Project 10 - Leveraging behavioural change to reduce urban pollution

Project details:

Our goal is to provide a blue-print for effective behavioural change interventions that can reduce urban pollution arising from residents' domestic activities.

Task 1 Systematic review of behavioural interventions (months 1-12)

An initial scoping review will map polluting chemicals that enter the environment from domestic use onto a set of residents' behaviours that contribute to environmental release of these pollutants. A systematic literature review and associated meta-analysis will then assess the effect of interventions (coded using standardised frameworks e.g., the Behaviour Change Intervention Ontology, Michie et al., 2021) that have targeted these behaviours. This enables us to assess the a) quantity and quality of the evidence base, b) key gaps in the evidence base, c) relative effectiveness of alternative interventions, and d) factors driving heterogeneity in effectiveness (e.g. focal activity type, magnitude of personal benefits and costs, wider societal and environmental benefits).

Task 2 Behavioural change intervention pilots (months 13-18)

Uses rapid assessment methodologies (e.g. on-line questionnaires hosted on Prolific and focus groups) to assess the effectiveness of promising and understudied intervention approaches, and behavioural targets for intervention, revealed by task 1. Effectiveness will be assessed via self-reported willingness to change behaviour to generate a wide-ranging evidence base at speed that can inform Task 3.

Task 3 Testing behavioural change interventions in the real-world (months 19-33)

Effectiveness of promising interventions identified in Task 2 will be tested in real world settings (e.g., by directly measuring behaviour and/or reductions in pollutants or indirectly through modelling or proxy metrics).

The ECOSOLUTIONS DFA

Led by the Universities of Sheffield and York and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, ECOSOLUTIONS is a cutting-edge, transdisciplinary initiative. This innovative programme combines science, policy, and societal engagement to transform chemicals policy and management, enabling a safe, sustainable chemicals sector and non-toxic environments. This project is one of 18 projects that are available for the third ECOSOLUTIONS and final cohort who will work together to begin to understand and solve the problems of sustainable chemical design and use, as well tackling the problems that pollution causes in urban environments, rural landscapes and food systems.

What You will Gain

As an ECOSOLUTIONS PhD student, you will work with world-leading experts across diverse fields such as ecology, data science, digital solutions, chemistry, geography, psychology, environmental engineering, policy, and law. You will learn to tackle the risks posed by chemicals while enabling their societal benefits, adopting a whole-systems and solutions-focused approach.

You will receive 3 years and 9 months of funding and take part in a dynamic training and development programme, including:

• Induction course: Connect with fellow students, supervisors, and the ECOSOLUTIONS team while exploring the programme's mission.
• Primer course: Gain foundational knowledge on the environmental risks that chemicals pose, policy landscapes, and sustainable chemical innovation.
• Transferable skills workshops: Master data management, big data methods, research practices, communication, stakeholder engagement and more.
• Systems-solutions workshops: Collaborate across disciplines to explore sustainable chemical design and development, address pollution in urban & rural landscapes, and develop actionable solutions.
• Three-month secondment: JNCC
• International conferences: Share your findings and network with global experts.

The skills you will need

To do this project you will need the following essential skills:

• Data analysis and/or modelling
• Social science methodologies
• Desirable but not essential: environmental chemistry

Eligibility:

To be considered for the ECOSOLUTIONS DFA, you will need at least an upper 2nd class honours degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline.

As a collaboration of international research-led universities, we welcome students from all walks of life and from across the world. Within our programme, we are dedicated to diversifying our community.

As part of our ongoing work to improve Equality, Diversity and Inclusion we strongly encourage applications from UK/Home candidates from identified underrepresented groups: Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, those from a disadvantaged socio-economic background, and disabled people.

Start Your Research Career with ECOSOLUTIONS:

This PhD is part of the ECOSOLUTIONS Doctoral Focal Award (DFA), a prestigious NERC-funded program dedicated to training the next generation of environmental practitioners. For more details and a full list of other PhD projects under this programme, visit: https://ecosolutions.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

Application Web Page:

For more information on how to apply, please visit the ECOSOLUTIONS website: https://ecosolutions.sites.sheffield.ac.uk/

Project specific enquiries: Dr Karl Evans, karl.evans@sheffield.ac.uk

Funding Notes

This is a full scholarship which will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend in line with UKRI recommended levels (£21,805 for the 2026/2027 academic year, TBC in 2027/2028) for the 45 months duration.

Due to CDT funding rules and Institutional policies, there is a cap on the number of scholarships that can be awarded to DFA students. Once this limit has been reached, ECOSOLUTIONS DFA scholarships will only be awarded to students who are eligible for Home fee status. York and UKCEH led projects can only fund applications from UK/Home eligible applicants and Sheffield can accept applications from both with very limited places for international students.