Behavioral Sustainability Lab
Jiaying Zhao, PhD, Professor
Our Vision
We want to see a world without poverty or environmental crises, a world where we thrive sustainably.
Research Mission
We use psychological principles and insights to design behavioral solutions to solve financial and environmental sustainability challenges. We do so by running field and lab experiments to promote behavior change in resource conservation, waste reduction, climate mitigation, and financial independence. These experiments draw upon principles and methods from cognitive science, judgment and decision making, behavioral economics, and social psychology. Crucially, our work demonstrates the value of psychology in addressing urgent societal problems and informing the design and implementation of public policy. We are currently investigating the following six lines of research:
Publications
- Geladi, I., Zhao, J., Fessl, B., Garcia, S., & Kremen, C. (2025). The birds and the trees: Avian ecosystem (dis)service perspectives and farmers’ willingness to plant native trees in the agricultural landscape in the Galapagos Islands. People and Nature.
- Stenlund, S., Theberge, D., Aastrup, M., Cominelli, S., Heather, M., Nadeau, S., Zhao, J., & Sponarski, C. C. (2025). The well-being of Homo sapiens in forests: A scoping review of frameworks and indicators. Trees, Forests and People, 21, 100968.
- Lalande, A., Alexis, A., Brasher, P., Gadhari, N., Zhao, J., & MacNeill, A. (2025). Determining patient satisfaction, nutrition, and environmental impacts of inpatient food at a tertiary care hospital in Canada: A prospective cohort study. Dietetics, 4, 29.
- Radke, J., Argentopoulos, S., Dunn, E., & Zhao, J. (2025). Probabilistic refunds increase beverage container recycling behaviour in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Waste Management, 204, 114954.
- Chaplin-Kramer, R., Miller, C. R., Dee, L., Bennett, N. J., Echeverri, A., Gould, R. K., Gregr, E., Kinnaird, M., Leidner, A., Naidoo, R., Nicholas, K. A., & Zhao J. (2025). Wildlife’s contributions to people. Nature Reviews Biodiversity, 1, 68–81.
- Sheppard, S. B., Argentopoulos, S., Ware, J., Swearingen, A., Winfield, J., Radke, J. & Zhao, J. (2025). Probabilistic rewards increase the use of reusable cups. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 212, 108001.
Our Team
Dr. Jiaying Zhao
Principal Investigator
Annie Lalande
PhD Student
Jade Radke
PhD Student
Simon Sheppard
Master's Student
Hayley Simpson
Master's Student
Media
Explore our media coverage, talks, movies, books, and more!
Lab Events
Recent happenings in our labs!
Lab celebration dinner (2025)
Congratulations Dr. Annie Lalande!
JZ's King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025)
Lab dinner September 2024
Close the Divide - Movie Premiere! (2024)
Contact Us
Department of Psychology
Address
2136 West Mall,
University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4
Email Us
jiayingz@psych.ubc.ca
Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability
Address
2202 Main Mall,
University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, B.C., Canada, V6T 1Z4
Email Us
jiaying.zhao@ubc.ca