Featured publication

Trust, the police and gender: London, you have a problem with women

Following a series of high-profile incidents of violence against women by serving London Metropolitan Police Officers, questions of standards and the public’s confidence in policing are in the spotlight. We find that women in England are more trusting in the police than men. But not in London. London is the only area in England where women’s overall trust in the police is lower than men, even when we control for age, income, political environment and crime levels.

• Full, open access article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2024.2334009
• Feature in The Daily Mail: Revealed: The Met is the least trusted police force in England by women
• Feature in The Guardian: Only 40% of people in England trust their police force, research reveals
• Feature in World Is One News India: Is the UK losing trust in its police force?

• Pickering, S. D., & Dorussen, H., & Hansen, M. E., & Reifler, J., & Scotto, T., & Sunahara, Y., & Yen, D. (2024). London, you have a problem with women: Trust towards the police in England. Policing & Society, 348, 747–762. In press.

Trust in Public Service Broadcasters: A comparison of the BBC and NHK

In this UK–Japan study, we examined how much people trust their national public broadcasters: the BBC in the UK and NHK in Japan. Over 19 months, we ran monthly surveys asking thousands of people how much they trust news from these public service providers, as well as from traditional media and social media.

We found that the BBC is still widely trusted in the UK, but that trust is sharply divided by politics. Conservative voters are much less likely to trust the BBC than Labour or Liberal Democrat supporters. In Japan, trust in NHK is more stable across the political spectrum, but it doesn’t stand out in the same way. Many Japanese respondents placed more trust in newspapers or even social media news than in NHK.

Public broadcasters still play a key role in the media landscape. But as our research shows, their credibility depends heavily on politics, structure, and national context.

• Full, open access article: https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2024-0184
• Feature in The Conversation: The BBC is a partisan battleground – why does Japan's NHK escape the same fate?

• Pickering, S. D., & Sunahara, Y., & Hansen, M. E. (2025). Examining Trust in Public Service News Providers: A comparison of the BBC and NHK. Communications.

Trust and Seaweed: Why the West is Missing Out

Seaweed is both a nutritional powerhouse and a climate-friendly crop, requiring no land, little freshwater and no fertilisers. In Asian countries, such as Japan, it's an everyday staple, but in western countries like the UK, it's still seen as exotic. Our study compares the two, revealing how trust, politics, education and risk-taking shape whether people eat seaweed, or whether they are likely to try it in future. The results show that while Japanese consumers embrace seaweed as part of tradition, UK consumers often face barriers like limited availability and unfamiliarity. Promoting seaweed in Western diets could benefit both people's health and the planet; but it will take more than sushi menus to make it mainstream.

Read more:

• Full, open access article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105650
• Feature in The Conversation: Why are westerners so reluctant to eat seaweed? Our new study reveals the social and psychological reasons

• Pickering, S. D., & Iwasaki, M., & Masita, G., & Roskam, A., & Hansen, M. E., & Sunahara, Y. (2025). Who eats seaweed? Barriers and motivations in Japan versus the United Kingdom. Food Quality and Preference, 128, 105650.

Trust and Immigration: Japan and the UK compared

Immigration is a contentious issue in both Japan and England, in part due to England's post-Brexit “points-based” system favoring highly skilled workers and Japan's traditionally restrictive migration policies. Yet the governments of both countries implicitly understand the need for immigrants to fill roles in various sectors, especially as demographic shifts pressure labour markets.

By developing a unique conjoint experiment, we explore preferences for immigrants across low and high skilled sectors and find surprisingly nuanced public attitude. English respondents show a greater variation in their preferences by job sector, particularly valuing immigrants in caring professions, likely reflecting the more vigorous and detailed public debate on immigration in Britain compared to Japan's more muted discussion.

• Kawakami, R., Scotto, T. J., Dorussen, H., Pickering, S., Reifler, J., Sunahara, Y., Tago, A., & Yen, D. (2025). Who gets in? A conjoint analysis of labour market demand and immigration preferences in England and Japan. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies.

Trust in the police across social divides in England

This article examines which groups in England are more or less likely to trust the police. Younger people from marginalised backgrounds, especially in London, report the lowest levels of trust. At the same time, some less-expected groups, such as White working-class men outside London, also show lower trust, while older working-class women tend to show more. These findings highlight how trust in the police is unevenly distributed, and point to the need for stronger community engagement and training tailored to different groups if confidence in policing is to be rebuilt.

• Tura, F., Pickering, S., Hansen, M. E., & Hunter, J. (2025). Intersectional inequalities in trust in the police in England. Policing and Society, 1-15.

Trust, religion and vaccination: The role of religion and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in England

Existing research has found a link between religious beliefs and vaccine hesitancy. This analysis used data from a survey of over 12,000 respondents in England and finds that respondents who identify as being part of the Church of England or Methodist denominations have had significantly more COVID-19 vaccinations. However, Pentecostal and Muslim respondents have had significantly fewer COVID-19 vaccinations.

Clearly, public health bodies need to engage with religious leaders. Communication strategies need to be tailored to specific religious groups. Trust plays a key factor, so we need to ensure that religious groups are able to trust healthcare institutes.

• Full, open access article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.04.006
• Feature in The Conversation: Religion and COVID-19: methodists and Church of England followers more likely to have been vaccinated than Muslims and Pentecostals

• Hansen, M. E., & Pickering, S. D. (2024). The role of religion and COVID-19 vaccine uptake in England. Vaccine (42)13: 3215-3219.

Trust, doctors, nurses and strikes

How much do the public support striking nurses and junior doctors? It turns out people are generally more supportive of these healthcare workers striking than other professionals like postal workers or teachers. Support levels vary by political affiliation, ideology, and trust in the NHS, with non-Conservative, left-leaning individuals, and those with high trust in the NHS more likely to back the strikes. These findings suggest strategic directions for increasing public support for healthcare workers' strikes.

• Hansen, M. E., & Pickering, S. D. (2024). From Plaster Casts to Picket Lines: Public Support for Industrial Action in the National Health Service in England. Nursing Inquiry, 31(3), e12637.

Trust and waiting for health-care

Waiting times for healthcare in the UK are at an all time high. Does this affect people's trust in the NHS? Our survey of 7,415 people suggests not. Even when waiting times in Accident and Emergency rooms are long, or when there is a long delay in referrals for cancer treatment, people still trust the NHS. However, members of ethnic minorities and people who voted for the Conservative Party do tend to trust the NHS less. If the NHS wants to build trust, then it needs to look to these two key groups.

• Full, open access article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhip.2024.100484
• Feature in The Conversation: Sky-high waiting times don’t make people trust the NHS any less – why that’s potentially bad news for Rishi Sunak

• Dorussen, H., & Hansen, M. E., & Pickering, S. D., & Reifler, J., & Scotto, T., & Sunahara, Y., & Yen, D. (2024). The Influence of Waiting Times and Sociopolitical Variables on Public Trust in Healthcare: A Cross-Sectional Study of the NHS in England. Public Health in Practice, 7(100484), 1-7.

Trust and human poo

Humanity needs food, and to grow that food, we need fertilisers. But fertilisers present enormous environmental impact. Animal manure causes nitrate pollution in soil, groundwater and the atmosphere. Whereas artificial fertilisers account for 1-2 % of global energy consumption and 1.4% of global CO2 emissions.

Human Excretion Based Fertiliser (HEBF), or fertilisers based on human poo, may offer a solution. But we need to know how socially acceptable this solution is. Based on surveys in Japan and England, we find that the Japanese are more accepting of using HEBF for food production, with fewer health concerns, compared to the English. However, English respondents are more open to using HEBF in public parks. We also notice strong gender differences.

• Full, open access article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wmb.2024.08.002
• Feature in The Conversation: Human manure or ‘nightsoil’ makes great crop fertiliser – but attitudes to poo-grown produce differ drastically

• Pickering, S., & Gökçe, Ö., & Hanna, D., & Knell, M., & Lee, D., & Scales, M., & Zeinalabidin, M. & Sunahara, Y., & Hansen, M. E. (2024). Public perceptions of human excretion-based fertiliser in England and Japan. Waste Management Bulletin (2)4: 11-20.

Trust and health data

Background/Aims
Public attitudes towards the NHS sharing health records vary significantly depending on who the information is shared with and how it is described. In a survey conducted across England, most people felt comfortable with the NHS sharing their personal health information with hospitals and GPs, particularly when the word 'information' was used instead of 'data'. However, over half of respondents objected to sharing records—even anonymised—with pharmaceutical companies for research, or with local councils. This suggests that people are more open to sharing their health records when they perceive a direct personal benefit, and interestingly, anonymisation alone does not necessarily reassure the public. These insights can help shape clearer and more effective public communication about health data sharing.

• Yen, D., & Dorussen, H., & Pickering, S., & Hansen, M. E., & Scotto, T., & Reifler, J. (2025). Public attitudes towards disclosing personal and anonymous health-related data and information. British Journal of Healthcare Management (31)1.

Trust and AI in Parliament: Who makes the decisions?

Artificial intelligence is edging into parliaments, with tools being tested to help MPs analyse legislation, draft questions, or manage the flood of information they receive. But are citizens ready for this? Our surveys in the UK and Japan reveal a clear divide: people are broadly open to MPs using AI for support, yet deeply opposed to ceding democratic decisions to machines. Trust, politics, age and gender all shape these attitudes. Younger men, and those more optimistic about AI, are the most supportive. Older respondents, women, and those who fear AI are far more sceptical. Cross-national differences are equally revealing: in the UK, right-leaning voters are more open to parliamentary AI, while in Japan support comes more from the left. The message is clear: AI can advise, but it cannot rule. For parliaments, legitimacy depends on keeping humans visibly in the loop.

• Pickering, S. D., & Hansen, M. E. & Sunahara, Y. (2025). Democracy by Algorithm? Public Attitudes Towards AI in Parliamentary Decision-Making in the UK and Japan. Parliamentary Affairs.

Trust in Doctors and Scientists: The Roles of Faith, Politics, Education and Gender

Science underpins responses to global challenges, from developing vaccines to tackling climate change. But trust in science isn’t evenly shared across society. Using survey data from more than 11,000 people in England, we compared attitudes towards medical doctors and university scientists. Our findings show that education fosters greater trust, while right-leaning ideology predicts lower trust in both groups. Religion also matters: some faith communities express lower trust, though the strongest effect came from respondents who selected “Prefer not to say” on religion: a group consistently less trusting of experts. Women report lower trust in doctors, though not in scientists, while ethnic minorities also show reduced trust overall. These patterns reveal that trust in science is not one-size-fits-all: who the messenger is, and who the audience are, both shape how expertise is received.

• Pickering, S. D., & Hansen, M. E., & Dorussen, H., & Reifler, J., & Scotto, T. J., & Sunahara, Y., & Yen, D. (2025). Trust in Scientists and Doctors: The Roles of Faith, Politics, Education and Gender. Public Understanding of Science.