Iain Black

I joined Heriot Watt as a Reader from the University of Edinburgh and before that held the post of senior lecturer at University of Sydney. My main interests revolve around sustainability. I am the Sustainable Consumption theme leader for the International Sustainable Development Research Society and my research focusses on anti-consumption, consumer’s responses to scarcity and how consumers dispose of goods. This has led to policy work exploring ways to rebalance dysfunctional relationships with materialistic consumption. http://allofusfirst.org/library/from-i-to-we-changing-the-narrative-in-scotlands-relationship-with-consumption/
Starting with an interest in how the Scottish Green party were influencing the Scottish Independence referendum, I have spent the last 4 years studying volunteer participation in this event and the marketing practices deployed, including the use of Hope vs Fear appeals. As part of this, I conducted what is the most comprehensive survey of the Yes volunteers to date, the findings of which, published by CommonWeal “available via http://allofusfirst.org/library/the-yes-volunteers-capturing-the-biggest-grassroots-campaign-in-scotlands-history
This work has been widely reported in new media outlets such as Bella Caledonia, Common Space and Independence live and the Scottish Independence podcast. It is also making its way through academic journal review processes.