Programme

PhD students, senior (postdoctoral) researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in trust and public governance. Multi-disciplinary participation is strongly welcomed.
The number of participants will be limited to 30 students. 

​This summer school takes place at Stadscampus (Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp) of the University of Antwerp. This campus is located in the city centre.

3 ECTS credits will be awarded upon successful completion of the programme according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). 

​Students of the University of Antwerp who wish to include the ECTS credits earned during an Antwerp Summer or Winter University programme as part of their study programme must register via Mobility Online and SisA.
All certificates of completion are issued as a micro-credential. Credits will be awarded on the base of completion of the following work: ​

Preparatory work

• General and topical readings 
• Watching short introductory videos related to the lectures 
• Prepare and submit a one-page note on their expertise, how this relates to the GOVTRUST Summer School topic, and key questions they encounter related to the topic 
• Prepare and submit a full paper (draft) in relation to a topic covered in the GOVTRUST Summer School; papers can be conceptual, theoretical or empirical in nature 

On campus programme 

• Five days, including (guest) lectures, seminars, and workshops 
• Interactive group sessions with a focus on peer feedback 
• 100% (active) participation is required 

• be able to identify and summarise the significance of key research topics in the field of trust and public governance.
  
• be able to engage critically in an academic discussion on trust and public governance with both experts and peers.
  
• be ble to assess the value and proper use of different methods related to the field of trust and public governance.
  
• be able to process theoretical and methodological insights on trust and public governance as well as incorporate expert feedback in the development of a research paper.
  

​The programme consists of a combination of (guest) lectures, discussions and workshops.

• Welcome session

The goal of this welcome session is to inform participants about the programme and practical set-up of the GOVTRUST Summer School; to shortly introduce the GOVTRUST Centre of Excellence; to get to know each other, and; to explore participants’ expectations of the Summer School.

• Keynote

An academic expert (to be confirmed) will deliver a keynote in relation to the Summer School theme.

• Defining and theorising trust
  

Trust is a complex concept and its role is often contested. The goal of this session is to conceptualise trust and distrust; to clarify how the concept of trust is theoretically and empirically related to other concepts such as legitimacy, control and reputation; to gain an understanding of the dynamics, causes and effects of trust between actors, and; to identify the key themes within the trust literature.

• Research methods on trust
  

Measuring trust is a challenging endeavour. In general, trust research is characterised by a the use of a wide diversity of experimental, quantitative and qualitative methods. Studying trust in multi-level settings poses interesting methodological questions and often calls for innovative and interdisciplinary methodological approaches. The goal of this session is to introduce participants to diverse methods relevant to the study of trust. We will look into the (pros and cons of) more ‘conventional’ methods (e.g. survey, focus groups) as well as broaden the scope to introduce some innovative methods (e.g. experiments, machine learning, biological markers).

• Biological and economic foundations of interpersonal trust
  

Individual citizens and private organisations interact frequently with the ‘frontline’ of specific government actors. Trust arising in these frontline interactions is influenced by beliefs in the trustworthiness of government agents, as well as by the individual’s idiosyncratic social preferences. The goal of this session is to discern these two fundamentals of interpersonal trust and to learn more about the role of neural and biological factors in shaping social preferences, particularly those that contribute or impede trusting behaviour.

• Trust-based governance within public organisations
  

Research shows that managing, leading and organising based on trust, in comparison to distrust, leads to better results and higher well-being and happiness among employees. In the public sector, internal organising principles may also affect how citizens experience government trust or distrust. Over the past thirty years, however, many public organisations have experienced intense and multiple reform waves, often changing organisations’ main organising principles and (negatively) affecting individual-level and organisational-level outcomes. The goal of this session is to consider the value of organising and steering based on trust compared to distrust; to investigate the role of organisational controls on employees’ trust in their organisation; and to gain a better understanding of the impact of repetitive reforms on (trust in) the public sector.

• Trust and regulation
  

Regulation is a key political-administrative process involving the promulgation of rules and the creation of dedicated bodies and mechanisms to monitor, assess and enforce these rules. Within regulatory regimes, several actors interact across different governance levels (such as regulators, political authorities, administrative bodies, judicial bodies and courts, regulatees and their interest organisations, consumer and other societal interests, as well as the media), configuring a dense web of relationships. A major societal issue is that of the role and dynamics of trust and distrust in those regulatory relationships. The goal of this session is to investigate the role of trust in the different relations within regulatory regimes, incl. the extent to which regulatory regimes require trust to function properly; the extent to which regulatory regimes enhance trust; the determinants and effects of trust within regulatory regimes. The session will build on the research from the EU H2020 TiGRE project.

• Excursion/field trip
  

A half-day excursion to a government organisation in Belgium (to be confirmed). After a presentation of the organisation, we will discuss the importance of trust for the organisation and make the link with scientific research.

• Paper development workshop
  

The paper development workshop will provide participants with guidance on the development of their previously submitted short paper into a full paper. Participants get the opportunity to present their paper and receive individual feedback from a panel of lecturers and a previously appointed participant-discussant. The focus is on providing participants with practical and constructive feedback aimed at strengthening the development of their full papers, and ultimately working towards journal submission.

• Trust and communication in a digital era
  

Citizens seek information from a range of sources. Therefore, communication around complicated policy topics is often about developing public trust in the various sources of information, including government, industry, experts, citizen groups or the media. Government communication to citizens in particular is diverse and often overwhelming, causing them to trust some sources of information over others. At the same time, digital technologies have transformed our economies and societies, including the digitalisation of government services (and communication), and raise unique governance and accountability challenges. In addition, concerns about cybercrime, online disinformation, artificial intelligence and privacy have significantly undermined public trust. The goal of this session is to highlight the vital role of trust in (policy) communication and information sources; to examine how (persuasive) communication by organisations and the media may drive trust building or trust repair; and to discuss how trust relationships are affected by the advent of new technologies, how individual trust behaviour changes as a consequence of technological developments and what the potential consequences of such developments are.

• Trust and multi-level governance in the EU
  

Federalism and multi-level governance are at the heart of contemporary politics. Nowadays, spheres of authority at different governance levels (international, European, central, regional and local) are often entangled, which is known as multi-level governance (MLG). As such, MLG is often seen as a useful approach for capturing the increasingly complex and shared nature of public decision-making in federal systems. The goal of this session is to elaborate on the importance of public trust in various levels of government for preserving system viability; and to understand the principle of mutual trust in the context of federalism and the EU.

• Trust and judicial governance
  

Trust is said to be a necessary condition for the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the judicial system. At the same time, because of the system of checks and balances, a certain degree of ‘distrust’ is also an important condition for the performance of the judicial system. The goal of this session is to consider the concept of trust in relation to legitimacy of and public support for the judiciary; and to elaborate on the (drivers of) different trust relationships within the judicial system (i.e. trust between judicial actors) as well as citizens’ trust in judicial actors or the judicial system (interpersonal, interorganisational and system trust).

• Closing session
  

The goal of this closing session is to recap and wrap up the Summer School. It includes a short summary of key points highlighted during the 5-day Summer School. This will also be an excellent moment for participants to reflect on their takeaways. Finally, participants will be briefed about the follow-up work and there will be room for evaluation of the Summer School.

Lecturers include amongst others Koen Verhoest, Esther van Zimmeren, Frédérique Six, Karolien Poels, Carolyn Declerck, Peter Bursens, Patricia Popelier.

Antwerp Summer & Winter University offers a number of fun social activities to let participants discover the beautiful city of Antwerp and meet fellow students in a more informal way.

Examples of activities in past editions are a visit to Antwerp’s city hall, a networking reception, a guided city walk, a pub quiz, a boardgame night, and rooftop yoga. All activities in the social programme are offered free of charge.

A few weeks before the start of the summer school, participants will receive an overview of all activities available during your programme, along with the opportunity to register.