Dr Debbie Roy

Profile

Debbie is a research officer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, a post she came directly to after completing her PhD.  She is currently working for Professor Bas Verplanken on an ESRC/DEFRA/Scottish Government funded HABIT project that is part of the Sustainable Living Research Group. 

The HABIT project aims to systematically test the habit discontinuity hypothesis. The core concept being tested is whether a significant life event (in this case moving home) can provide an opportunity to influence existing unsustainable activities and result in the adoption of new pro-environmental behaviours.

Debbie’s PhD (2010) was conducted at the University of Ulster where she investigated ways to promote energy saving behaviours, specifically consumer decisions to purchase energy saving appliances and the impact of time delays on choices made. 

Debbie spent one integral year at Queens College, City University of New York, U.S.A on the Learning Processes Doctoral Programme, while studying for her MSc in Applied Psychology. During her time at Queens College she was involved in stimulus equivalence research and it practical applications.  She obtained her BSc (Hons) at Birkbeck College, University of London and also has been awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Health Psychology at the University of Surrey.

Prior to her academic career, Debbie was a senior manager in the National Health Service and her time there involved working in a corporate strategic planning team, distilling national policy and strategy and also creating corporate and department performance management and development systems. Her responsibilities also included developing primary and community health care quality standards, performance indicators, and improving information flows to support service evaluation. Debbie worked closely in cross-discipline and organizational collaborations with range of health and social care professionals and information managers.

Research interests

• Attitudes and beliefs about sustainable living. 
• Understanding how perceptual processes affect our decisions to engage in pro-environmental activities. 
• Design of behavioural change strategies to encourage more sustainable living behaviours.
• Learning Processes

Publications