Behavioral materials science – for increased sustainable action

The project aims to identify ways of enhancing the understanding of complex environmental information and sustainable choices among the public and policymakers by bridging the gap between human behavior and technological advances.

Technological innovation plays a crucial role in achieving a more sustainable future. Innovations in materials science offer new solutions to accelerate the transition to a circular economy, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, and strengthen essential societal infrastructures such as water purification. However, technological innovations must also be adopted by people – technological innovations will only have an impact if both the public and policymakers have a positive attitude to their use.

“Behavioral Materials Science” is a proposed new interdisciplinary field uniting materials science and social science. The project aims to bridge the gap between human behavior and technological advances to pave the way for effective future circular economies. The project team is exploring psychological insights in order to better communicate complex information about sustainable solutions based on new materials, thereby stimulating systemic and individual behavioral changes.

The researchers are conducting basic research in materials science and psychology, along with a series of behavioral experiments, representative surveys, and focus group interviews, to identify ways of enhancing the understanding of complex environmental information and sustainable choices among the public and policymakers.

The results from the studies will form the basis for an interactive information tool that will be available in a simpler form openly on the internet and in a more advanced form as a visualization tool and decision support during discussions.

The project focuses on water purification as a case study. However, it is expected to be possible to transfer its approach and methodology to various sustainability areas – from recycling to green energy and synthetic food. The interdisciplinary team will combine expertise in materials science with insights from psychology to produce empirical evidence on how technological innovations are developed, communicated, perceived, and ultimately influence behaviors.

The researchers believe the project represents an important step in harnessing the power of human psychological insights and the development of new materials to accelerate the achievement of sustainability goals. There is no doubt that the time from materials science discoveries to their application in society must be shortened. By integrating behavioral science with materials science, they argue that the potential impact and relevance of both fields can be better deployed to address the current global challenges we face.

By combining sciences into an entirely new interdisciplinary research platform, the researchers believe the project will also serve as an important example of how a new generation of researchers and policymakers can become equipped to handle complex societal issues at the intersection between social and materials sciences.