economic Opportunity”.
Ahead of the European Council meeting on 23.10.2025,
2,178 scientists urge EU Heads of States & Governments to take ambitious decisions for the 2040 targets.
zenodo.org/records/1739...
Solidarität mit Peršmanhof!
Geht bitte zu den #Kundgebungen:
👉 Donnerstag um 17 Uhr vor dem #BMI in #Wien / #Dunaj
👉 Freitag um 16 Uhr vor der Landesregierung in #Klagenfurt #Celovec
#Peršmanhof #Polizeieinsatz #niemalsvergessen #niewiederistjetzt #demo #antifaschismus #kärnten #Koroška
Social Media Preview des Zweiten Österreichischen Sachstandsbericht zum Klimawandel AAR2, mit Logos des Austrian Panel on Climate Change APCC und des Klima- und Energiefonds. Bunte Streifen repräsentativeren die einzelnen Kapitel des Berichts.
Jetzt gibt es also einen umfassenden Zweiten Österreichischen Sachstandsbericht zum Klimawandel...
Aber wie können du & ich diesen Bericht zur Kommunikation nutzen? #klimaaktiv hat da eine Übersicht zusammengestellt 🎉
#WissenSchafftKlimaschutz #AAR2 @ccca.ac.at
🔗 www.klimaaktiv.at/klimabildung...
Communicating lack of expert consensus may have less favorable effects compared to communicating remaining knowledge gaps. 💡
The manuscript is currently under review & I hope to be able to share more with you soon.
I got the opportunity to present my last PhD study on the effects of communicating scientific uncertainties surrounding microplastic health risks. 🗣️💬
💡Spoiler: Scientific uncertainty ≠ scientific uncertainty!
Looking back on exciting 3 days of #ICEP2025 in beautiful Vilnius. So much fun connecting with old & new colleagues in the Environmental Psychology community, exchanging ideas & getting inspired by an immense number of high-quality presentations & posters. 💭
1/7 🧵 We live in a biased social reality! 🤯
🚨 NEW PAPER: Climate activist stereotypes among the German public and German climate activists.
My 1st PhD paper 🤩 in collaboration with @umweltbundesamt.bsky.social
Looking forward to this new chapter & very happy to connect with fellow researchers in the area, so feel free to reach out! 👋
The group is focused on decarbonisation and climate change adaption in agricultural and food systems, public attitudes towards sustainability goals and public beahviour in dealing with socio-economic and environmental changes. 🌱
🎉Excited to start a new position as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Environmental System Sciences at the @uni-graz.at in the newly founded research group 'Sustainability, Climate Change & Human Behaviour' led by Hermine Mitter (nachhaltigkeit-klimawandel.uni-graz.at/en/).
Looking forward to this new chapter & very happy to connect with fellow researchers in the area, so feel free to reach out! 👋
The group is focused on decarbonisation & climate change adaption in agricultural & food systems, public attitudes towards sustainability goals & public beahviour in dealing with socio-economic & environmental changes. 🌱
New study by @cemess.bsky.social: Concerning #Chemicals from the Wear of Climbing Shoes Cause Trouble in Indoor Halls 🧪
The shoes contain rubber compounds similar to those used in car tires. Concentrations as high as those by a busy road illustrate the importance of solutions.‼️🧗
Read more: ⤵️
Thanks to everyone who's been part of this journey - first & foremost to my supervisors @sabinepahl.bsky.social, @ulrike-felt.bsky.social plus to the whole @envpsyvienna.bsky.social team. I've felt incredibly supported & couldn't have imagined a better bunch of people to join me on this ride. 🎢
Last week I successfully defended my PhD thesis 'Psychological Perspectives on Microplastics in Food and Drink - From Risks to Solutions' 🎓🎉
With this, almost 3 years of PhD (& overall ~ 9 years of studies) at @univie.ac.at are coming to an end.
Now out in Journal of Environmental Psychology. Huge thanks to my co-authors @ulrike-felt.bsky.social, Thilo Hofmann, Mathew White & @sabinepahl.bsky.social.
@univie.ac.at @envpsyvienna.bsky.social
By identifying the psychological drivers of public risk perception of microplastics in the food chain & support for different types of policies, our findings can inform the development of effective measures and communication strategies. 🗣
(3) Patterns differed between support of “pull” & “push” policies (e.g., perceived scientific consensus & trust in science predicted support for “pull” but not “push” measures) 🎓
(4) Exploratory path analyses suggest an indirect path from experiential factors on policy support via risk perception
💡 Key findings:
(1) Risk perception of microplastics in the food chain & support for plastic policies were high ⬆️
(2) Risk perception was predicted most by socio-cultural & experiential factors (biospheric values, negative affect, talking to others) 👥
What predicts public risk perception of microplastics in food 🍽️ & plastic-policy support? 🚫 In a survey study in Austria (N=741), we applied the Climate Change Risk Perception Model (van der Linden, 2015) to advance psychosocial theoretical foundations in the plastic field. ⬇️ doi.org/10.1016/j.je...
Now out in Journal of Environmental Psychology. Huge thanks to my co-authors @ulrikefroehlich.bsky.social, Thilo Hofmann, Mathew White & @sabinepahl.bsky.social.
@univie.ac.at @envpsyvienna.bsky.social
By identifying the psychological drivers of public risk perception of microplastics in the food chain & support for different types of policies, our findings can inform the development of effective measures and communication strategies. 🗣
(3) Patterns differed between support of “pull” & “push” policies (e.g., perceived scientific consensus & trust in science predicted support for “pull” but not “push” measures) 🎓
(4) Exploratory path analyses suggest an indirect path from experiential factors on policy support via risk perception
💡 Key findings:
(1) Risk perception of microplastics in the food chain & support for plastic policies were high ⬆️
(2) Risk perception was predicted most by socio-cultural & experiential factors (biospheric values, negative affect, talking to others) 👥
Now out in Journal of Environmental Psychology. Thanks to my co-authors @ulrike-felt.bsky.social, Thilo Hofmann, Mathew White & @sabinepahl.bsky.social @envpsyvienna.bsky.social.
By identifying the psychological drivers of public risk perception of microplastics in the food chain & support for different types of policies, our findings can inform the development of effective measures and communication strategies. 🗣