Angela Bearth presented some of HF Partners’ work on Risk Perception and Trust in Science together with Dave Hemingway from Tactix and Andrew Turley from Chemical Watch News and Insights at the 2025 ECETOC Symposium in Brussels.

Main points presented for risk assessment, management and communication:

1. Focus on systemic issues of New Approach Method use and acceptance that tackle technical, economic and psychological inhibitors and drivers simultaneously
2. Untangle objective and subjective elements in risk assessmen
3. Need for new approaches to societal debates of ”how safe is safe enough?” (e.g., causality vs. uncertainty of safety assessments; evidence-to-decision frameworks)
4. Information provision: focus on misunderstandings and knowledge gaps instead of informational overload
5. Two-way dialogue: understand risk perception and influential factors beyond knowledge.
6. Importance of critical trust that allows for scepticism, instead of “blind” trust.

Browse the presentations here.