Nine in ten people trust engineers to tell the truth, making them the third most trusted profession in the UK after nurses and doctors, according to a national survey.
The finding comes from the 2020 Ipsos MORI Veracity Index, which has been tracking public trust in key professions since the 1980s. The results for 2020 show that engineers are trusted to tell the truth by 89 per cent of people - the profession’s highest score since it was included in the annual poll in 2018.
Trust in engineers is especially high among Britain’s graduates (95 per cent) and Generation X (94 per cent).
The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have played a key role in the increasing standing of engineers among the British public. Separate research published earlier in 2020 by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) found that more young people have been inspired by engineers and other STEM professionals during the crisis, and are now considering these roles for future careers.
Dr Peter Bannister, a biomedical engineer and chair of the IET’s healthcare panel, commented:
“As highlighted this year, engineers play a central role in advancing the world around us and finding solutions to global challenges. The high level of public trust in engineers is a welcome boost and mirrors the level of professionalism and importance of engineers in the UK.
“The Coronavirus outbreak has presented many challenges across the world and has changed life as we know it. Engineers have played a vital role in developing technology and rapid processes to not only keep our infrastructure running but to provide healthcare solutions such as highly efficient ventilators, improve mental health by combatting social isolation, develop remote diagnostics and healthcare tracking apps as well as biomedical engineering which has led to successful vaccine trials.
“It is without a doubt that engineering and technological innovation has and will continue to make a huge difference. The recognition of trust by the public will hopefully be a welcome boost in the fixing the shortfalls faced by the industry by encouraging the next generation of talent, as engineering continues to be a vital profession across the world.”