Environmental Psychology Research Group

The Environmental Psychology Research Group at the University of Surrey has an international reputation in research and teaching. The Group currently comprises five full-time academic staff, three research officers, two post-doctoral Research Fellows, PhD students and several Visiting academics from overseas.
The Group undertakes research for the EU, UK Research Councils, Government Departments and its agencies, industry and commerce and the charitable sectors. It has attracted over £1m in research grants and contracts since 1998.
The Department of Psychology was the first in the world to establish an MSc in Environmental Psychology in 1973. Since then there have been well over 250 graduates of the course from over 25 countries worldwide. It remains one of few such postgraduate courses in the world and the only one in the UK.

Environmental Psychology 

Environmental psychology explores the transactions between people – both individuals and groups – and their physical setting; it gives a prominent place to environmental perceptions, attitudes, evaluations and representations and accompanying behaviour. Environmental psychology focuses on both the effects of environmental conditions on behaviour and how the individual perceives and acts on the environment. As psychologists our focus is on people’s perceptions, attitudes and actions, but as environmental psychologists we believe that these psychological processes are always situated, that is, they are invariably place-related and place-dependent.

Many problems we face in society are a product of the breakdown of the relationship either between people and people in an environmental context, or between people and the physical environment itself – both leading to disastrous environmental, individual and social consequences. Society invests enormous resources into the planning, design, construction, management and use of the physical environment. This investment ensures that we are not only fed, clothed, housed, employed and made secure, but the quality of our lives is enhanced as much as possible.