The recent years confirm that disinformation is affecting everyday’s life of citizens, their understanding of complex topics and hence their aware and active participation in the democratic life. Disinformation is an important socio-cultural issue that undermines public trust , among others, in science, putting at risk the credibility of the scientific community and the effective implementation of measures and policies addressing significant and global issues. The continuous technological improvements and the emergence of new communication channels and media provides a very good opportunity to promote scientific knowledge, as well as to educate and disseminate research results. At the same time, these advancements facilitate the spread of disinformation narratives to broad audiences. Examples of how fake news affect the perception of scientific knowledge in society can easily be found in topics concerning the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, but these are perhaps only the most prominent examples on how disinformation conditions the circulation of scientific knowledge by threatening its authority and credibility. It is also interesting to note that European public opinion considers the protection of people from disinformation as a priority, while there is an increasing demand of tools and methodologies that defuse the dangers of disinformation and its circulation in the digital world and beyond.
The session will bring together researchers, fact-checkers, communication experts and media to discuss stories on how disinformation affects science’s credibility and society, and will present strategies and tools to tackle it, enhancing the quality of information with a positive impact on media literacy, public trust in science and resilience.