PhD Studentship: Net Zero: Confronting The Political and Societal Barriers to Behaviour Change

Primary supervisor - i.lorenzoni@uea.ac.uk

The topic

Reducing UK emissions to net zero by mid-century will be challenging and may require policies that significantly disrupt the status quo. However, is society – comprising publics, interest groups and politicians – willing and able to undertake and accept these, particularly if they impinge on individual freedoms and necessitate decisions on what to prioritise?

This studentship will examine the views and role of publics and politicians in enabling transitions to net zero societies, focussing on hard to change behaviours (or ‘sticky issues’ like flying and eating meat). It will explore how publics, stakeholder groups and politicians in the UK and potentially other countries view interactions between such behaviours; what the implications are for how these may (not) be undertaken and the effects of such choices on achieving net zero.

Skills and data

This is one of three ESRC Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) affiliated studentships that will commence at UEA in September 2025. CAST is headquartered at the University of Bath and is an international centre of excellence founded in 2019. It has just commenced a second phase of work (2024-29). UEA is one of the CAST partners. In the 2021 REF, UEA was ranked 20th in the UK for research quality and impact.

This studentship will provide you with an opportunity to utilise a wide array of methods to interrogate data. It will primarily be desk-based. You will have access to a large stock of existing high-quality data on public and politician attitudes and behaviours, collected in CAST Phase 1 and in the prestigious European Research Council project DeepDCarb. CAST primarily conducts research in the UK; however there may be scope for wider country scope. 

Eligibility

You should:

• Have a first at Hons. level (Political science, Human geography, Psychology, Sociology, Social environmental sciences) and a Masters degree in a relevant subject;
• Have a demonstrable interest and expertise in climate change politics and policy-making;
• Have experience in qualitative and/or quantitative data analysis (e.g. from interviews, surveys public documents etc.);
• Be eager to join and actively contribute to a team of interdisciplinary researchers;
• Be a UK citizen or have a passport that does that does not require a visa to study in the UK;

Funding Details

Additional Funding Information

This PhD studentship is funded for 3 years by an ESRC CAST grant for UK/Home students. This includes payment of tuition fees, and a stipend of £19,237 to cover living expenses. 

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