School of Psychology PhD Studentship: Pro-environmental actions: public perceptions and rationales (2018)
Supervisors: Dr Paul Sparks (University of Sussex) and Dr Tom Farsides (University of Sussex)
People often carry out individual pro-environmental / green actions that can have minimal pro-environmental impact. Impact may even be miniscule when such actions are repeated by an individual many times over. At a collective level, the combined effects of many individuals' actions may be considerably greater ... but may still be imperceptible at a global level. The key research question for this programme of research is: What rationales do people provide for participating in such actions that are ostensibly carried out for pro-environmental reasons (in light of the often imperceptible impact of those actions)? The research commences with an assessment of the ways in which people construe the notion of pro-environmental action. A number of core inter-related research questions will be addressed. For example, under what conditions do people overestimate the effects of their actions? Under what conditions do people act in terms of deontological - or other, heuristic - rules rather than utility-based calculations? Under what conditions are there clashes between affective processes and cognitive judgements when people make such decisions? In a systematic programme of research, this PhD studentship will make use of a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to address these - and cognate - issues. The target outcome is an improved understanding of people's motivation in the face of decisions to act pro-environmentally, or otherwise.
Applications should be made by Sunday 21st January 2018
What you get
£14,553 tax-free bursary per annum, plus a fee waiver
Type of award
PhD studentship available for September 2018
Eligibility
Eligibility requirements for potential candidates:
- Studentship awards will be based on a competitive process, including interview. There are two types of awards available: +3 studentships, which fund a three-year full-time PhD, and 1+3 studentships, which fund a one-year Master's degree followed by a three-year full-time PhD. Full-time studentship covering tuition fee, and a maintenance allowance (currently £14,553 per annum).
- The competitive awards are funded by the School of Psychology (+3, eligibility: Home or EU residency); the ESRC (1+3 or +3, eligibility at South-East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS); or the Chancellor's International Research Scholarship (+3, eligibility at Chancellor's International Research Scholarship (2018).
- Candidates must have, or expect to obtain, a First or a high Upper Second Class Honours undergraduate degree, or equivalent qualification, and/or a Master's degree in Psychology or a related discipline.
Deadline
21 January 2018 23:59How to apply
Guidance for applicants:
- Application procedures can be found here.
- Please submit your application online for the 'PhD in Psychology' programme for September 2018 through this link.
- In the 'Supervisor suggested by applicant' section of your application form, please put name of supervisor
- In the 'Proposed source of funding' as School of Psychology and/or SeNSS, or CIRS).
Candidates should provide:
- A research proposal that outlines your knowledge of the research area, hypotheses that could be addressed in your PhD, and an outline of potential methods. Your answer should not exceed 2 pages including references, be set at minimum 10-font type with margins a minimum of 1cm.
- Current degree transcript(s) with full details of performance on all completed courses.
- Two academic references.
- An up-to-date CV.
Sponsors
The School of Psychology is one of the largest centres for the study of psychology
in the UK. We have nearly 40 academic faculty, about 100 research students and
the same number of postgraduate students taking Master's degrees. Our
undergraduate intake is about 250 a year, which gives us an academic community
of nearly 1000 people working in a rich and supportive learning environment.
Psychology is a diverse discipline and our size means that we span major
research areas in social, cognitive, biological, developmental and clinical
psychology. Psychology at Sussex was rated 10th in the UK for research in the
2014 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 91% of our research at Sussex is
ranked as world-leading or internationally significant.
Contact us
For queries with respect to the application process please send an email for the attention of 'Postgraduate Coordinator' to: psychologyphd-enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
To discuss the details of this PhD project further, please contact Dr Paul Sparks via email: P.Sparks@sussex.ac.uk
Timetable
Deadline for applications: Sunday 21st January 2018
Availability
At level(s):
PG (research)
Application deadline:
21 January 2018 23:59 (GMT)
the deadline has now expired