Our research questions and objectives

Our approach is interdisciplinary and based on social and behavioural science research. The goal of the research is to understand behaviour and communication processes, as well as the relevant influencing factors, in order to promote human health and protect the climate and the environment.

Selected content areas of our research

• Climate action and climate protection measures

• Vaccination

• Pandemic and preparation for new pandemics

• Doctor-patient communication

• Antibiotic resistance

• Misinformation

• Trust in the media

We address with the following interdisciplinary questions

• How can we understand and change willingness to act against the climate crisis? What role do experienced risks, social norms, denial, other cognitive processes, and routines play? What role do consequences for one's own health versus the health of others play in health decisions? How can we explain why people do not act, even though they are willing to?
• How do political measures for climate and health protection work, how are they accepted, and what potential social or psychological consequences are there? How can climate and environmental protection measures be planned and better explained from a human-centered perspective?
• How can professional conversations between multipliers (e.g. doctors) be improved? For example, in the education about scientific knowledge, climate protection, but also in countering misinformation?
• How can misinformation be debunked, resilience against it be strengthened, and scientific literacy be promoted from a young age? How can anti-enlightenment tendencies in society be counteracted?
• What role do media, journalism and public discourse play in planetary health behaviour? What should climate journalism look like io fulfill its societal role and gain the trust of the public?
• Theory development in the field of planetary health behaviour and communication