Registration ends on 12.10.2026 at 23:59.

“Nothing can be said to be certain but death and taxes” wrote Benjamin Franklin just before the French Revolution. This ironic comment expresses that in our everyday lives, we permanently face risks, and associated uncertainties. Sometimes, however, people may not even notice. But, instead of facing risks or trying to understand their real nature, many people, including experts or politicians may fear what is not really dangerous, but ignore what may actually be harmful. Consequently, they avoid risks or even behave in ways that harm themselves or others. But, democratic systems require that individuals can understand risks, and make informed decisions about risks that harm themselves or the environments they rely on.
Through the lens of sustainability psychology and related disciplines, we will, first, define what risk and uncertainty are for individuals, and look at theories that describe how people react to risks. This extends to individual differences shaping risk perceptions, such as political affiliation, cultural worldviews, gender, or whether people have directly experienced floods, extreme heat or other hazards. Second, we will study how risks are communicated, namely how numbers, pictures and words shape perceptions and understanding. With this background, we’ll finally discuss why and how psychological research on risk perception and communication can help building a society which is capable to deal with (environmental) risks.
The seminar will include topical sessions with student-led discussions, break-out groups and presentations.

Learning goals are a solid understanding of mechanisms that drive risk perception, principles of transparent risk communication, as well as of the methods used by psychologists and scientists from related disciplines for studying risk perceptions. This will include 1) reading and interpreting scientific evidence and presenting it to others 2) applying this scientific evidence to practice, 3) developing one’s own research idea and refining it over the course of the seminar 4) discussing the broader societal relevance of transparent and clear risk communications.

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