Welcome to the Harding Center for Risk Literacy

What are the risks associated with electronic patient records, medical diagnosis by artificial intelligence and the use of health apps? To what extent can participation in cancer screening programmes prevent dying from cancer? These and similar questions are addressed by the Harding Center for Risk Literacy. We research, develop, and publish methods and tools that enable informed, risk literate, and efficient decisions in an increasingly digitalized world. We support experts and organizations to communicate facts accurately, transparently, and comprehensibly and contribute towards the ideal of a democratic society that knows how to calculate risks and live with uncertainty.

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Foto by Javier Allegue Barros

Decision-making under Uncertainty

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We develop empowerment strategies for critical interaction with and control of algorithmic decision environments

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Risk and Evidence Communication

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The research group Risk and Evidence Communication develops strategies to communicate about and better understand scientific evidence.

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Risk Literate?

Are you risk literate? Check your knowledge about risks and uncertainties of everyday life here!

» to the risk quiz

Quick Risk Test

This test is targeted at medical students and medical professionals:

Quick Risk Test

Bad Statistic of the Month

The Bad Statistic of the Month (“Unstatistik des Monats”, only available in German) has been published monthly since 2012. Every month, the authors question recently published statistics and their interpretations. The underlying aim is to help the public deal with data and facts more rationally, interpret numerical representations of reality correctly, and describe an increasingly complex world more adequately. 

TED Talk: Risk Literacy 

TEDx talk Gerd Gigerenzer

 

» watch the video

Call for a Study for Health Educators

You inform about health-related topics (e.g. vaccinations) and want to contribute to a more target group-oriented care? We are studying the knowledge and behaviour of citizens with different cultural, linguistic and social backgrounds about COVID-19 and influenza vaccination.

» Please support the study!

Latest News

Communicating natural hazards: How can flood risks be presented in a transparent and understandable way?

In order to make the population more aware of impending severe weather events, the German Council of Economic Experts (Sachverständigenrat für Verbraucherfragen), an advisory body of the Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, commissioned Mirjam Jenny (Head Research Scientist of the Harding Center) and Nadine Fleischhut (Max Planck Institute for Human Development) to prepare a scientific report on improving communication about the dangers of floods and other natural disasters. Potential hazard situations need to be presented to the population and policyholders in a transparent and easily understandable manner, in order to enable an informed decision to take out insurance.

» link to the report (in German)

flood
© Jonathan Ford on Unsplash

Wissen, wo es langgeht | ZEIT ONLINE, 20.1.2020

ZEIT ONLINE shows three decision trees (fast-and-frugal trees), which were developed in our project RisikoAtlas: How can I better assess the quality of information on the web, e.g. health information, product reviews and investments?
Simple decision trees resemble hierarchically ordered checklists. You can quickly arrive at a recommendation for action based on a few central questions, each of which can be answered with yes or no.
 
» to the graphics (in German)

Infografik ZEIT-ONLINE

Vaccination Fact Boxes

Read our Harding Center guest post on Health News Review about our vaccine fact boxes that provide transparent information to make informed and independent decisions: Fact boxes - A tool to immunize the public against vaccine misinformation.

» read more on Health News Review

girl getting vaccine
© CDC on Unsplash