The National Emergency Briefing and a quiet wave of community action - Dr Richard Clarke

Can watching a film about climate change inspire people to take action? Across the UK, thousands of communities have come together to watch the People’s Emergency Briefing, a film exploring the risks of climate change and nature loss.

In this talk, Dr Richard Clarke will share findings from recent research evaluating the impact of these screenings, drawing on over 45,000 survey responses. The talk will explore how the film influenced people's concerns, understanding and motivation to act, including the relationship between hope and action, and will also look beyond the individual, exploring how community screenings relate to wider political engagement.

Using national data on screenings, public petition signatures and MPs' support for the campaign, I'll demonstrate how data science techniques can help us understand patterns of political engagement and identify where the campaign might most effectively focus its future efforts.

Finally, Richard will consider what these findings tell us about the importance of bringing people together to discuss climate change and turning public concern into collective action.

About the speaker

Dr Richard Clarke is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Gloucestershire, specialising in health and environmental psychology, research methods and statistics.

His research focuses on how people understand and respond to major societal challenges, particularly climate change and public health. He has a particular interest in using quantitative research and data science to understand public attitudes, behaviour change and political engagement.

Richard is currently working with the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) and the National Emergency Briefing team to evaluate the impact of community climate engagement on public attitudes and political action.

Booking information

• Advance booking for this event is not required.
• If you have any questions please email events@rgs.org

This event has been organised by the South West regional committee.

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