Trust in Science Conference Report: Analysing the Challenges and Identifying Solutions

On 11 December 2025, the French National Research Agency (ANR) and Science Europe jointly organised the conference 'Trust in Science: Analysing the Challenges and Identifying Solutions', at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, François Mitterrand, Paris.

The report provides a synthesis of the keynote interventions and panel discussions, bringing together perspectives from research funding and performing organisations, policy makers, academics, media representatives and civil society. It highlights key factors shaping public trust in science and puts forward a set of recommendations, based on the discussions, to strengthen the conditions that underpin trust in science.

In particular, these recommendations emphasise the need to:

• Reinforce integrity and transparency across the research system.
• Promote scientific literacy and understanding of how science works.
• Embed trust-building measures in research policy, governance, and funding frameworks.
• Support and protect researchers engaging with the public.
• Encourage collaboration and co-production across science, policy, media, and society.
• Ensure clarity of roles and responsible science communication.
• Safeguard the independence of science in policy making.
• Strengthen democratic participation and citizen engagement, to reinforce democratic legitimacy and long-term trust.

This event was part of the activities implementing the commitments in the 2022 Position Statement on ‘Science Communication for Greater Research Impact’ and that built on the strategic conclusions of the EU Presidency conference on ‘Unlocking the Power of Science Communication in Policy Making', and will inform Science Europe's futurework on the issue.

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