Who the UK public trusts on science depends on the question

Strong confidence in university scientists

Three quarters of UK adults said they trusted scientists working at universities to provide accurate information about science and technology, according to the government’s Public Engagement Survey. That total combines 28% expressing a great deal of trust with 47% expressing a fair amount. It measures confidence in a particular source of information, rather than approval of every scientific finding.^[2]

The figures were published in July. The survey covered people aged 16 and over across the UK, using online and paper questionnaires. Fieldwork ran from November 2025 to March 2026, and 30,698 respondents remained in the final dataset after quality checks. The results are therefore neither England-only figures nor a reading of opinion collected this October.^[2][3]

A global decline, with an important qualification

Wellcome’s October report describes a different picture: 72% of people reported some or a lot of trust in science in 2025, compared with 80% in 2020. Its latest survey covered more than 140,000 people across 140 countries. The trend figures use the 108 countries included in all three survey waves.^[1]

The report also flags a change in survey method in China. Because China has a large population, that change affects the global comparison. Excluding China produces a more stable picture between 2018 and 2025, although the share expressing a lot of trust in science has fallen since 2020 either way. That qualification is part of the finding, not a detail to discard.^[1]

The percentages cannot be put on one scale

A global question about trust in science and a UK question about university scientists as information providers can both produce valid results without measuring the same thing. Their populations, wording and response categories differ. Subtracting one headline percentage from the other would not reveal a British advantage or a change in British opinion.^[1][2][3]

Confidence also has degrees. The UK figure of 75% includes respondents choosing the more qualified answer, a fair amount of trust. Treating it as 75% expressing the strongest confidence would change the result. Likewise, Wellcome’s global trend cannot establish what happened specifically in England without the relevant country-level evidence.^[1][2]

What a useful follow-up would establish

A UK trend would require comparable questions asked over time, with attention to sampling and collection methods. The DSIT publication describes the first year of this survey, so it does not itself provide that repeated measure. For public institutions, the distinction between trust in scientific information and confidence in an organisation’s use of it remains a question worth tracking.^[2][3]