Behavioural change research

We were asked to undertake a major piece of research by the Environment Department of Hampshire County Council acting both on their own behalf and on behalf of the ESPACE project (European Spatial Planning: Adapting to Climate Events). The project covered behavioural change on both the adaptation and mitigation agendas of climate change. We were asked to develop specific recommendations of relevance to Hampshire and process recommendations that would be of much wider relevance.

The project included substantial exploration of case histories, including our own direct experience of what works in practice from our experience as change agents, linked to reviews of research and theories of change. We interviewed many stakeholders both within Hampshire and the South East and with European partners. We also undertook a significant amount of desk research to gain an overview of the particular issues that affected the South East of the UK. Throughout the project we worked closely with our clients to review our conclusions and to decide where to focus energy in the next phase. Our first cycle identified underlying principles and areas for potential action, we then looked at a number of specific opportunities.

In a later linked project we looked in more detail at the role of 'champions', this time also using a series of reflective interviews with people in a champion role. It soon became clear that this was one of the largest studies of leadership in the environmental domain that has been undertaken.

These were two more landmark projects, both enthusiastically received by a wide range of people and each making a significant contribution to research in this important area. Both reports have been widely used as expert sources, for instance in a review of the evidence on individual, organisational and wider social change for sustainable development that was carried out for Defra in early 2006, and to inform action planning, recruitment of champions, etc.

Copies of some of the outputs from these projects can be downloaded from the learning area of this site.