Psychology for Environmental and Social Transformation (PEST) lab

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  Director
  Professor Iain Walker

  iain.walker@unimelb.edu.au

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Research Overview

The Psychology for Environmental and Social Transformation (PEST) lab examines how insights from psychology can best be utilised to promote shifts towards a more sustainable and equitable society. We have a broad array of research interests, such as understanding public perceptions of climate change, promoting pro-environmental behaviours and sustainable consumption, combating climate-change-related misinformation, examining changes in health-relevant behaviours in response to natural disasters, improving science communication, reducing racism and prejudice, and exploring how to best encourage altruistic behaviour such as organ donation.

We are an interdisciplinary lab group with members from social psychology, environmental psychology, environmental sciences, cognitive psychology, and applied psychology.

PEST discussion group

We have a lab discussion group that meets fortnightly to discuss new research and to share updates/troubleshoot problems with our own research. If you are an academic staff member or student (Honours, Masters, or PhD) researching similar topics, feel free to join our lab discussion group! Please email Abby Robinson to express your interest.

Staff

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  Professor Iain Walker, Laboratory Director

  Professor Iain Walker

  

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  Dr John Cook, Senior research fellow

  Dr John Cook

  

  John is a Senior Research Fellow with the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change studying misinformation about topics such as climate change and vaccines. He researches using machine learning and generative AI to detect and debunk climate misinformation, as well as synthesising critical thinking, psychology, and gamification to counter science misinformation.

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• 
  Dr Rebekah Anderson, Postdoctoral research fellow

  Dr Rebekah Anderson

  

  Rebekah is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change. Her areas of interest are science communication and pro-environmental and health behaviour change.

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  Abby Robinson, PhD student

  Abby Robinson

  

  Abby is a PhD student with the Melbourne Centre for Behaviour Change studying behavioural spillover – how one behaviour change can influence subsequent behaviour. Her research examines the role of social identities in fostering further individual and collective pro-environmental behaviour in utilitarian cyclists, especially cyclist advocacy for sustainable cities.

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  Amy Lee, PhD student

  Amy Lee

  

  Amy is a PhD student studying when and why people engage in moralistic thinking within polarised contexts, and the potential repercussions for further polarisation. More broadly, Amy is interested in how environmental threats (eg, polarisation, climate change) influence how we think about moral issues and cooperate as members of society.

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  Rebecca Toohey, PhD student

  Rebecca Toohey

  

  Rebecca is a PhD student studying behaviour change theory in the space of biodiversity and conservation.

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  Yasmin Heather, Masters student

  Yasmin Heather

  

  Yasmin is a Master of Environment student studying the relationship between climate change communication and pro-environmental behaviour. Her research focuses on whether climate change information that is framed to align with people's values can encourage pro-environmental behaviours.

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  Courtney Summer, Honours student (2024)
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  Robyn Boonen, Honours student (2024)
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  Sherry Wen Xue, Honours student (2024)

Collaborators

• Lucy Richardson (Monash)
• Kelly Kirkland
• Zoe Leviston (Australian National University)
• Samantha Stanley (Australian National University)
• Matthew Andreotta (CSIRO)
• Lasse Lindekilde (Aarhus university)
• Gail Moloney (Southern Cross University)
• Tim Kurz (University of Western Australia)

Research Opportunities

This research project is available to PhD students, Masters by Research, Honours students to join as part of their thesis.
Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss your options.

Research Publications

For a full list of relevant publications, please see Professor Iain Walker's Google Scholar page.