Dr Rebecca Upton
Senior Lecturer
Rebecca has a Master of Science in Environmental Psychology and s PhD in education for sustainability focusing on transformational learning experiences that impact sustainable lifestyles choices. She has always worked towards her passion for the natural world and is a senior lecturer on the MSc Sustainability & Behaviour Change course.
Rebecca is a senior lecturer on the MSc Sustainability & Behaviour Change course and lectures mainly on the Theoretical Approaches to Transformational Social Change and Communicating Transformational Social Change modules. Although her first degree was mathematically driven, she has always worked towards her passion for the natural world.
This was further established upon completing a Master of Science in Environmental Psychology which developed her interests in the psychology of sustainability, social change and connection to nature. Rebecca has completed a PhD in education for sustainability focusing on transformational learning experiences that impact sustainable lifestyles choices, in collaboration with the Eden Project. She has also worked as a consultant in the construction and housing, travel, and accountancy industries – as well as being a community engagement officer for a homelessness support charity, assisting them to create, implement and expand a national project.
Qualifications
MSc Environmental Psychology, University of Surrey
BSc Business Analytics (1st Class with Honours), University of Kent
ILM Level 5 – Institute of Learning & Management, Award in Management
Mental Health First Aid
Teaching activities
Lecturer
Tutor
Thesis supervisor
Research Interests
Pedagogic research, non-formal learning, sustainability, education for sustainability, transformational learning and transformational change, systems thinking, and systems change, behaviour change, environmental psychology, connection to nature, pro-environmental behaviours, business analytics, interpreting narratives and stories
Methodologies and methods: mixed methods, basic statistics, ethnographic research, interviews, focus groups, narrative analysis
Publications
Upton, R (2020) Learning for change during the global climate crisis: exploring the (non-economic) impact of education for sustainability using the Eden Project as a case study. In Leal Filho, W. ed. The handbook of climate change management. London: Springer (In Press)
