Hello there Matthias Kohring, guest researcher at RCR
Matthias Kohring, a researcher from the University of Mannheim and living in Rhineland-Palatina in Germany, has been in Sweden for three weeks, visiting Mid Sweden University and working from campus Östersund.
Why did you choose to be a guest at RCR?
I know Prof. Dr. Anna Olofsson und Prof. Susanna Öhman for a long time, since we partizipated in several EU projects on public perception of genetechnology from the late nineties on. Since then we are in a continuous contact.
What is your science subject?
Currently I’m doing research about public trust in science. At the moment, we intensively deal with images of science and expectations people have towards science and scientists – and if their expectations are met or not. Based on these insights, we later will develop a standardized questionnaire and use it in surveys. That’s one topic I discuss with Anna: to apply this scale also in a Swedish survey.
Could you summarize the focus of your research in three sentences?!
In general, I am interested in the theory of the public sphere and news media, in science communication, especially journalistic science communication, and in trust in media. Combing all, I am now dealing with (mediated) trust in science.
How long have you been here and what did you think about it?
I have been here for three weeks and it was wonderful! I loved the landscape, the very warm welcome of my colleagues and – the snow! Where I live, snow is something children mostly know from fairytales.