News

New Lab Addition: SHK Svenja

We would like to formally introduce the PSCA's new research assistant: Svenja!

Svenja studied Environmental Sciences with a minor in Psychology and Society at Leuphana University and is now continuing her studies with a Master’s degree in Psychology & Sustainability. She has gained practical experience in this field through two internships. One focusing on renewable energy acceptance and another on the evaluation of an environmental education trail. Svenja is particularly interested in the relationship between contextual factors and environmental perceptions, as well as in how these factors can be appropriately measured and analyzed.

Svenja started in September and has been a pleasant addition to out team, helping all of us with literature searches, and developing and pretesting questionnaires.

Thank you Svenja!

PSCA Lab Retreat 2026

©PSCA

At the end of April, we enjoyed a few beautiful spring days during our PSCA Lab retreat. Team members from Basel traveled to the charming town of Lüneburg, where we kicked things off with a delicious dinner together.

The next morning, Ulf led an engaging workshop on the use of AI bot participants in social science research, sparking inspiring discussions and new ideas across the team.

To step outside the university setting, we spent time exploring both nature and the city itself with a scenic walk and a guided tour through Lüneburg.

We wrapped up our wonderful retreat with well-deserved drinks and snacks at Schröders Garten. We are grateful for the time spent together and already looking forward to our next lab retreat!

Visit Ben Newell

Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming guest speaker Prof. Ben Newell from UNSW to the PSCA Lab. During the visit, our team had the opportunity to present ongoing studies and current research projects, which led to engaging discussions and thoughtful feedback from Ben.

In the afternoon, Ben delivered a fascinating lecture highlighting the work of the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response. He provided a comprehensive overview of research on climate-related risk perceptions, the drivers of sustainable behavior and policy support, and sustainable decision-making at the individual and organizational level. Particularly inspiring were the institute’s mixed-methods approaches and collaborations with companies and national agencies.

We would like to thank everyone who joined the event, and especially Ben for visiting and sharing his insights with us!

TALK SERIES - INSTITUTE OF SUSTAINABILITY PSYCHOLOGY

WEDNESDAY MAY 13 2026, 14:00; HS 3

Climate risk is often broken down into three separate components: physical risks, transition risks, and liability risks. Our responses to all three of these components benefits immensely from an improved understanding of behavioural reactions to climate change.

In this talk Ben Newell will present a range of studies on individual and institutional-level responses that provide insight on the psychological impacts of physical risk, the preferences for and impacts of different kinds of transition risk, and the potential effectiveness of assessing and disclosing liability risks on changing behaviour. All while emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to addressing the behaviour-climate challenge.

Ben Newell is a Professor in the School of Psychology at UNSW Sydney and Director of the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response (ICRR). He is a member of the Academic Advisory Panel of the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA), and was part of the Chief Medical Officer’s advisory group for the National Health and Climate Strategy and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. His research focuses on the cognitive processes underlying judgment, choice and decision-making in general and specific to climate change.