Measuring Digital Trust: A Framework for Smart Societies
a conversation with
Dr Han-Ei CHEW, Visiting Fellow, Quello Center, Michigan State University.
Tuesday September 16, 2025, 12-1 PM EDT
In-Person (CAS 191) and Via Zoom (Register Here)
Trust undergirds digital life — essential, yet often vaguely defined and rarely measured with rigor. Since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, global trust in the tech industry has declined even as digital systems have become more deeply embedded in everyday life. This raises a fundamental question: what exactly is this trust that is being lost, and how should we understand its erosion?
This talk explores the imperative to measure digital trust as both a public good and a strategic asset. Drawing on conceptual insights from the World Economic Forum and recent academic work, Dr Chew introduces a multi-dimensional framework that accounts for the interplay between system attributes, individual dispositions, and lived outcomes in shaping digital trust.
He shares early findings from a pilot study conducted in Singapore that aimed to develop and validate a survey instrument capable of capturing how trust varies across user groups and institutional settings. Real-world examples such as public reactions to major digital infrastructure rollouts illustrate what happens when system design falls out of step with public expectations.
The session aims to contribute to ongoing discussions on how to make sense of digital trust: how to define it, how to measure it, and how to identify the conditions under which it is either strengthened or eroded.
Dr Han-Ei CHEW leads the Governance & Economy cluster at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in Singapore, where he oversees the Institute’s longest-standing research unit. His work centers on quantitative policy research, with a strong interest in online harms, digital trust, and the societal dimensions of technology adoption. He has led multiple national and international studies and works closely with public agencies to translate research into policy outcomes.
Outside of IPS, Han-Ei serves on the board of SG Her Empowerment (SHE), a non-profit dedicated to advancing gender equality and supporting those affected by online harms. He is also a pro bono Research Consultant to UNESCO, where he co-authored reports including Reading in the Mobile Era and I’d Blush If I Could — one of the first international publications to highlight gender biases in AI voice assistants.
Han-Ei holds a PhD in Media and Information Studies from Michigan State University and is especially pleased to return to his alma mater as a Visiting Fellow. At the Quello Center, his work focuses on the evolving concept of digital trust — exploring how confidence in digital systems is built or eroded, and what this means for public policy, governance, and user behaviour.
He also writes The Chart Doctor Has Issues, a Substack that critiques how data is visualized and communicated in the public sphere — part of his broader interest in making policy-relevant research accessible and communicated with clarity.