Research

Research Priorities: Cognitive science, decision-making processes, misinformation and its correction, technology and democracy, acceptance and rejection of science

Stephan Lewandowsky is a British-Australian cognitive scientist. He aims to understand the human mind. Using computer-assisted modelling, he studies memory and decision-making processes. In his most recent work, he investigates why people believe misinformation and how such “fake news” is spread, particularly as it relates to health topics, vaccines, and climate research. He is working to develop solutions for restoring people's autonomy on the internet.

Using computer simulations, Stephan Lewandowsky describes memory and decision-making processes. He investigates how people update their memories when things they once believed turn out to be untrue. He also studies the way myths and misinformation develop within society and how they persist. He is particularly interested in the variables which determine whether people accept scientific evidence, for example in the context of vaccinations or climate research.

Stephan Lewandowsky pursues these issues with a particular focus on the interconnection between online information technology and human cognition as well as the consequences for democracy. He analyses how platform algorithms can facilitate the spread of misinformation. To this end, for example, he examines the entanglement between social media algorithms and human attentional biases and how they interact to facilitate the spread of misinformation.

Furthermore, he is working to develop cognitively and technologically based solutions for restoring people’s autonomy on the internet. To this end, for example, he develops tools to assist healthcare professionals to confront vaccine-related misinformation as well as interventions which help people differentiate between true and false information.

Career

• since 2022 Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
• 2021 Knowledge Exchange Fellow, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
• since 2013 Professor of Cognitive Psychology, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
• since 2000 Professor of Psychology (Honorary Professor since 2013), University of Western Australia (UWA), Perth, Australia
• 2004-2005 Deputy Head, School of Psychology, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 1995-2000 Associate Professor of Psychology, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 1998 Visiting Professor of Psychology, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
• 1994-1995 Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
• 1990-1994 Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, USA
• 1988-1989 Associate Scientist, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• 1987-1988 Research Fellowship, UWA, Perth, Australia
• 1985 Doctorate, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• 1981 M.A., University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
• 1980 B.A., Washington College, Chestertown, USA

Functions

• 2024 Chairperson, Psychonomic Society
• since 2022 Member, Advisory Council, European Research, Springer Nature, Heidelberg, Germany
• since 2022 Member, Advisory Board, Digipatch.eu, Horizon 2020, European Union
• since 2021 Member, Advisory Board, Advanced Grant “Consequences of conspiracy theories”, European Research Council (ERC)
• since 2021 Member, Expert Panel, “Socio-Economic Impacts of Science and Health Misinformation”, Council of Canadian Academies (CCA), Canada
• since 2021 Member, Advisory Board, “Policy, Expertise and Trust in Action” (PERITIA), European Union
• since 2021 Member, Global Platform Governance Network, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Waterloo, Canada
• since 2020 Member, Climate Social Science Network (CSSN), Providence, USA
• 2020-2021 Member, Scientific Committee “Fake or Fact”, All European Academies (ALLEA)
• 2020-2026 Member, Board of Directors, 2023 Chairperson, Psychonomic Society
• Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Climate and Health Alliance, Australia
• Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Klimafakten, Berlin, Germany

Projects

• since 2021 Advanced Grant “Protecting the Democratic Information Space in Europe (PRODEMINFO)”, ERC
• 2021-2025 Coordinator, Project “JitsuVAX – Jiu-Jitsu with misinformation in the age of Covid: Using refutation-based learning to enhance vaccine uptake and knowledge among healthcare professionals and the public”, Horizon 2020, European Union
• since 2020 Project “Reclaiming Individual Autonomy and Democratic Discourse Online: How to Rebalance Human and Algorithmic Decision Making”, Volkswagen Foundation, Hanover, Germany
• since 2020 Project “When liars can be honest”, The Honesty Project, John Templeton Foundation with Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, USA
• since 2020 Project “REPHRAIN National Research Centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence online”, Research Council, UK
• since 2020 Project “Social Media for Democracy”, Horizon 2020, European Union

Honours and Memberships

• since 2022 Member, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany
• since 2021 Member, Sigma Xi, USA
• 2019 Humboldt Foundation Research Award, Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany
• since 2017 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (APS), USA
• since 2017 Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences, London, UK
• since 2015 Fellow, Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), Amherst, USA
• 2013-2018 Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award, Royal Society, UK
• 2012 Revesz Professorship, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• 2012-2014 Discovery Outstanding Researcher Award, Australian Research Council, Australia
• 2007-2011 Australian Professorial Fellowship, Australian Research Council, Australia