Dr Keri Phillips

Lecturer - Faculty of Medicine and Health; School of Psychology

Keri Phillips

Email: keri.phillips@une.edu.au

Biography

Keri Phillips specialises in environmental psychology and focuses on understanding human factors that underlie environmental problems such as climate change, resource overconsumption, and waste production.  Her research aims to design and evaluate behaviour change strategies to help overcome these problems.  Keri teaches a unit in environmental psychology, which inspires students to engage in this interesting and important topic.

Qualifications

B. Psych (Hons) University of New England

Ph.D. University of New England

Teaching Areas

PSYC315 & PSYC515: Environmental Psychology

Supervision Areas

  • Human values
  • Behaviour change
  • Messaging
  • Sustainable eating choices
  • Low carbon energy preferences
  • Motivation
  • Social Norms
  • Affect heuristic

Research Interests

Dr Phillips conducts research in environmental psychology which explores the interplay between people and their physical environment.  She is interested in how people perceive, think about, and behave in relation to their surroundings, with a focus on factors that underlie human behaviours that contribute to environmental problems.  Keri therefore explores psychological theories and principles that may help to explain the causes of environmentally destructive behaviour, and how to best create solutions for a more sustainable future.

Current and future research topics include:

  • Messaging strategies to promote sustainable eating choices
  • The affect heuristic: people’s feelings and preferences for different low-carbon energy sources
  • The collective futures framework: the projected benefits of divergent energy policies on future societies
  • Values Theory: the role of human values (i.e., what we deem important in our lives) in climate change mitigation decisions
  • Appropriate behaviour-change strategies to promote sustainable actions – there is scope here for students to promote a sustainable action of their own interest
  • Flow state:  a possible mediator in the relationship between gardening engagement and psychological flourishing

Publications

Phillips, K. L., Hine, D. W., & Phillips, W. J. (2019) How projected electricity price and personal values influence support for a 50% renewable energy target in Australia. Energy Policy. 129, 853-860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.02.064

Please, P.M., Hine, D.W., Skoien, P., Phillips, K.L., & Jamieson, I. (2018) Prioritizing community behaviours to improve wild dog management in peri-urban areas. Dimensions of Wildlife, 23(1), 39-53, https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2017.1385877

External Profiles