Insight into action
The World Risk Poll is a major addition to global understanding of risk and is being used by a range of stakeholders to make the world a safer place.
How the Poll is being used to make the world a safer place
The Lloyd’s Register Foundation Institute for the Public Understanding of Risk (IPUR) is a research institute within the National University of Singapore, that is co-funded by the Foundation.
The institute undertakes research, conducts education, and builds connections with stakeholders, in order to build a better understanding of the socio-technological processes and cultural factors affecting public opinion and attitudes to risk.
In 2019, the Poll data showed that Mongolia stood out as the country with the biggest gap between perceptions of risk and actual experience of risk. As a result, IPUR worked with the Mongolian Government to deliver a policy innovation programme that enhanced data literacy and risk communications in the region. In addition, the data has been used to support projects related to public trust and Covid-19 at IPUR which has resulted in five academic publications.
IPUR will be using the 2021 Poll data by:
- Integrating the World Risk Poll data with Covid-19 responses from over 100 countries to analyse the impact of risk perceptions on pandemic outcomes.
- Leveraging its 10-billion-word online media platform to analyse the extent and content of the findings.
- Devising communication strategies to counteract these risks.
- Combining insights from the World Risk Poll with online media and interviews to inform better societal and policy responses that will save lives.
Data from the 2019 Poll has also been used or referenced in over 45 academic publications and presented at 25 global conferences and events since it was published in 2020.
Furthermore, knowledge generated from the 2019 Poll has been referenced in more than 15 global reports published by international NGOs and UN bodies such as the International Labour Organisation, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Development Programme, and United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation, where the findings have been used to support policy recommendations and guidelines designed to improve the quality of lives around the world.
Examples of papers published include:
- Journal of Climatic Change (On the differential correlates of climate change concerns and severe weather concerns: evidence from the World Risk Poll | SpringerLink).
- PLOS ONE (Low numeracy is associated with poor financial well-being around the world | PLOS ONE).
- Oxford Commission on AI and Good Governance ( OII | Global public opinion split on benefits of AI, finds new Oxford study).