Over two decades, my work involves designing interdisciplinary courses connecting psychology with the environment and sustainability. The focus is almost always on effective ways of engagement, communications, by applying fundamental psychological insights. Then we pilot, test and experiment. Teaching can happen both inside and outside of university, academic settings. I partner with universities, government, private, and public-sector groups to design and deliver experiential, interactive trainings that build capacity for more powerful ways of designing climate, energy, wildlife conservation and environmental engagement. Teaching often involves shares innovative tools for revealing underlying psychological and behavioral dimensions of climate and environmental issues — along with foundational concepts and frameworks for successfully incorporating these key insights into programming and communications. In addition to strategy, research methodology trainings for in-house capacity building and interdisciplinary collaborations are proven as powerfully effective at instilling core competencies within teams, such as how to conduct informal interviews, ethnographic community listening practices, and designing thoughtful and effective surveys.
Undergraduate and graduate courses — online and in-person — include:
- Psychological dimensions of climate change
- Introduction to the Quadrant to Engagement
- Emotions and environmental communications
- Psychology of environmental education and communications
- Environmental media and culture
- Sustainability research design for mixed methods
- Psychosocial research methodologies
