Designed to strengthen the academic profiles of early-career scholars, these grants continue the spirit of the former national instruments. In spring 2025, IMPULSE grants were awarded to Assistant Professors on permanent contracts across all AISSR departments.

Impulse Spotlight

With the selected projects that kicked off in September 2025, the AISSR enters two years of fresh, innovative research.

In this Impulse Spotlight series, we highlight the researchers behind these projects, exploring what drives their work, why it matters now, and the impact they hope to make.

In this edition, we speak with Dr Steven Pickering, whose project tackles one of today’s most pressing societal challenges: trust.

Why is this research important right now?

'Trust in institutions, experts and governments has become one of the defining challenges of our time,' Steven begins. 'Across democracies, citizens are questioning whether leaders are honest, whether experts act independently, and whether states still function in the public interest. These doubts emerge precisely when trust is most needed: crises such as pandemics, inflation, and war demand high public trust to manage effectively.'

His project seeks to understand how trust can be rebuilt under such conditions of uncertainty. Through large cross-national conjoint experiments, Steven and his team analyse which messages, policies, and institutional behaviours actually foster trust, rather than merely asking for it.

What impact do you hope the project will have?

'Within political science and public administration, the project pushes experimental research on trust beyond single-country studies, allowing for comparison across European contexts', Steven explains. He emphasizes how the project strengthens international collaboration between Amsterdam, the UK, and Japan, building on an already productive partnership forged through the long-standing TrustTracker programme.

Beyond academia, he hopes the findings will guide policymakers and communicators in an era of polarisation.

'If we can show, empirically, what builds or erodes confidence in experts and institutions, we can help governments and citizens engage more constructively during future crises.'

How would you explain your research at a dinner party?

'I study why people lose trust in the institutions meant to serve them, and what we can do to fix that. My team runs large online experiments in which thousands of people compare hypothetical politicians, scientists, or policies. Each profile varies in traits such as honesty, competence, or transparency. By examining the patterns in people’s choices, we uncover what genuinely matters for trust.'

'In simple terms: we’re asking how we rebuild trust in in one another, and in the systems our societies rely on.'

Looking ahead

As Steven’s project enters its initial phase, the IMPULSE grant enables both methodological innovation and deeper international collaboration.

Over the next two years, the emerging findings promise to offer valuable insights into how societies can restore confidence in institutions during times of turbulence and rapid change.

Meet the Researcher

Steven Pickering is an Assistant Professor at the AISSR focusing on political trust, public communication, and crisis governance. His IMPULSE-funded project, Rebuilding Trust in Uncertain Times: Cross-National Conjoint Experiments and Collaborative Capacity Building, examines how confidence in institutions can be restored when societies face compounding pressures, from pandemics to political polarisation.

Stay tuned for the next IMPULSE spotlight in this series!