Public Perception of Mineral Exploration

We worked with the Geological Survey of Ireland as part of PACIFIC, an EU-funded Horizon 2020 consortium investigating innovative mineral exploration techniques. We contributed to a social research strand of the project, looking at the public’s perception of mineral exploration and mining in Ireland. The first experimental study was conducted in 2019 and tested whether the format of information provision affected people’s comprehension of the issues surrounding mineral exploration and their acceptance of it. The results suggested that people had low familiarity with the topic and informed the design of the second study. The second study explored how people integrate conflicting information about an unfamiliar environmental topic – mineral exploration – to form opinions about it. It was conducted in 2021. The results have been submitted to a journal and the manuscript is under review.