School of Psychology

My doctoral research will be investigating public perception of energy choices in relation to climate change and energy security arguments and framings. It will focus especially on perceptions and opinions of renewable energy technologies, which will become increasingly important as solutions to both climate change and energy security. Looking at underlying factors of public opinions will help shape communicating and working with the public on deciding energy futures for Britain, as well as foster climate change mitigation efforts. It is therefore important to know how people conceptualise and think about renewable energy in order to incorporate them into policy and public discourse in a way that is understood and accepted by the public.

Furthermore, the discussion around renewable energy sources has evolved well beyond the environment and sustainability. Climate change and energy security have become increasingly salient and this research aims to inform and facilitate the discussion between policy makers and the public about renewables within this context. For example, it has been suggested that the public spontaneously links renewables to climate change (as a solution), but not to energy security, and the latter may prove a barrier to public uptake of some renewable technologies. This part of my research will involve more qualitative aspects of data collection to explore the relationship between perceptions of renewables (+ energy choices) and these two contexts.