The Psychology GI is championed by Dr Emma Berry and Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, with contributing members including Dr Stephanie Burns and Olivia Jamison (Postgraduate student).

Our vision is to become a task force for environmental sustainability behaviour change, and a resource for staff and students, so they can be empowered to make small changes in their lives to help protect and conserve our natural environment.

The GI team launched a competition to design the official Psychology Green Initiative logo, to put a visible ‘face’ to the team. The competition was open to all Psychology students.  In line with the ethics of the GI, the prize was a hybrid bicycle which was won by Harriet Godfrey.

The challenges of COVID-19 have meant that some of the activities planned by the Psychology GI team have been postponed. However, the environmental impacts resulting from large-scale societal change has raised important issues that the Psychology GI will aim to tackle as university life recalibrates. For example, the focus on behaviours such as limiting international travel and excessive use of plastics, which have been deemed necessary to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.

Emma is also a member of the University Carbon Management team, which comprises members of academic and professional staff. The Carbon Management team is focused on discussions around supporting a greener university life in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. The Psychology GI team has an important role within this larger team to promote the need to understand and support environmental behaviour change among staff and students.

If you are interested in finding out more or in being involved in the Psychology Green Initiative team, please contact Kostas (k.papageorgiou@qub.ac.uk) or Emma (e.berry@qub.ac.uk).