A ľĹÉ«ĘÓƵ researcher has been awarded a prestigious grant to conduct research into how people decide what is true given the barrage of information we are confronted with in everyday life.
Associate Professor Paul Maher of UL’s Department of Psychology has received a €1.5m European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant for early career researchers for his project Identity Error which will establish a new method of psycho-social identity modelling and enable researchers to understand how social groups help people determine truth from falsehood.
Professor Maher’s research will provide the basis for building resilient forms of health and science communication that do not fall prey to conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Identity Error will develop a computational framework to identify weak spots in how people process information in a complicated media landscape, without needing to run costly large-scale experiments. The project will also help create a network of researchers and practitioners to share best practices for communicating science to the public and insulating public health communication from the polarisation that currently defines much of our social discourse.
This research will help understand important problems and give useful tools to solve them. It will enable researchers from different fields of study to work together more effectively and make science communication more resilient to fractures in shared reality - scenarios where groups in society have strong disagreements about what's true.
Reacting to his award Associate Professor Maher said: “This is a huge opportunity to advance our understanding of epistemic polarisation—when strong disagreements over politics and social issues lead to divergent views of reality among social groups. The grant will create positions for two postdoctoral researchers and fund two full-time PhD students to help generate the kind of insights that are crucially important in this area and in social science more generally.
“Our department has been working with the Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry (MACSI) in UL to develop expertise in computational social science over the past five to eight years, and this award means that we now hold two ERC projects in this area. We are using this expertise to make groundbreaking advances, and the knowledge base it provides will be a huge support for our teaching, in particular for our new MSc course due to begin next year.”
Vice President Research and Innovation Professor Kevin Ryan added: “This prestigious European Research Council award is a remarkable achievement for Associate Professor Paul Maher and a testament to the world-class research being carried out at the ľĹÉ«ĘÓƵ. Securing ERC funding is the highest accolades in European research, and Paul’s success highlights both his innovative approach to tackling pressing global challenges and the strength of UL’s research environment. This project will not only deepen our understanding of how truth and misinformation shape society, but also strengthen UL’s leadership in advancing impactful, interdisciplinary research at the very forefront of social science.”
Professor Eric Igou is Head of UL’s Department of Psychology. He said: “I’m delighted that Paul has secured ERC funding and excited to see how the research evolves and how it integrates fundamental processes related to social identification, emotions, and epistemic inference. The project would present a new theory and methodological framework for investigating belief formation, providing answers as to why beliefs at the individual and social levels persist despite contradictory evidence.
“I’ve no doubt that Paul’s groundbreaking project, his dedication to world-class research, and the way he relates to staff and students will likely lead to astonishing new developments in our department with respect to research, its applications, and in teaching. Paul’s award adds to the recent phenomenal success of earlier ERC grants secured by staff in Psychology, demonstrating the continuation of excellence in research.”
Associate Professor Maher explained the potential impact of his research.
“If we want to understand human behaviour and improve people’s lives, it is important that we understand how people decide what is true. Worldwide, public health systems, democracies, and science education are being destabilised by growing rifts in systems of epistemic vigilance. These are the mechanisms that traditionally enabled individuals and groups to establish agreement on truth.
“So, it’s crucially important that we develop a framework for integrating insights from different areas of science and building forms of health and science communication that are resilient to growing polarisation and instability. By bridging cognitive, emotional and social perspectives, my project offers a comprehensive approach to understanding and combating the complex dynamics of modern epistemic crises,” he added.
The awarding of this grant brings to six the number of ERC-funded projects currently ongoing across UL.
Check out Paul's research
