ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Liz Cooper
Heriot-Watt University
I have worked on the challenges of socially responsible and sustainable production and consumption throughout my career to date, in Scotland, Senegal, and India. For my PhD in Psychology, I analysed how product designers negotiate agency and responsibility in decision-making about environmental sustainability. I used an approach from social psychology called discursive psychology to analyse conversations with designers. I found patterns in the ways the designers deflected or assumed responsibility, and in how they depicted their roles as sustainability champions within their wider businesses.
Department:
School of Social Sciences
Mentor:
Professor Stephen Gibson & Professor Marylyn Carrigan
Cohort:
2023/2024
Project title:
Developing the contribution of discursive psychology to sustainable business and circular economy research.
Goals for the fellowship:
During this one-year fellowship I hope to deepen my analytical skills, learning from colleagues who specialise in conversation analysis and discursive psychology. I also hope to learn from my mentors about how to pitch cross-disciplinary research to publishers.
Advice for future applicants:
The application process takes some time but is worth persevering with as it can help you clarify your goals. Getting all the documents in order requires a bit of teamwork, so most important thing is finding mentors (I have two from different disciplines) who are a good match and who understand what you want to do.
