Behaviour for Well-Being, Environment and Life, 2010

Behaviour for Well-being, Environment and Life (BeWEL) was an Exploratory Research Network, funded for 12 months from July 2009, established to provide a new cross-disciplinary perspective on understanding individual pro-environment behaviour. The overall aim of the BeWEL exploratory network was to use an interdisciplinary approach to deepen our understanding of key drivers of, and barriers to, pro-environment behaviour change (‘sustainable behaviours’). Six fundamental, and complementary, research objectives (ROs) underpinned our network. These were to improve knowledge of: <ul><li>RO 1 - how people interact with nature</li><li>RO 2 - how such interactions may influence personal well-being</li><li>RO 3 - the neuropsychological and physiological ‘signatures’ of personal well-being</li><li>RO 4 - how personal well-being derived from interactions with nature may influence propensity to engage in pro-environment behaviours</li><li>RO 5 - lifespan changes in cognitive and neural functioning as factors that may influence propensity to engage in pro- environment behaviours</li><li>RO 6 - the implications from the above for current conceptualisations of, and approaches to encouraging, pro-environment behaviour</li></ul>Key activities included: <ul><li>conducting pilot research projects</li><li> analysing how interdisciplinary research can be evaluated</li><li>testing a virtual research environment computing software designed to facilitate the work of interdisciplinary research teams</li><li>producing short and accessible ‘state of understanding’ reports in key knowledge areas</li><li>hosting an early career researcher workshop and public engagement events</li></ul>The data available from the UK Data Archive relates to part of the exploratory pilot project work. Data were collected by paper and online questionnaires to explore pro-environmental behaviour, nature interactions, personal well-being, personal values and socio-demographics. <br> <br> Further information is available from the <a href ="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-355-25-0020/read" title="Behaviour for well-being, environment and life (BeWEL)">BeWEL</a> ESRC Award web page and the <a href ="http://www.bewel.net/" title ="BeWEL network">BeWEL network</a> website.<br> <br>