Behaviour change amongst students and staff Dr Neil Jennings, Student Switch Off Programme Manager, NUS

Vision for NUS’ sustainability work 1.Students’ unions as hubs of sustainability 2.Students leaving tertiary education as part of the solution to environmental challenges rather than part of the problem

Social Psychology Sociology Behavioural Economics Behaviour change – how people are viewed by different academic disciplines Individual as Social Animal Individual as Rational man Individual as Actor

SOCIAL MATERIAL Norms Roles & Identity Opinion Leaders Networks & Relationships Meanings Infrastructure Objects Technologies Institutions Rules & Regulations Time & Schedules Tastes INDIVIDUAL Values, Beliefs, Attitudes Emotions Agency Skills Costs & Benefits Habit The Individual Social Material Model (Darnton & Evans for The Scottish Government 2013)

I NDIVIDUAL CONTEXT ATTITUDES S OCIAL CONTEXT NORMS ISM applied to... recycling M ATERIAL CONTEXT SCHEDULES SOCIAL MATERIAL Norms Roles & Identity Opinion Leaders Networks & Relationships Meanings Infrastructure Objects Technologies Institutions Rules & Regulations Time & Schedules Tastes INDIVIDUAL Values, Beliefs, Attitudes Emotions Agency Skills Costs & Benefits Habit

Case studies Student Switch Off – student engagement Green Impact – staff engagement

Inter-halls energy-saving and recycling competition 44 Universities, 140,000 student rooms Average of a 6% reduction in electricity usage Helped to keep £2m in the university sector over 10 years 10,000 tonnes of CO2e saved Prize incentives Good habits

Key success factors Encouraging and embedding change at a key point in students’ lives – Habit Discontinuity Hypothesis (Verplanken & Wood 2006) Peer-to-peer engagement Regular peaks of activity Incentives/prizes Feedback Building on existing social relationships, community spirit and rivalry Linked back to ISM model

SOCIAL MATERIAL Norms Roles & Identity Opinion Leaders Networks & Relationships Meanings Infrastructure Objects Technologies Institutions Rules & Regulations Time & Schedules Tastes INDIVIDUAL Values, Beliefs, Attitudes Emotions Agency Skills Costs & Benefits Habit Student Switch Off and ISM

Green Impact Universities and Colleges Departments/teams of university staff compete to green their workplace Online workbook/checklist of environmental actions Students are trained up to conduct audits of their departments Bronze, Silver, Gold Awards recognising success

Green Impact 47 Universities 36 off-campus organisations – including Natural History museum, The Arts Council, local authorities, London fire brigade 1,075 Green Impact teams 30,000 actions taken as a direct result of Green Impact

Green Impact

Key success factors Competition between departments, offices, etc Structured approach with suggested actions, resources and flexibility Peer-to-peer engagement, bringing people together Giving permission to change local infrastructure, operational changes

SOCIAL MATERIAL Norms Roles & Identity Opinion Leaders Networks & Relationships Meanings Infrastructure Objects Technologies Institutions Rules & Regulations Time & Schedules Tastes INDIVIDUAL Values, Beliefs, Attitudes Emotions Agency Skills Costs & Benefits Habit Green Impact and ISM

Dissertations for Good

Darnton and Horne (2013). Influencing Behaviours: moving beyond the individual Futerra (2007). New rules: New Game. df df Futerra (2009). Sell the sizzle. Kahneman (2011). Thinking, fast and slow Thaler and Sunstein (2008). Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness References

Thank you, any questions? Neil Jennings