Leonie Fian

Communicating scientific uncertainties: Effects of message and audience characteristics in the context of microplastic health risks - Leonie Fian, Nina Vaupotič, Isabel Richter, Albert A. Koelmans, Sa... Communicating uncertainties is central to science communication, yet evidence on its effects is inconclusive. In an online experiment with a quasi-representativ...

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. 🌱

Concerning Chemicals from the Wear of Climbing Shoes Cause Trouble in Indoor Halls Concentrations as high as those by a busy road illustrate the importance of solutions

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. 🗣

💡 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...

(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

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. Huge thanks to my co-authors @ulrikefroehlich.bsky.social, Thilo Hofmann, Mathew White & @sabinepahl.bsky.social.
@univie.ac.at @envpsyvienna.bsky.social

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. 🗣