Project: Citizen Science

This research program focuses on enabling public participation in science and technology topics.

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Science and Technology topics (e.g., pandemics, climate change, gene editing, artificial intelligence) have increasingly becoming the focus of public discussion. Public understanding of science and technology is the foundation of the governance of these history-changing actants. Without the publics' buy-in, we cannot harvest the fruits of scientific breakthroughs (e.g., vaccine take-up). Without the public’s support, we won't be able to reverse the climate change human development has induced (e.g., sustainable protein foods). Without the public's debate, we won’t know that there are limits the mankind must set to their own imagination (e.g., gene editing). Without the public’s thought evolvement, we cannot justify the decisions on technological development made by experts (e.g., artificial intelligence).

Recent Publications

  1. Zhang, W., Wang, B., Leong, L. P., Leong, D., Tham, M. & Ang, W. H. (2025). Public Discourses of Alternative Protein Foods in Facebook Public Pages’ Posts, 2014–2024. PLoS One, 20(10), e0333922. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0333922
  2. Xi, Y., & Zhang, W. (2025). Moral expression of “experts” and public engagement: Communicating COVID-19 vaccines on Facebook public pages in Chinese. Public Understanding of Science, 34(4), 459-478. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625241310147
  3. Zhang, W., Wang, R., & Liu, H. (2023). Moral Expression, Sources, and Frames: Examining COVID-19 Vaccination Posts by Facebook Public Pages. Computers in Human Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107479 [video]
  4. Zhang, W., Mukerjee, S., & Qin, H. (2022). Topics and sentiments influence likes: A study of Facebook public pages' posts about COVID-19 vaccination.Cyberpsychology, Behavior, & Social Networking. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.0063
  5. Zhang, X., Chen, A., & Zhang, W. (2021). Before and after the Chinese gene-edited human babies: Multiple discourses of gene editing on social media. Public Understanding of Science, 30(5) : 570-587. [video]
  6. Liang, J., Liu, X., Zhang, W. (2019) Scientists vs. Laypeople: How Genetically Modified Food is Discussed on a Chinese Q&A Website?. Public Understanding of Science, 28(8), 991-1004.

Partner Institutions

This research program was funded by (1) Bezso Center for Sustainable Protein at NUS; (2) Singapore Food Agency through the collaboration with Department of Chemistry and Department of Food Science and Technology at NUS. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funder.

Bezos Center for Sustainable Protein at NUSIPUR at NUSSingapore Food AgencyNUS Chemistry