I mostly work within the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST Centre). I co-lead the Centre's 'trialling' theme together with Wouter Poortinga, which aims to develop ambitious yet practical approaches that can bring about emissions reduction and positive social change in real-world settings. For example, we are working with the climate action organisation Possible to develop projects with communities, and with the Welsh Government to co-design new policy.
I am interested in the role of research culture and universities in responding effectively to the climate emergency. Together with others in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, I have proposed approaches for pursuing a low-carbon research culture. These have been picked up by others, including a 2015 Nature editorial. I am an active member of the Tyndall Centre, being a member of the Tyndall Council and co-leading the 'accelerating social transitions' theme with Claire Hoolohan and Charlie Wilson.
In 2019, I joined the research team for the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, and continue to work as part of the working group considering public and political engagement with health and climate change. I am one of the lead authors of a new chapter on how to achieve lifestyle change for the United Nations Environment Program's 2020 Emissions Gap Report.
I have an ongoing interest in cross-cultural understanding of climate change and environmentally-significant behaviours. I worked for a number of years with Nick Nash and Lorraine Whitmarsh within the CASPI project to examine the cultural, contextual and personal factors underpinning sustainable lifestyles and how 'spillover' may occur between different pro-environmental behaviours.
As part of the Climate Communication Project, I have previously worked with researchers from the natural and social sciences, and practitioners from climate change organisations, to promote better communication of climate change. Other research I have carried out, in which I maintain an active interest, includes the role of personal experience on climate change perceptions; public understanding of ocean acidification; use of artistic approaches to communicate climate change; applying social science techniques to exploring water use practices in Africa; and the ways in which people’s views on climate change have developed over time.