Place, environmental change and mobility: understanding human-environment interactions

Project Outline:
Forced migration due to climate and environmental change is expected to be one of the defining trends of population movement in the 21st century. But precisely what prompts a decision to move, and how decisions are made about where to relocate to, remain understudied. This project would blend cultural, social, place-based and ecological perspectives to investigate one or several of the following questions: What are the attributes of people who are likely to relocate, and what are the ecological characteristics of places they are likely to relocate from? What are the environmental change tipping points for leaving a place (either as an individual or as part of a collective)? How do people respond to abrupt versus incremental changes to their environment? How are decisions about where to move to made? How are host communities likely to respond to climate migration, in particular in assessing the priorities of local (within Australia) versus international migrants.

Desired Skills: This project would suit someone with a background in social, cross-cultural, cultural and/or environmental psychology. Candidates with a background in human ecology would also be considered. Experience in quantitative methods and software packages (e.g., SPSS, Stata, R); appreciation of experimental design methods; an appreciation of qualitative methods or experience with spatial analysis would be advantageous.

Project Area: Social, cross-cultural, cultural and/or environmental psychology

Supervisor(s): A/Prof Justine Dandy, Dr Zoe Leviston, Dr Deirdre Drake, Prof Pierre Horwitz (Science)

Project level: PhD

Funding: Applicant should apply for ECUHDR or RTP Scholarship

Start date: Ongoing