The School of Economics offers dedicated studentships to prospective candidates starting the PhD Economics programme in the Academic Year 2022/23 and pursuing projects in topics of particular interest to the School. These studentships will be awarded to applicants that submit the most promising research proposals based on the project outline reported below and clearly demonstrate academic excellence in the area of Applied Econometrics and Finance. The application deadline for prospective students to be considered for this studentship is 28 March 2022.
Research Theme 4: Consumer Attitudes and Environmental Degradation.
In recent years, the ways in which consumers have responded to environmental or climate-related news stories have, at times, been both drastic and powerful.¯The responses to single-use plastics, the ever-expanding vegan movement and the emerging concerns over producer œgreen-washing are just some examples of where consumer behaviour is demonstrating a desire for market adaptation.¯The economic community surely needs to learn from these actions.¯Subsequently, this is a call for doctoral research to enhance our understanding of how and why consumers will respond to environmental crises, and to forecast the next œgreen movements to emerge.
This project area aims to identify the attributes that characterise consumer behaviour in green markets. For this, an interdisciplinary suite of research methods would be required in order to predict how such markets evolve and understand why and at what point consumers feel a desire to change their habits.¯This studentship remains relatively broad at this stage, and we welcome and strong ideas which fit into the realm of consumer action with regards to sustainability.¯However, it could consider factors such as the direct economic impact for industry, the attitudes and beliefs surrounding sustainable consumerism and/or the implications forenvironmental policy.
You would be working with Dr Mike Brock and Prof Corrado Di Maria. Applications are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide with an original and high quality research proposal.