Human behaviour lies at the heart of the causes of the environmental degradation and climate change that has led to the current crisis. Whilst technological solutions will be important in mitigating effects of the crisis, changing behaviours will be central to averting the crisis. This includes behaviours of citizens, community leaders, retailers and customers, decision-makers at all levels of government and industry. Developing effective strategies depends on a good understanding of drivers and barriers to change which in turn, depends on engaging and partnering across disciplines and between academia and all sectors in society.

This panel discussion will consider the contribution of behavioural & social sciences to addressing the climate & sustainability crises facing the world, and demonstrate the contribution of inter-disciplinary and international collaborations in bringing new perspectives, research and translational methods and knowledge.

Four 5-minute ‘rapid-fire’ contributions will illustrate the added value of behavioural and social science input to a research activity or project. Contributing disciplines span, psychology, behavioural science, anthropology, sociology, law and geography. Professor Susan Michie will introduce a research programme in which behavioural science has added to a systems approach to transforming cities to reduce carbon emissions. Professor Nora Groce will provide an example of expanding knowledge systems. Professor Maria Lee will illustrate how legal expertise provides different ways of seeing the world, and different ways of seeking to change the world. Finally, Professor Mark Maslin will outline how we build win-win or even win-win-win solutions to our current climate, environmental and social crises.

The session will contribute to a report, a blog as part of UCL’s Centre for Behaviour Change blog posts and tweets highlighting main messages.

Speakers

Professor Maria Lee

Professor of Law, Faculty of Laws, UCL

Maria Lee joined UCL as a Professor of Law in 2007. She is co-director of the Centre for Law and the Environment, member of the editorial committee of the Journal of Environmental Law, and of the advisory committee of Transnational Environmental Law. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Legal Scholars and former member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution 2009-2011.

Professor Mark Maslin

Professor of Earth System Science, UCL

Mark is Professor of Earth System Science at UCL with interests in the Anthropocene and the challenges facing humanity. He has published 165+ papers, 11 books, 60+ articles (New Scientist, Independent, Guardian, Telegraph, the Times and The Conversation with over 2.7 million reads), and has appeared in BBC One David Attenborough’s ‘Climate Change: the fact’. His books include ‘Climate Change: VSI’ (OUP, 2014, 21), ‘Cradle of Humanity’ (OUP, 2017, 19) and ‘Human Planet’ (Penguin, 2018).

Professor Susan Michie

Professor of Health Psychology, Division of Psychology & Language Sciences, UCL

Professor of Health Psychology and Director of the Centre for Behaviour Change at University College London, Professor Michie is also co-Director of NIHR’s Behavioural Science Policy Research Unit.

She serves as an expert advisor on the UK’s Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behavioural Science (Covid-19) and is a consultant advisor to the World Health Organisation on Covid-19 and behaviour and is an investigator on three Covid-19 research projects.

Professor Nora Groce

Leonard Cheshire Chair of Disability and Inclusive Development, Institute of Epidemiology & Health, UCL

A medical anthropologist, Professor Groce works on issues of global health, international development and human rights, with particular focus on global disability issues. Her research over the years has concentrated on vulnerable groups, with attention to the interface between persons with disability and access to adequate health care and inclusion in international development programs.

Joining instructions

· Click on the link: https://app.sli.do/event/vbih4l23

· Alternatively, go to sli.do (https://www.sli.do/) and enter the event code BBSession7

All sessions will include subtitles or closed-captioning in English. All video recordings and presentation materials will be made available after the event. If you have any accessibility requirements, please do not hesitate to contact beyondboundaries@ucl.ac.uk

You can also join the discussion on Twitter @UCL_SDGs and follow for updates.