Welcome to the Homepage of the student initiative Sustainability in Teaching and Research
About us:
We are a student initiative dedicated to promoting sustainability in psychological teaching and research at the University of Münster. We consist of members of the Psychology Student Council and members of the movement Psychologists for Future Münster. If you are interested in this topic, want to be informed about current developments or connect yourself with others, we would be happy to welcome you in our Learnweb course.
Our goals:
We want to make sustainability a topic of teaching and research at both institutes of psychology in Münster. The climate crisis affects many areas of life, and universities are no exception. Psychology has an important role in the societal changes to establish sustainability. We strive to raise awareness for environmental and climate psychological topics and the significant responsibility of psychology. We want to ensure that the topic of climate change and crisis is discussed in psychological studies and show a potential career path for psychologists. For example, classical psychological theories and models, such as the diffusion of responsibility, can be researched and taught in the context of the climate crisis. Different climate-related emotions, such as fear, anger, or shame, can also be addressed in research and teaching.
Previous activities and events:
Extracurricular events:
- Block seminar with climate psychologist Janna Hoppmann
- Talks as part of the series "Psychology is..." by the student council
- Conceptualization and execution of a workshop at the “Day of Teaching 2023”. The results can be found in the Learnweb course.
Curricular events:
- Adding the field of environmental psychology to the Bachelor's level course "Introduction to the history, theories, and concepts of psychology and psychotherapy"
- Essays on sustainability, environmental psychology and climate psychology have been offered in the Bachelor's level seminar "Introduction to scientific work". Exemplary questions are: “What factors impact our actions towards environmental protection?” or “Does the climate change affect mental health?”
- Topics related to sustainability, such as dealing with water consumption, have been offered as electives in the Bachelor's level seminar "Research lab - Educational Psychology".
- Presentation of the startup “climate mind” by Janna Hoppmann in the Master’s level course “New developments and trends in Work and Organizational Psychology”.
- Designing video projects on topics such as climate crisis and sustainability in the Master’s level course “Science practice and science communication”. An exemplary question was: “How come we often do not protect the environment even though we want to do so?”.
- Sustainability exercises and reflexion regarding psychological concepts such as cognitive dissonance in the seminar “Introduction to teaching relevant psychological basic processes II: Social cognitive basics for school” at the Institute for Psychology in Education.
Future ideas:
- Workshops on sustainability and climate crisis in connection with psychology
- Guest lectures for the colloquium and / or the series “Psychology is…” by the Psychology Student Council.
- Establishing contact with lecturers and researchers.
- Bringing the online lecture series "Academy of Sustainability" by the Initiative Psychology in Environmental Protection (IPU) to Münster.
- Integrating non-psychological elective courses on the climate crisis into the curriculum.
Contact:
We welcome everyone who has ideas to establish the topics of sustainability and environmental psychology in teaching and research or who would like to support us in our efforts. If you have any ideas or are interested in collaborating, whether you are a student or an employee, please feel free to contact us at fspsych@uni-muenster.de or join our Learnweb course! By connecting with others, you can stay informed about the latest developments and news.