My PhD

My PhD is exploring how we can better connect what people think and feel about their homes, the stories they tell to shape and make home, with action to reduce their environmental impact.

Scientists continue to tell us we need to act with more urgency, that climate and environmental changes are outpacing projections. Organisations like the Committee on Climate Change highlight the gaps between action needed and what’s happening in practice. Given homes are the third largest part of the UK’s carbon footprint, it’s vitally important they, and crucially their occupants, are supported to adapt to the changing climate.

To explore this my PhD seeks to meld genres, drawing upon psychology, anthropology, history, design and more to really try and engage with what home is, how we think and feel about home and how this can help guide us to motivation and action in an environmental context. This work builds upon my experiences in my career to date, trying to address issues which have long concerned me from a different perspective.

I’m studying at London South Bank University and was honoured to be awarded a Chancellor’s Fellowship. I was drawn there by their longer-term work on retrofit and environmental action with a multi-disciplinary approach, which is complementary to my interests.