Prof. Maria Ojala

Invited Speech: Young People and Climate Change: What conflicts do young people experience when trying to live more climate-friendly and how do they cope?

Biography & Abstract:

Maria Ojala is a Professor in socio-ecological resilience at the FRONT-program, University of Oulu, Finland. She has a PhD in psychology and also works as an associate professor at Örebro University, Sweden. Her research focuses on how young people think, feel, act, learn, and communicate about global environmental problem, with a specific focus on climate change.

Young people are vital to include in society’s efforts to mitigate climate change: This talk focuses on what kinds of conflicts young people who want to live more climate-friendly experience, and how they cope and deal with these conflicts and related emotions. What we can learn from this research regarding climate-change education and communication will be elaborated on.