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Dr Stacey Heath

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Professional biography

I joined the OU in May 2022 from the University of Exeter where I was a postdoctoral fellow working in Human Geography on the healthy adaptations project which looks to explore the health and well-being impacts of (flood) adaptation strategies. My PhD examined the role of identity in empowering communities that have been through processes of urban regeneration to take ownership over change and the socio-psychological factors involved in facilitating this change to help create sustainable and healthy communities post regeneration.

Research interests

I am a social and environmental psychologist drawing from social psychology and human geography. My research interests are centred on group processes and behaviour change (in particular relation to community change, well-being, resilience, engagement and loneliness) and adopt an interdisciplinary approach of social and environmental psychology, human geography and health. More specifically, I am interested in exploring the ways that social psychological theories and geographical contexts can assist in the exploration of contemporary social issues.

By adopting this approach, I address issues related to:

A) The psychology of groups in large scale group change such as (but not limited to) migration, regeneration and disasters and their relation to health, wellbeing and community resilience;

B) The rhetoric of mobilization employed by social movements in response to community change;

C) The role of social psychology in facilitating behaviour change through participatory research, interventions, and social prescribing; and

D) How a hybridisation of disciplines (specifically social psychology and human geography) can help us to understand the ways in which social dynamics can be harnessed to facilitate successful and sustainable group change in the context of anthropogenic climate change.

Teaching interests

I have taught across an array of social psychology, research methods, and human geography undergraduate and masters courses.

Impact and engagement

I have facilitated groups 4 health and groups 4 education (see https://www.groups4health.com/) groups and, as part of my PhD project and an impact accelerator grant, I developed and facilitated several SUSTAIN programs collaboratively with local councils and the NSPCC to community members that are (or have been) undergoing community change – such as regeneration.

Publications

Social consequences of planned relocation in response to sea level rise: impacts on anxiety, well-being, and perceived safety (2024)
Abu, Mumuni; Heath, Stacey C.; Adger, W. Neil; Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey; Butler, Catherine and Quinn, Tara
Scientific Reports, 14, Article 3461


Exploring the social dynamics of urban regeneration: A qualitative analysis of community members' experiences (2023-01-06)
Heath, Stacey C.; Rabinovich, Anna and Barreto, Manuela
British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(1) (pp. 521-539)


Health and wellbeing implications of adaptation to flood risk (2023)
Quinn, Tara; Heath, Stacey; Adger, Neil. W.; Abu, Mumuni; Butler, Catherine; Codjoe, Samuel Nii Ardey; Horvath, Csaba; Martinez-Juarez, Pablo; Morrissey, Karyn; Murphy, Conor and Smith, Richard
Ambio, 52(5) (pp. 952-962)


Informing versus generating a discussion: Comparing two approaches to encouraging mitigation of soil erosion among Maasai pastoralists (2022-12)
Rabinovich, Anna; Zhischenko, Vladimir; Nasseri, Mona; Heath, Stacey C.; Laizer, Alpha; Mkilema, Francis; Patrick, Aloyce; Wynants, Maarten; Blake, William H.; Mtei, Kelvin and Ndakidemi, Patrick
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 84, Article 101885


Climate change affects multiple dimensions of wellbeing through impacts, information, and policy responses (2022-11)
Adger, W. N.; Barnett, J.; Heath, S. and Jarillo, S.
Nature Human Behaviour, 6(11) (pp. 1465-1473)


Protecting the commons: Predictors of willingness to mitigate communal land degradation among Maasai pastoralists (2020-12)
Rabinovich, Anna; Heath, Stacey C.; Zhischenko, Vladimir; Mkilema, Francis; Patrick, Aloyce; Nasseri, Mona; Wynants, Maarten; Blake, William H.; Mtei, Kelvin; Minushi, Linus and Ndakidemi, Patrick
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 72


Putting identity into the community: Exploring the social dynamics of urban regeneration (2017-12)
Heath, Stacey C.; Rabinovich, Anna and Barreto, Manuela
European Journal of Social Psychology, 47(7) (pp. 855-866)