mary jo lavelle 

2004-2007: B.A. (Hon.s) NUI, Galway. 2007-2008: M.A (Hon.s) Health Promotion NUI, Galway 2009-Present: PhD Candidate NUI, Galway.
Room:	116
Phone:	091 49(3829) ext. 3829
Email:	m.lavelle1nuigalway.ie

Biography

Mary Jo Lavelle is a PhD candidate in the School of Geography and Archaeology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Her current research activities concern sustainable household consumption and lifestyles, specifically the critical role occupied by an individual’s social, economic and cultural environment in terms of their reported attitudes and behaviours. Before joining the Geography Department, Mary Jo graduated with a Masters degree in Health Promotion and was employed as a researcher in the Health Promotion Research Centre in the National University of Ireland, Galway. Here, Mary Jo was involved in numerous qualitative and quantitative research projects; ranging from the assessment of water pollution risk in the media to the examination of carers’ perceptions and attitudes towards educational qualifications in institutional contexts. Mary Jo was heavily involved in the organisation of a third year teaching module, which involved the planning and development of a Public Health Walk. During this period, Mary Jo also worked as a Health Promotion Officer for the University; a role that involved the development, implementation and evaluation of numerous behavioural change initiatives with both staff and students, as well as collaboration with various government and voluntary bodies such as the HSE West, the Galway Healthy Cities Movement and the Galway City Partnership. As a result, Mary Jo gained in-depth understanding into the pivotal role played by a person’s environment in terms of its influence on predicting or inhibiting human behaviours and lifestyle choices. Hence, Mary Jo’s interest was ignited in further exploring individuals’ reported attitudes and perceptions of barriers and motivators towards sustainable consumption and lifestyles in an Irish context.

Research Interests

Mary Jo’s primary research interests are situated in the field of environmental sustainability; specifically sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles. Mary Jo is particularly interested in the conceptual models that underpin behavioural change; as well as the interactions between an individual’s socio-economic environment and consumption behaviour. Research indicates that personal values, situational contexts, infrastructural deficits and financial incentives can all play an important role in changing environmental behaviour. Due to a current dearth of research exploring these possible underlying motivating factors, especially in an all-island Irish context, Mary Jo’s PhD research aims to shift the current focus of analysis and explore what are the psychological, social and economic drivers behind current consumption patterns. In other words, individual’s attitudes and behaviours will be examined through the lens of sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles; providing a more socially and culturally nuanced understanding of consumer behaviour. In addition the relationship between quality of life issues and sustainable household consumption patterns will also be examined. Her PhD research project focuses on individuals’ reported attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable household consumption and lifestyles; both in Northern Ireland and the Republic. This research intends to explore the underlying rationale behind reported consumption behaviours and lifestyle patterns, through the production and dissemination of the first Irish specific baseline dataset of patterns of household consumption and lifestyles.

Mary Jo’s other research interests include Environmental Psychology, Quality of Life and wellbeing, Health, and Health Promotion; in particular the creation of healthy environments, therapeutic landscapes and supportive environments. Mary Jo also has a keen interest in social research methods; both in quantitative and qualitive research designs.

Current Research

ConsEnSus – Consumption, Environment and Sustainability

Mary Jo’s current research agenda is grounded in her involvement in the ConsEnSus Project. The ConsEnSus Project is a cross-border household analysis of CONSumption, ENvironment and SUStainability in Ireland’. The ConsEnSus Project is funded by the Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for the Environment (STRIVE) Programme 2007–2013. The programme is financed by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan 2007-2013. It is administered on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government by the Environmental Protection Agency which has the statutory function of coordinating and promoting environmental research.

Further details of the ConSenSus Project can be found at the project website: http://www.consensus.ie/ 
or E-mail consensusnuigalway.ie.

Research Cluster

Areas of Research

• Sustainable Consumption
• Sustainable Lifestyles
• Quality of life and Wellbeing
• Behavioural Geography
• Environmental Psychology
• Environmental Policy
• Social Geography 
• Social Research Methods

Academic Awards and Distinctions

• 2009-2012: Recipient of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Doctoral Scholarship.
• 2011: Awarded the ’Young Researcher Travel Bursary’ by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research to attend the Sustainable Consumption Conference in Hamburg (Nov 5th-8th 2011).
• 2011: Awarded a ’Postgraduate Bursary’ from the Dean of the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies to present a paper at the 19th Annual Colloquium of the IGU CSRS, held at the National University of Ireland, Galway (1st -7th August 2011). 
• 2011: Awarded a travel bursary by the Centre for Environment, Development and Sustainability (CEDS) to attend a statistical course for quantitative data analysis at the Essex Summer School for Social Science Data Analysis at the University of Essex, UK.
• 2011: Awarded a ’Departmental Travel Bursary’ to attend the ’Lifestyles and Life-courses Workshop’ hosted by the PERG (RGS-IBG) and the Leverhulme Project on Lifestyles and Life-courses at the University of Northampton, April 19th and 20th, 2011. 
• 2010: Awarded a ’Geography Departmental Travel Bursary’ to attend the Conference of Irish Geographers in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Recent Publications

• Power, M. & Lavelle, M.J. (2011). Qualifications of non-nursing residential care staff in the Republic of Ireland. Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Vol 12 (3) 152-161.
• Lavelle, M.J. (2012). Review of Material Geographies of Household Sustainability, by Lane, R. & Gorman-Murray, A. (eds). Irish Geography (Under review).
• Lavelle, M. J. & Fahy, F. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (1) Methodology and profiling. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M. J. & Fahy, F. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (2) Environmental concerns. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M. J., Rau, H., Fahy, F., Heisserer, B. & Hynes, M. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (3) Transport. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M.J., Carroll, B. & Fahy, F. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (4) Food consumption. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M.J., Carroll, B. & Fahy, F. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (5) Food waste. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M.J., Davies, A., Fahy, F. & Doyle, R. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (6) Water consumption. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M.J., Davies, A., Fahy, F. & Doyle, R. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (7) Energy consumption. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M. J. & Fahy, F. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (8) Information and awareness. National University of Ireland, Galway.
• Lavelle, M. J. & Fahy, F. (2012). Consensus Lifestyle Survey – Report on public attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable consumption and sustainable lifestyles in Ireland: (9) Summary and conclusions. National University of Ireland, Galway.

Selected Presentations

• Lavelle, M.J. (2012). ’A geography of sustainable household consumption and sustainable lifestyles: a case study from Ireland’. Association of American Geographers, NYC.
• Lavelle, M.J. (2011). ’Exploring the existing and emerging trends in domestic consumption behaviour: a case study from Ireland’. Sustainable Consumption Conference, Hamburg, Germany.
• Lavelle, M.J. (2011). ’Exploring sustainable household consumption in Ireland: A comparative overview of urban-rural and cross cultural trends’. 19th Annual Colloquium IGU/UGI, NUI, Galway. 
• Lavelle, M.J. (2011). ’Exploring the barriers and motivations underlying sustainable lifestyles: a case study from Ireland’. Association of American Geographers, Seattle, WA.
• Lavelle, M.J. (2010). ’An examination of the attitudes and behaviours towards sustainable household consumption and lifestyles’. Conference of Irish Geographers, NUI, Maynooth.
• Lavelle, M.J. (2010). ’Sustainable Consumption:  Quality of life and standards of living’. The 6th SSRC International Conference Workshop 2010, NUI, Galway.

Professional Affiliations

• Member of the Association of American Geographers. 
• Member of the Geography Society of Ireland.
• Member of the Sustainable Consumption Research Network.

External Activities

• Post-Graduate Student Body Representative NUI, Galway (2011-Present) 
• Member of the Geography Society NUI, Galway 
• Member of the Ecological Society NUI, Galway
• Member of the Energy Society NUI, Galway
• Member of Galway Green Campus Network

Selected Readings

• Barr, S. (2008). Environment and Society: Sustainability, policy and the citizen. UK: Ashgate Publishing Ltd.
• Blake, J. (1999). Overcoming the value action gap in environmental policy; tensions between the national policy and local experience. Local Environment; 4; 257-78. 
• Davies, A.R., Fahy, F., Taylor, D.M. (2005). Mind the Gap! Householder attitudes and actions towards waste in Ireland. Irish Geography; 28(2); 151-68. 
• Gatersleben, B (2001). Sustainable Household Consumption and Quality of Life: The acceptability of sustainable consumption patterns and consumer policy strategies, International Journal of environment and pollution, 15(2); 200-216.
• Kollmuss, A. & Agyeman, J., (2002). ’Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior?’ Environmental Education Research, 8(3); 239-260.
• Nooman, K. J., & Uiterkamp, S., (Ed.s) (1998). Green Households? Domestic consumers, environments and sustainability. London: Earthscan Publications.
• Vlek, C. & Steg, L. (2007). Human Behaviour and Environmental Sustainability: Problems, driving forces and research topics. Journal of Social Issues: 63(1); 1-19.