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Viktoria Cologna

@colognaviktoria.bsky.social

4.9K followers 410 following 72 posts

Group leader - EawagㅣPreviously at Harvard & ETH ZurichㅣTrust in science, science-policy interface, environmental psychology

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jan 20

Our global study on the state of trust in scientists is now out in Nature Human Behaviour! 🥳

With a team of 241 researchers, we surveyed 71,922 people in 68 countries, providing the largest dataset on trust in scientists post-pandemic 👇🧵https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-024-02090-5

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · 30m

👉 Learn about our submission criteria and how to contribute on our Call for Collaborations page: janpfander.github.io/trust_climat...

🙌 This project is led by @janpfa.bsky.social and myself at @eawag.bsky.social and @madalina.bsky.social and @smconstantino.bsky.social at Stanford.

Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · 30m

🔍 What We’re Looking For
We are seeking short, text-based informational interventions that could increase trust in climate scientists. The most promising interventions will be selected by the study leads and an advisory board. Deadline for submission is November 11, 2025.

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · 30m

🤝 Collaborate with us
We invite researchers at any career stage as well as practitioners to submit intervention ideas to increase trust in climate scientists in the US. Successful contributors will receive co-authorship. Interventions can be submitted by individuals or teams.

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · 30m

🚀 What is a megastudy?
A megastudy is a large-scale online experiment designed for robust, replicable results.

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · 30m

🌎 Why trust in climate scientists?
Across 55 countries, trust in climate scientists was the strongest predictor of belief in climate change and support for climate policy (Todorova et al., 2024). Yet, climate scientists tend to be less trusted than scientists of other disciplines.

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · 30m

Climate science is facing significant opposition in the US. Today we are launching the collaborative Strengthening Trust in Climate Scientists Megastudy 📈 Find out more and join our efforts 👇🧵

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

Jan Pfänder @janpfa.bsky.social · Sep 5

How much do people really reject science?

New paper out doi.org/10.1177/0963...

In four studies, we asked Americans—including flat Earthers, climate change deniers and vaccine skeptics—whether they accepted basic scientific facts.

The result? A surprisingly high level of agreement. 👇

Quasi-universal acceptance of basic science in the United States - Jan Pfänder, Lou Kerzreho, Hugo Mercier, 2025

Substantial minorities of the population report a low degree of trust in science, or endorse conspiracy theories that violate basic scientific knowledge. This m...

doi.org

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

Fabian Dablander @fdabl.bsky.social · Jul 7

In our now published letter in @pnas.org, we raise two wider issues for behavioral science:

1) Intentions are poor predictors of behavior
2) Effects on intentions need not generalize to effects on behavior

We join calls for researchers to measure actual behavior: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Expressing intentions is not climate action letter published in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2512457122

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 2

Thanks for asking! We did not establish causation. Indeed, we note in the paper that the reverse causal relationship is also possible (as you suggest) and that future work should examine the nature and direction of this relationship.

Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

bergquistmagnus.bsky.social @bergquistmagnus.bsky.social · Apr 27

🌪️Experiencing extreme weathers had no direct effect on climate policies support.

n = 1295: 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇩🇪 🇦🇺

EXPECTING more severe weather events in the future did.

In sum:
Expectation (not experience) predicts climate policy support!

doi.org/10.1016/j.je...

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

Ed Hawkins @edhawkins.org · Jul 2

1°C of global warming does NOT mean that heatwaves 'just' get hotter by 1°C.

Over large parts of the UK, global warming means that heatwaves are 3-4°C warmer, with worse consequences for people and ecosystems.

UK maps showing changes in temperatures for typical summer days and hot summer days.

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

This study was a huge collaborative, and truly interdisciplinary, effort 🙏 Huge thanks to my co-authors @simonameiler.bsky.social @samluethi.bsky.social @nielsmede.bsky.social @johnbesley.bsky.social @cameronbrick.bsky.social @marinajoubert.bsky.social @maibached.bsky.social and many others! 7/7

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

Making the link between climate change and extreme weather events more salient could increase climate policy support. The current heatwaves in many parts of the world provide a window of opportunity for communicators to increase subjective attribution and potentially climate action ☝️🌍 6/7

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

Note: Our data does not allow us to make conclusions about individual-level exposure, i.e., we don't know whether respondents were directly affected. A recent study found pos. relationships between individual-level exposure and climate risk perceptions osf.io/preprints/ps... @fdabl.bsky.social 5/7

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

However, population-level exposure to most events was unrelated to climate policy support. Interestingly, and in line with previous studies, only population-level exposure to wildfires was positively related to climate policy support. 4/7

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

We found that subjective attribution was well above the scale midpoint in all countries and confirm previous findings that a majority support climate policies. We also provide global evidence that subjective attribution predicts climate policy support. 3/7

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

We created a measure of exposed population to different types of extreme weather event (e.g., heatwaves) over the last decades across 68 countries. We then triangulated this data with survey responses on subjective attribution of extreme events to climate change and climate policy support. 2/7

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

🚨 How do exposure to extreme weather events and the subjective attribution of these events to climate change relate to climate policy support across the world? 🔥🌎

Find out more in our OA article published in Nature Climate Change 👇 1/7 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world - Nature Climate Change

Literature produced inconsistent findings regarding the links between extreme weather events and climate policy support across regions, populations and events. This global study offers a holistic asse...

www.nature.com

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jun 24

Huge congratulations, Matt!! 🎉

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

Nature Human Behaviour @nathumbehav.nature.com · Jun 7

This new research shows majority support for global redistributive policies in 20 countries. Follow-up experiments show the support is sincere. @adrien-fabre.bsky.social @linusmattauch.bsky.social @cired.bsky.social
#EconTwitter #EconSky #Climate #GreenSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Majority support for global redistributive and climate policies - Nature Human Behaviour

Fabre et al. demonstrate widespread support for global redistributive and climate policies through surveys across 20 countries. This support is shown to be sincere, as confirmed by follow-up survey ex...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

Marina Joubert @marinajoubert.bsky.social · May 23

Looking for two post-docs to join our Public Engagement Lab at Stellenbosch University ...

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

The Society Pages @thesocietypages.bsky.social · May 22

🌍What does global trust in science really look like in 2025?

Read our new piece by Jordyn Wald summarizing research by @colognaviktoria.bsky.social, @nielsmede.bsky.social and dozens of other researchers around the world in @nathumbehav.nature.com:

🔗 bit.ly/4kcgTV6 🔗

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Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · May 13

On June 3, 2025, I'll be moderating a panel discussion with social and natural scientists, a journalist, and an artist on how we can harness extreme weather events as a window of opportunity to spark climate action.

More information ▶️ collegium.ethz.ch/events/fello...

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

PEGO Research Group @pego-group.bsky.social · May 7

🌍 The PEGO Research Group is now on Bluesky!

Follow us for updates, insights, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into our research, events, projects, etc.  We’d love to connect with you.

🔗 Learn more: www.eawag.ch/en/departmen... 👋 Also connect with us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/pego...

Eawag - Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology - Eawag

www.eawag.ch

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Reposted by Viktoria Cologna

Cyril Brunner @brunncy.bsky.social · May 2

Next Tuesday evening, we are delighted to have one of the most remarkable and inspiring scientists as our guest. If you've never heard Naomi Oreskes @naomioreskes.bsky.social (Harvard University) in person, this is your chance at ETH Zürich as part of the SPEED2ZERO Perspective series.

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