Would you trust a simulation?

This is a project funded by an APEX Grant  in partnership with the Royal Society, the British Academy and the Royal Society of Engineering.

Computer simulations have transformed how we study and develop complex engineering systems. These computational tools allow more prototypes to be explored and more tests to be performed virtually at a fraction of the time and cost.

Often, the engineering systems that are tested using computer simulations are used in public space, and present risk for the public if safety procedures were to go wrong. As such, efficiency and safety are seen as vital for the policy makers and the public. Therefore, engineers must consider how they communicate the confidence they have in their virtual designs.

In this project, we are investigating how awareness of computational validation processes, used for engineering systems like an aircraft, affects public trust in those processes, and how public perceptions of risk and certainty, as well as people working in the engineering industry, are affected by the language used by engineers.

We have also secured an APEX public engagement grant which will allow us to take part in public-facing events collecting information about whether publics trust technologies which have been tested in a virtual environment.