In this episode of the Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium at the University of Southampton, we are joined by Isabelle Horrocks (BA Geography) for an exploration of her dissertation research titled: ‘Exploring the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on sustainable consumption practices among students’.

Over recent years, the combination of stagnant wage growth and a sharp rise in inflation has driven a significant increase in the cost of living across the UK. In accordance, consumption behaviours have altered, especially among university students who are often on lower incomes. This research aims to provide a critical insight into how student consumption behaviours have been impacted as a result of the cost-of-living crisis, while simultaneously offering tentative suggestions into whether these practices have become more or less sustainable.

Throughout the episode we discuss the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis on sustainable behaviours and consumption practices, highlighting the impact of economic pressures on making sustainable choices. The complexity of assessing sustainability is also examined, followed by a discussion of methodological considerations and key findings from the project.

Further resources:
A useful tool from The Office For National Statistics to visualise how the average price of goods are changing: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/shoppingpricescomparisontool/2023-05-03

The challenges associated with measuring sustainability:
Sikdar, S. (2020) ‘Measures for Sustainability’, Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 22(2), pp. 279–280. doi:10.1007/s10098-020-01817-y. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10098-020-01817-y)

Sustainable consumption and behavioural change:
https://timjackson.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Jackson.-2005.-Motivating-Sustainable-Consumption.pdf

The Meliora Podcast Student Research Symposium is part of the 2024 Student Takeover Season where we celebrate the fantastic sustainability research work of our Undergraduate Students.

Guest: Isabelle Horrocks (Third-Year BA Geography Student)
Host: Prof Simon Kemp
Editor: Lily Killner

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