Best Paper Award from the journal «Risk Analysis» for Theresa Arnold
- D-USYS
- Institute for Environmental Decisions
Sub-surface resources such as deep geothermal energy (DGE) or shale gas also pose risks to the environment as for instance induced seismicity. For her study in the field of risk communication, Theresa Arnold, a former doctoral student of D-USYS TdLab, earned a 2018 Best Paper Award.
In her study, Theresa Arnold (former named Knoblauch) investigated how to communicate such low probability high consequence (LPHC) seismic events, related uncertainty and expert confidence for a fictional DGE and a fictional shale gas project.
Findings show that the public appreciates risk communication that includes quantitative information as well as risk comparisons more than purely qualitative information about LPHC events. When being informed about uncertainty and limited expert confidence the public finds risk communication less clear and more difficult to understand.
The risk communication then also seems less trustworthy and increases concern. However, the technology for which environmental risks are communicated has a larger effect on the public’s response than the careful wording of the risk communication. That is, the public responds to identical environmental risk communication significantly more negative in the shale gas case than in the DGE condition.
Literaturhinweis
Knoblauch, T.A.K., Stauffacher, M., Trutnevyte, E., 2017. Communicating low-probability high-consequence risk, uncertainty and expert confidence: Induced seismicity of deep geothermal energy and shale gas. Risk Anal. external page DOI-Link
Das im Auftrag der Society for Risk Analysis veröffentlichte Journal external page Risk Analysis gehört zu den Top 10 der ISI Journal Citation Reports in den Kategorien Sozialwissenschaften und mathematische Methoden und bietet eine Plattform für neue Entwicklungen auf dem Gebiet der Risikoanalyse.