Hanna Scholten

Hanna is a doctoral researcher in the fields of political psychology, political communication and digital media. As part of the international PODTrust project (ESRC and Trans-Atlantic Partnership) her research focuses on the intersection of political trust and political contact. 

Her work explores what citizens and politicians perceive as trustworthy contact in politics and how different forms and mediums of contact may lead to an increase in trust. In doing so, her focus lies on determining the role of respect in interactions between citizens and politicians and how those might positively affect political trust.

Through both qualitative and experimental quantitative research, the project aims to explore which types of digital media and forms of contact have the most potential for building high-trust relationships between elites and diverse groups of citizens.