Building and maintaining trust in science: Paths forward for innovations by nonprofits and funding organizations

Abstract

In July 2019, participants gathered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, for an event organized by RTI International called Trust in Science. Our goal with the Trust in Science event was to foster collaborations and strengthen connections between nonprofit and funding organizations to address trust-related challenges that are affecting science and scientists. Collaboration between professionals and organizations is easy to cite as an abstract goal but can be challenging to pursue in practice for various reasons. Participants generated and considered both broad challenges and specific contexts in which trust has been strained. We discussed, for example, the use of wearable technologies for data collection, vaccine acceptance, biofuel research, survey research on topics such as sexual harassment monitoring, tools to help people navigate online information, and the development of physical spaces for local community discussion about science and technology. We offer an overview of key themes and ideas that emerged from our interactions. We hope that readers will consider this an open-source set of suggestions for future initiatives and innovations.