Dr Stuart Capstick is an environmental social scientist based at Cardiff University, where he completed his PhD in 2012. He is one of three representatives on the Tyndall Council for the ‘Accelerating Social Transitions’ research theme.
Research summary
Stuart researches public understanding of climate change, and the ways in which citizens’ involvement can lead to action on climate change. He co-leads a research theme with the CAST Centre focussed on real-world trials to inform low-carbon transformations; this work involves collaborations with NGOs, industry and the Welsh Government. He is a lead author of the 2020 ‘Emissions Gap’ report chapter on low-carbon lifestyles, looking at social science approaches to help inform and understand lifestyle change. Since 2019 he has also been a co-author of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change, involved in assessing media reporting of health and climate change. Stuart’s previous research has examined the potential for behavioural ‘spillover’ (how one low-carbon behaviour can lead to another), the ways in which people’s understanding of climate change evolves over time, the links between personal experience of extreme weather and attitudes to climate change, public perceptions of ocean acidification, and approaches to communicating climate change.