Clara Kubler
Clara Kubler is a second-year Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholar, member of the 3S research group and is the Early Careers Representative at Tyndall UEA. Her research explores how political identities influence climate and environmental policy support and engagement in the UK, with a specific interest in negative partisanship. With a background in environmental psychology and an interdisciplinary research approach, she is conducting national survey analyses, interviews, and experiments to deepen our understanding of what negative partisanship is, how it is experienced, and how it relates to similar concepts, to determine novel ways to encourage more ambitious policies.
What is your research about?
My research investigates how political identities influence climate policy support and engagement. I am specifically interested in negative partisanship, which can be described as people’s ‘disidentification’ with a specific party, or them exhibiting strong out-party resentment. I am looking at how experiencing this negative identity might affect the decision-making of both the public and politicians. We know a lot about positive partisanship, and how identifying with a specific party can influence who people vote for and what political actions they support. But much less is known about the influence of negative partisanship and how it is experienced or expressed. With polarisation and negative attitudes towards parties and politicians being a very prominent topic, especially in the current UK political discourse, understanding this concept more could help us understand what is currently keeping us from taking a more ambitious approach to climate policy, and might help us actually get there.
What got you into this field of research?
I think my connection to nature is what always kept me interested in the environment and climate change and ultimately led me to volunteer and engage a lot with the topic in various different ways. Wanting to work on it full-time only came later though. I started off studying psychology and wanted to go in a completely different direction, but the more I understood about how the environment influences us, and how our behaviour influences the environment, the more I wanted to understand. When I couldn’t find answers to my questions in books and studies anymore, I got really interested in researching it myself. I completed my bachelor’s and master’s at the University of Groningen and the presence of the environmental psychology group there and their support is really what ultimately led me to wanting to pursue a career in it.
Who/what inspires you to do this work?
The climate crisis, like so many other issues, disproportionally affects those that have least contributed to it. In the global north, we have so many resources to do better, so to some degree, it is just my personal responsibility that motivates me. I feel like the current systems we have in place create quite a disconnect between us and nature, so I find a lot of hope in learning more about those worldviews that define us as part of it rather than as separate or above it, it makes me believe that alternatives are possible.
Why did you choose the Tyndall Centre to do your PhD?
I moved to the UK specifically to do my PhD, and the Tyndall Centre was one of the deciding factors for me to complete it at UEA. I really liked how early-career researchers play such a central role in the centre and so many researchers who started at Tyndall have gone around the world to do amazing things. I also really appreciate the connection the centre has to so many other universities in the UK, which made it a great starting point for me to build a network and find my own niche in research.
Do you have any advise for those who want to do a PhD?
Firstly, I would say, make sure you want to do the PhD because you like the topic and the type of work that comes with it, not because you think the title might be nice or it will be a benefit later on when you (re-)enter the workforce. Otherwise spending three or four years working on one topic in a pretty intense way will be difficult. You really have to enjoy research and project management. I would also say having a good support network is super important. Not only regarding the friends and family you might already have but also finding a community among other PhDs who understand the struggles the position comes with. Being able to vent to them or just sharing experiences and ideas is so valuable.
Duncan Maguire
Duncan is a PhD student in the Norwich Business School at UEA. He is looking into organisational transformations towards sustainability with on focus on shifting mindsets. He is interested in studying organisational culture and how motivation is manifested in organisational settings.
What is your research about?
I look at how organisations transition towards environmental sustainability, specifically looking at psychological factors that are strongest at encouraging pro-environmental behaviours at work. These behaviours will contribute to the organisation becoming environmentally sustainable and reaching their net-zero goals. While ultimately a psychologist, I am intersted in sociological and larger narratives. How do we redefine organisations (and society), our relations and governance. What new stories do we need?
What got you into this field of research?
My whole background has been focused on environmental sustainability from UG level. I remember my first essay “why is climate change the greatest threat in the 21st century?” made me change my course from BA to A BSc in Geography. I wanted to know more about climate change! My masters continued this in environmental policy, then after working on conservation projects in Indonesia for a couple of years realised my time was being wasted on these projects where I was essentially just documenting the decline (important none-the-less). I focused on the change that needs to happen throughout society.
Who/what inspires you to do this work?
What greater purpose can I give my life than tackling the most fundamental issue of the 21st century? This will be one of the defining factors for civilisation in the coming generations and it would be amiss of me to not dedicate my efforts towards tackling this issue.
Why did you choose the Tyndall Centre to do your PhD?
I am inspired and dedicated to changed. Transformation is needed and it isn’t happening. I decided to join CAST (a spin of centre of Tyndall) due to its transformational focus. It is a research centre dedicated to making the world a better place. Trying to help navigate society and organisations to a sustainable future.
Do you have any advise for those who want to do a PhD?
A PhD can be what you make it. Throw yourself into it 100% and you will reap the benefits. There are SO many opportunities in your PhD, especially associated with Tyndall, CAST, Climate UEA and all the other research centres you can engage with. You will be exposed to lots of ideas and things you’re not familiar with. Don’t worry. A PhD is a learning process and you’re not expected to be an expert!
