Faglige nøgleord: Rebound effects, behavioural economics, sustainability
Oplæg tilgængeligt på: Engelsk og hollandsk
Nowadays environmental challenges ask for the development of sustainable solutions. However, the environmental gains of sustainable solutions are often offset by rebound effects, which are higher order effects that arise due to changes in behaviour. For example, increased fuel efficiency in cars lowers the driving costs which leads to an increase in demand for driving and an unintended increase in fuel consumption.
My research team, which is called REBOUDNLESS, focusses on explaining, modelling, and preventing rebound effects. My role within the team is to identify the psychologic (i.e., behavioural economic) mechanisms underlying rebound effects. This is unique, because until now research has mostly looked into the economic (e.g., monetary) explanations of rebound effects.
As a high school student in the Netherlands I was interested by many different topics, which made choosing a single university program quite challenging. Fortunately, I was able to combine my interests for psychology and economics in my bachelor and masters. Next to my studies, I engaged in several sustainability projects and internships. I am happy that this PhD at DTU gives me the chance to combine my interests for economics, psychology, as well as sustainability.
I would be looking forward to sharing my passion for this research project and to sharing insights about research on rebound effects in an interactive manner with high school students!