Stirling University MSc students scoop awards

We have awarded a joint prize to two Stirling University MSc students for the dissertation that best applies behavioural science to the goal of promoting sustainability and the environment.

The findings from their research was shared with our employees and current Stirling MSc students at an online event on 28 October.

The prize winners were:

Olivia Olivarius who conducted a trial comparing the university’s current bin-signage against 3 behaviourally-informed variants. She presented compelling evidence that one of her proposed signs was best at guiding participants to correctly identify whether waste should be placed in the recycling vs. general refuse bin.

Jayne Browne who tested the effect of various messages on support for vehicle fuel tax. She found in a sample of motorists that a message that compared UK fuel taxes against European taxes led to greater willingness to accept fuel tax increases. Equally importantly, her results showed that a message regarding the environmental effects of carbon emissions backfired among certain participants. Among those who disagreed that climate change is a man-made phenomenon the environmental message actually reduced support for fuel taxes. Fittingly, Jayne has recently been hired by Cycling Scotland.

On the achievement of his students, MSc Behavioural Science Program Director David Comerford said, “Congratulations to Jayne and Olivia on this prestigious award and for their excellent research. We are very grateful to Keep Scotland Beautiful for further incentivising our students to work on real-world, high-impact topics.”