What I do: I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Zurich. My work focuses on science and environmental communication, digital media, public perceptions of science, harassment of scientists, science literacy, and survey methodology. Currently, I am co-leading two survey projects on public opinion and communication about science: the 68-country study TISP, which investigates trust in scientists and their role in society worldwide, and the Science Barometer Switzerland, a 2016-2031 survey of the Swiss population. In July 2025, I will join Wageningen University & Research as an Assistant Professor for Communication Science in Life Science Contexts.
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Chat with my AI alter ego: If you have questions about my research, you can ask them to this Poe Bot. He has been trained with all my publications and will reply based on them.
Education and experience: I received my PhD in communication studies from the University of Zurich in 2022 and was a visiting researcher at the University of Wisconsin—Madison (2022), University of Oxford (2023), and Queensland University of Technology (2024). From April to November 2025, I am a Fellow at the Digital Democracy Centre of the University of Southern Denmark. See my CV for more details.
Outreach and engagement: Public outreach and engagement are important parts of my work. I often present and discuss my research in international media and speak at public events. Reach out to me if you have question on my work, would like to interview me, or invite me to speak at a conference or workshop! Please use this contact form – and see below for where to find me on social media.
Latest publications
The climate change generation: Vocal but overconfident? How young adults who overestimate their climate knowledge use social media and engage with others
Based on a four-wave panel survey in Germany (n = 1,309), we find that young adults are more likely to overestimate their knowledge about climate change if they use social media often – but there was no causal relationship. Overconfident respondents were then more likely to engage with politicians and persuade others about their views. See the full paper in Social Media + Society for more details.
Based on a four-wave panel survey in Germany (n = 1,309), we find that young adults are more likely to overestimate their knowledge about climate change if they use social media often – but there was no causal relationship. Overconfident respondents were then more likely to engage with politicians and persuade others about their views. See the full paper in Social Media + Society for more details.
Communicating scientific norms in the hybrid media environment: Social media engagement with watchdog science journalism
We tested how online users discuss plagiarism, data fraud, replication failure, and (unintentional) errors by scientists. We analyzed all 19,462 X posts by the online blog Retraction Watch and 22,936 user replies between 2013-2022 and identified different discussion themes, conversation networks, and forms of user engagement. Our study was published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
We tested how online users discuss plagiarism, data fraud, replication failure, and (unintentional) errors by scientists. We analyzed all 19,462 X posts by the online blog Retraction Watch and 22,936 user replies between 2013-2022 and identified different discussion themes, conversation networks, and forms of user engagement. Our study was published in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.
Measuring science literacy in a digital world: Development and validation of a multi-dimensional survey scale
We developed and validated a new scale to measure science literacy in surveys and experimental research. It was published in Science Communication. The scale is available in English, German, French, and Italian and covers three dimensions of what it means to be science-literate in a digital world: civic science literacy, science media literacy, and cognitive science literacy. See here for more of my publications.
We developed and validated a new scale to measure science literacy in surveys and experimental research. It was published in Science Communication. The scale is available in English, German, French, and Italian and covers three dimensions of what it means to be science-literate in a digital world: civic science literacy, science media literacy, and cognitive science literacy. See here for more of my publications.
Recent media coverage, interviews, and op-eds
The Conversation, Elephant in The Lab, UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab
The Conversation invited my colleagues and me to report on our 68-country survey on trust in scientists and their role in society that was recently published in Nature Human Behaviour. Elephant in the Lab interviewed my about the tensions of populism and science in public discourse. For the UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab, I wrote a piece on lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic for science communication. See here for an overview of media coverage, interviews, and guest articles.
The Conversation invited my colleagues and me to report on our 68-country survey on trust in scientists and their role in society that was recently published in Nature Human Behaviour. Elephant in the Lab interviewed my about the tensions of populism and science in public discourse. For the UNESCO Inclusive Policy Lab, I wrote a piece on lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic for science communication. See here for an overview of media coverage, interviews, and guest articles.
Dr. Niels G. Mede
Senior Research and Teaching Associate