January: Concrete Steps Towards a More Robust Science of Environmental Psychology
Speaker: Sander van der Linden (University of Cambridge)
Sander van der Linden will focus on how to publish high-quality research in environmental psychology, drawing on his experience as editor-in-chief at Journal of Environmental Psychology (JEP). As one of the premier journals in the field, JEP receives over 600 submissions a year, most of which are desk rejected. What makes for a good manuscript and top research in our field? JEP’s new journal policies are focused on ensuring reproducibility of key findings in environmental psychology, open science, transparency, methodological innovation and diversity of scholarship. Want to learn more and get involved in improving the science of environmental psychology? Join the conversation and share your thoughts!
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February: Multi-method Approaches to Environmental Psychology with Real-world Applicability
Speaker: Sonya Sachdeva (U.S. Forest Service)
Socio-ecological systems, within which human-nature relationships are embedded, are inherently complex and require a rich toolset to study. Forest Service social scientist Sonya Sachdeva will discuss the agency’s focus on use-inspired research, which aims to create science that is grounded in and informed by the real world. She describes her multi-method approach, combining behavioral experiments with field research and computational social science with relevance for scientists, practitioners and land managers.
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March: Translating Psychological Science into Effective Advocacy
Speaker: Reuven Sussman (American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy)
Psychologists studying human behavior and sustainability do an excellent job of isolating important concepts, testing them and drawing conclusions, but focus less on how to leverage their work to achieve real world impact. How can researchers ensure that their work is put into action? In this webinar, Reuven Sussman of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy explains how to maximize the impact of work in the psychology of sustainability and how to work as an expert in the field of psychology to influence governments, businesses and nonprofits to make their sustainability policies and programs more effective.
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April: Key Considerations for Conducting Community-engaged Environmental Scholarship
Speaker: Linda Silka (University of Maine)
Policymakers, community leaders and funders of environmental research are increasingly calling for community-engaged environmental scholarship and are seeing great need for the involvement of psychologists. So, how do we practice effective engaged scholarship? What are the challenges and opportunities? This webinar will highlight some of the exciting new work that scholars in psychology are doing with communities to tackle complex environmental issues. Emerging opportunities will be explored.
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May: What Practitioners in the Field Need from Us
Speaker: Adam Corner (Climate Outreach)
In this session, Adam Corner, director of programmes and research at the climate change communication/public engagement nonprofit Climate Outreach, will discuss how he and his team work at the interface between research and practice, and some of the challenges and opportunities this raises. With plenty of time for discussion, Adam will talk about three of the five Climate Outreach programs in particular (research, advocacy and climate visuals), outline what the research priorities/needs are from a practitioner perspective, and offer some reflections on the "real time" research needs unfolding right now with the COVID-19 pandemic. Adam gained his PhD at the School of Psychology, Cardiff University, and his work has focused on generating impact from psychological/social science research for critical challenges such as climate change.
Note: The recorded webinar is available upon request.
June: Disruptive Communication: Creating Moments of Co-created Change
Speakers: Christian Klöckner and Erica Löfström (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Christian A. Klöckner will first introduce the concept of disruptive environmental communication and set it into a more general perspective of environmental communication, before he presents some findings on the power of art for communicating environmental issues from the climart project. Afterwards, Erica Löfström will present some insights into the first application of the disruptive communication approach on reducing marine plastic waste in a Norwegian coastal community.
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July: Translating Psychological Science into Effective (Policy) Advocacy
Speaker: Sarah Mancoli, policy director at SPSSI
In this one-hour webinar, Sarah will provide an overview on translating psychological science into effective (policy) advocacy. She will pay particular attention to the importance of working with intermediary organizations—organizations that foster connections between academics and policymakers—and speak to the different kinds of policy advocacy opportunities that exist at different levels of governance (e.g., institutional, local, state, national, international). Sarah will give examples of what policy advocacy can look like (e.g., responding to federal agency requests for comment, writing op-eds, engaging in community-based research that addresses local policy questions). She will also speak to the unique opportunity that psychologists have to bring attention and understanding to issues of climate justice.
August: Improving Causal Inference in Environmental Psychological Research
Speaker: Julia Rohrer (University of Leipzig)
Thinking clearly about correlations and causation: Correlation does not imply causation—but correlations are often all we can get. In this session, I will provide a nontechnical introduction to graphical causal models (a powerful tool to determine which variables should or should not be controlled for) and provide an overview of common problems when moving from correlation to causation.
September: Conducting Embedded Participatory Research
Speakers: John Fraser and Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein, Knology
Conservation psychologist John Fraser and linguistic anthropologist Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein will present a discussion of the work process at Knology, an independent research institute with offices in New York and California. After a brief overview of the difference between multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary research practices, they will offer two examples of participatory action research labs that they operate in cooperation with a national association and a well-known news broadcaster. Following the case studies, the researchers will explore how they maintain a culture of transdisciplinarity in the office and how their collaborative work environment leads to methodological innovation. They will conclude with some thoughts on the value of transdisciplinary practice for psychology, specifically for advancing research in environmental, population, and conservation psychology.
October: An Interview with Professor Shahzeen Attari
Speaker: Shahzeen Attari (Indiana University Bloomington)
In this hour-long moderated discussion, Professor Shahzeen Attari discusses some of her recent work at the nexus of environmental sustainability and human psychology, as well as reflects on her experience as an interdisciplinary scholar who came to the environmental decision-making world from a background in engineering.
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November: New Opportunities in Reproducibility and Replicability for Environmental Psychology
Speaker: Cameron Brick (University of Amsterdam)
In this session, Professor Cameron Brick shares insights into methods and approaches that can help improve the quality and impact of research in the field of environmental psychology, focusing on new opportunities to use publicly available datasets to promote reproducibility, replicability, and accessibility.
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December: Research at Disciplinary Intersections
Speaker: Neil Lewis, Jr. (Cornell University)
In this talk, Professor Neil Lewis, Jr., shares some of his cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary, and mixed methods research on environmental decision-making, health, and justice.
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