Dealing with the Climate Crisis: what has Psychology to offer?
- Climate and environment
Climate change affects us all. As Psychologists we have an important responsibility to play our part in addressing the climate crisis at an individual, organisational and community level.
The BPS has recognised this with the establishment of the CEAGG and the position statement issued in December 2023.
Psychologists across all disciplines can use our understanding of human behaviour to assist in preventing further damage to our environment and in addressing the challenges and impacts of climate change.
This event is an NIBPS Cross-divisional networking event for psychologists who are students, practitioners and academics across a range of levels of experience, including those who are already working in this area or for those who want to understand more about what they can do to support this work.
The event is led by The Division of Occupational Psychology NI.
The event aims to:
- consider how climate change affects, and is affected by, human behaviour (e.g. psychological distress caused by perceived and actual effect of climate change, promoting positive behavioural changes at individual, organisational and community level, influencing public policy in relation to climate change)
- highlight the role of psychology and psychologists in work to prevent and deal with the effects of climate change
- consider practical approaches to addressing climate change that psychologists can use on an individual, organisational or community level
- signpost resources/tools that psychologists can use to support their work in this area
- respond to the BPS position statement on the Climate and Ecological Crisis and the contribute to the work of the BPS Climate Environment Action Coordinating Group (CEACG)
How to take part
This event will be held at:
- Assembly Buildings Conference Centre
2-10 Fisherwick Place
Belfast
BT1 6DW
Registration is free for BPS members.
Please note: when booking online, you are leaving the BPS website and will be directed to Oxford Abstracts.
The booking for this event is being provided by Oxford Abstracts on behalf of BPS. Both the BPS and Oxford Abstracts terms and conditions and privacy policies will apply.
If you have any queries about this event, please contact [email protected].
Programme:
13:00 - 13:30
- Registration and networking with light lunch
13:30 - 13:40
- Welcome & Opening remarks
Dr Geraldine O'Hare, Chair, NIBPS
13:40 - 14:10
- The role of Psychology in Climate Action
Dr Terri Morrissey, Chair of the BPS Climate and Environment Action Coordinating Group (CCEAG)
14:10 - 14:40
- Rethinking academia and higher education in a time of climate crisis
Dr Clare Kelly
14:40 - 15:00
- Work Psychology and the Climate Crisis
Dr Jan Maskell
15:00 - 15:15
- Short break
15:15 - 15:45
- The Noonday Angel: Behavioural Activation for Climate Action
Dr Dave Rogers
15:45 - 16:15
- Action as the Antidote to Climate Despair? A Discussion on Taking Action and other Responses to Climate Emotions and Distress
Dr Britta Thiemt
16:15 - 16:50
- How can we as psychologists make a contribution?
Panel discussion and workshop (facilitated by Rachel Lindsay, DOPNI & NIBPS)
16:50 - 17:00
- Closing remarks
Dr Geraldine O'Hare
Dr Jan Maskell, CPsychol, Registered Occupational Psychologist
Work Psychology and the Climate Crisis
Everyone has a role to play in tackling the current climate and ecological crises – both as individuals and in their working roles. Psychologists have a unique role to play through the application of their research and knowledge about leadership, engagement, motivation, learning, performance management, and behaviour change – to themselves and with others. This session will highlight the relationship between the psychology of work and organisations and the actions needed by employees at all levels, not just psychologists, to ensure they act appropriately.
Jan is a Chartered Psychologist and a Registered Occupational Psychologist and has worked as an independent consultant for most of her career. Her focus is on developing sustainability skills which she does through work as a Sustainability Consultant and delivering training and development such as Pathways to Net Zero and Climate Conversations
Dr Dave Rogers, CPsychol, Registered Clinical Psychologist
The Noonday Angel: Behavioural Activation for Climate Action
Dave has worked as a Clinical Psychologist and latterly as a manager in the Northern Trust's Psychological Therapies Service since 2015.
After brief stints as a gardener, apprentice solicitor, BBC complaints handler and project manager, Dave studied Psychology through the Open University and began Clinical Training in my 30s. He is a founding member of Psychologists for Social Change in NI and interested in the interfaces between Critical Community Psychology, staff wellbeing, PPI and Climate Change.
Dr Clare Kelly, PhD, Associate Professor, Trinity College Dublin
Rethinking academia and higher education in a time of climate crisis
Clare Kelly PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology and Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin, and a Principal Investigator at Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (https://immalab.wordpress.com/). Clare is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist whose research to date has largely focused on using translational brain imaging techniques to better understand psychiatric conditions such as depression by tracing the origins of these conditions in the developing brain.
More recently, Clare's focus has broadened to include teaching, research, and advocacy on the climate and biodiversity crisis. She was recently awarded a Sustainability Leadership Award and a Teaching Award for her undergraduate teaching on the psychology of the climate crisis. Working with Anne Urai (https://anneurai.net/), she co-authored the paper "Rethinking Academia in a Time of Climate Crisis" (https://elifesciences.org/articles/84991), which argues that many aspects of academic culture and practice act as a barrier to climate action. Inspired by Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics, the paper proposes seven ways to reimagine academia in a way that works better for people and enables climate action.
Dr Britta Thiemt, PhD, Counselling Psychologist
Action as the Antidote to Climate Despair? A Discussion on Taking Action and other Responses to Climate Emotions and Distress
Dr Britta Thiemt is a qualified Counselling Psychologist. Her doctoral research in Trinity College Dublin qualitatively investigated activists' emotional experience of the climate and biodiversity crisis. Britta has taught various guest lectures and workshops on the topic of climate emotions and distress, including on current research insights, the relationship between climate distress and mental health, how individuals can navigate climate emotions, and how mental health practitioners can respond to them.
Britta currently works as a psychologist in private practice and has experience supporting individuals with their climate emotions. Britta also holds an MA in Applied Psychology and Mental Health in University College Cork and an undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sociology from Trinity College Dublin.