Project description
Knowledge resilience and the fight against misinformation
Public debate and democratic decision-making are challenged by misinformation, fragmented media environments and declining trust in traditional sources of evidence. In this context, citizens’ ability to engage with and retain factual information is becoming more fragile, weakening the foundations of informed opinion and accountability in democratic systems. The ERC-funded FACTRES project develops the concept of knowledge resilience, which is the ability of citizens to notice, retain and use factual evidence to form informed opinions and resist misinformation. It investigates how different forms of evidence communication can strengthen this capacity, particularly in contexts affected by misinformation, declining trust and post-truth politics. The project’s goal is to identify effective ways to communicate facts that support democratic decision-making.
Objective
This project addresses the urgent challenge of how to communicate factual evidence to build citizens’ knowledge resilience, that is, their ability to pay attention to factual evidence, remember it, and apply it to form perceptions and opinions and reject misinformation. Resilient knowledge among citizens is critical for democracy, as it enables them to hold meaningful preferences and hold politicians accountable. Yet, knowledge resilience is under threat from misinformation, media marketization, post-truth populism, and declining trust in traditional evidence, highlighting the urgent need to understand how exposure to factual evidence can build resilient knowledge in the mass public.
FACTRES introduces the concept of knowledge resilience and pioneers a new research agenda to investigate when, how, and among whom factual evidence builds resilient knowledge in the mass public. It is not only pioneering in conceptualising knowledge resilience as a core capacity for democratic citizenship; it also breaks important new ground by developing the Psychological Alignment Model. It highlights that factual evidence types which are psychologically aligned with how people process information – such as concrete personal case reports – are vital to enhance the impact of statistical and abstract policy evidence on knowledge resilience and mitigate inequality.
Methodologically, FACTRES sets a new standard to test this theoretical framework by developing an ambitious cross-national multi-methods design combining 1) population-based panel survey experiments, 2) laboratory experiments incorporating psychophysiological measures, and 3) computational naturalistic analyses of media content and user engagement.
The project provides actionable intelligence on how to communicate factual evidence effectively to build resilient knowledge in the mass public. It thus offers a new insight into strengthening democratic citizenship in an era of rising misinformation and post-truth populism.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-COG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
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