Nature Emergency

Our cluster is an interdisciplinary, cross‑faculty initiative bringing together three PhD students and 22 staff from four faculties (Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, and Stirling Business School).

We address three inseparable crises that constitute the Nature Emergency: climate change, biodiversity loss, and disconnection from nature. Meeting this challenge demands an immediate, multi‑level response from people of all ages, underpinned by interdisciplinary research. Mobilising expertise across the four faculties, we operate through two labs: the Wildlife Response Lab (Lab 1) and the Youth Response Lab (Lab 2). Our goals are to: 1) examine how people interact with nature, and how human–wildlife coexistence can be enhanced through public involvement in research; and 2) investigate how people’s emotional responses to the Nature Emergency can be harnessed to drive engagement and action. Both labs explore how research can inform and support decision‑making in education, policy, and practice, to build a resilient society that works with nature to improve human–environment relations.

Our work aligns closely with the University’s Strategic Plan 2030 and its overarching theme of People, Place and Purpose.