In this episode, Professor Magda Osman and Dr Sarah Jenkins discuss risk communication - exploring what role the social sciences play in risk communications, whether it can ever be objective, how people perceive and tolerate risk differently, and how trade-offs and context shape the risk decisions people make. 

This episode was recorded on 4th August 2025. If you would like to get in touch regarding this episode, please contact research.lubs@leeds.ac.uk. A transcript of this episode is available.  https://business.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/download/379/podcast-transcript-making-sense-of-risk-communications

About the speakers:  

Magda Osman holds a Visiting Professor of Impact position at Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, and is a Research Professor at the Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. She is a psychologist by training, with a specific interest in decision-making under risk and uncertainty, risk analysis and causal analysis, folk beliefs in the manipulation of the unconscious, as well as an interest in examining effectiveness of methods of behavioural change. 

Dr Sarah Jenkins is a Lecturer in Applied Decision-Making and a cognitive psychologist, with extensive experience of conducting applied research focusing on how people understand, communicate and make decisions concerning risk and uncertainty. She holds a joint post between the Centre for Decision Research at Leeds University Business School, and the Met Office, where she is applying social science techniques to deliver high-impact decision research in areas related to weather and climate.

Making sense of risk communications: framing, trust, and trade-offs

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