Environment and Climate Research Hub

Changing Society

We explore how social, cultural, and economic transformations can support a just and sustainable response to environmental change.

Overview | News and Stories | Projects | Publications

A global sustainable transformation needs social, cultural, and institutional change

How can our society transition from an unsustainable to a sustainable human-environmental system respecting planetary boundaries? Substantial changes are necessary in our relationship with the natural environment under climate change to ensure equity of access to water, energy, food, housing, healthcare, and mobility for the global population as well as future generations.

The focus area on changing society includes all scientists at the ECH that analyze facets of the socio-ecological transformation through the lens of the public sphere, economic factors, governance, and human behavior. Their unique interdisciplinary background fosters new and innovative research at the cross-section between nature, ecosystem services, and human society.

News and Stories

Our Climate – a Cultural-Historical View

23.10.2024 ECHO Story

Person reading a book while lying on a picnic table by a calm lake, surrounded by green trees and nature.

Created by Laura Anninger

Literature cannot stop climate change, says ECH Member Eva Horn, a literary and cultural studies scholar at the University of Vienna. Yet, it can teach us much about how climate has always shaped human perception. We talked to her about insights from a humanities perspective.

What Can Environmental Psychology Contribute to Curbing Microplastic Pollution?

23.10.2024 ECHO Story

Hand holding sand mixed with small colorful plastic pieces, highlighting plastic pollution.

Created by Nora Gau

Science has shown that a global approach is needed to stop plastic pollution. An international team, including environmental psychologist Sabine Pahl from the University of Vienna, sees the upcoming UN negotiations in South Korea (Nov 2024) as a historic chance for joint action. Their recent review in Science stresses the urgency of a global treaty to curb plastic pollution.

Projects

PECCK: Pre-Enacting Climate Change Knowledge

22.05.2025 Changing Society

People sitting in a circle, man fotographing

Alexa Färber at the Department of European Ethnology is leading the „PECCK“ project.

In the anthropological research project PECCK, Alexa Färber and her team problematize the effects of the climate budget regime on climate change knowledge.

Utilizing Environmental Social Neuroscience to Investigate the Reciprocal Relationship Between Humans and the Environment

22.05.2025 Changing Society

illustration of head formed by plants and water

Claus Lamm from the Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology is leading this project.

Why and how do our brains drive pro-enviromental decision making and behavior, and how, in turn, does the natural environment affect our brains, our mental health, and our well-being?

Artificial Intelligence and Climate Change

22.05.2025 Changing Society

Mark Coeckelbergh from the Department of Philosophy is leading the project.

Climate change is one of the most pressing crises of our time. Therefore, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to mitigate climate change is being discussed as a promising opportunity.

Exploring Social Perceptions of Chlordecone and Other Phytochemical Compounds

22.04.2025 ECH Project

A large banana plantation stretches into the distance, with hills, scattered houses, and power lines visible under a partly cloudy sky

Giorgio Brocco from the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology is leading the project "Exploring Social Perceptions of Chlordecone and Other Phytochemical Compounds".

How do communities in Martinique perceive chemical pollution? This project explores emotional, cultural, and psychological responses to chlordecone exposure - combining ethnography and surveys to inform future public health and resilience strategies.

From Lab to Litigation: Translating Scientific Evidence to the Court

22.04.2025 ECH Project

People seated at a conference table with documents and microphones; the focus is on one person’s hands holding papers.

Stephanie Nitsch from the Department of Law is leading the project "From Lab to Litigation".

How is science used in court? This project explores how environmental evidence has shaped private law cases since the 1960s - highlighting challenges and best practices in climate and pollution litigation to support a more just and sustainable legal future.

Publications

2026

Münster, N. J., & Felt, U. (2026). Making Microplastics Matter: Classification, Politics and the Lives of Microplastics as Environmental Objects. Social Studies of Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/03063127261459465

Vargolskaia, V., & Felt, U. (2026). Ecologies of time: interdisciplinarity and temporal misalignments in data-mediated environmental research collaboration. Science as Culture, 9. https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2026.2688850

Wood, J., & Ausserladscheider, V. (2026). The Supply Chain of Economic Ideas: Institutional Discourse and Policy Change in U.S. Economic Governance, 1945–2024. Governance, 39(3), Article e70132. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.70132

Schmude, T., Pahr, D., Koesten, L., Möller, T., & Tschiatschek, S. (2026). Humans-in-the-Contestability-Loop: Designing for Social Counselors to Understand and Challenge Algorithmic Decisions. In FAccT '26: The 2026 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (pp. 1749-1783). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3805689.3812271

Pottin, A., & Felt, U. (2026). Decommissioning as Residual Care: Transforming Nuclear Reactors into Waste. Science, Technology & Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439261453137

Nitschke, J. P., Todorova, B., Doell, K. C., Pronizius, E., & Lamm, C. (2026). When trust is good and worrying is even better. Trust in science and climate change specific worries are linked to policy support and pro-environmental behaviours. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 112, Article 103042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2026.103042

Güttler, N. R. (2026). Umweltwissenschaften zur Einführung. Junius Verlag.

Schmude, T., Koesten, L., Möller, T., & Tschiatschek, S. (2026). Better Together? On the Design and Use of Explanations to Support Novices in Individual and Collective Deliberations About AI. International Journal of Human-Computer-Interaction, 1-41.

White, M. P., Egger, J. A. M., Amato, G., Astell-Burt, T., Bekke-Hansen, S., Borja, A., Burov, A., Busse, S., Costongs, C., Dimitrova, D., Doimo, I., Dzhambov, A. M., Elliott, L. R., Godfrey, A., Grellier, J., Hartig, T., Hartl, A., Nyed, P. K., Konijnendijk, C., ... van den Bosch, M. (2026). Testing nature-based biopsychosocial resilience theory: a research programme protocol. Archives of Public Health, 84(1), Article 90. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-026-01903-5

Schuster, R. M. V., Gregory, K., Möller, T., & Koesten, L. (2026). Practitioners' Perspectives on Designing Data Visualizations for the General Public. Paper presented at CHI - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2026, Barcelona, Spain. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790627