Dr Caroline Verfuerth

(she/her)

BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

Caroline researches sustainable food consumption, food systems, and public engagement with climate change using mixed methods approaches. Committed to research impact, Caroline is actively developing projects in collaboration with policy-makers, NGO's and private sector organisations.

Selected funded projects (including links to key reports; for academic publications see publiction list):

• 2026-2028 | Eat Fair: Co-design a robust evaluation of nutrition social prescribing schemes; Co-PI (NIHR Programme Development Grant, £245,000)
• 2025-2026 | Social Justice and Climate Adaptation Review. Project led by IPSOS; Co-I (Welsh Government funded, £90,000)
• 2024-2025 | Net Zero Transitioning: Redefining Assumptions Behind Access to Low-carbon Food in Resource-Constrained Communities (2024 - 2025) Co-I (AFN network+ funded; £50,000); linked report: Verfuerth et al., (2026)
• 2024-2025 | Strengthening climate policy through social science: Co-developing behavioural indicators for climate action with the Welsh Government. Leveraging secondary data analysis to inform the Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change of the Welsh Government, PI (£10,000; UEA HEIF funding); linked report: Verfuerth et al., (2025)
• 2019 - 2028 | Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST): Co-I since 2024; ESRC funded Research Centre; £1.5 million; linked reports: Verfuerth et al. (2024); Cherry et al., (2024)
• 2023 | A people-centred approach is needed to meet Net Zero goals: PI (£4000 funded by the British Academy).
• 2023 | The Implications of Behavioural Science for Effective Climate Policy: Co-I (£25,000 funded by the UK Climate Change Committee) – linked report: Mitev et al., (2023)
• 2021-2023 | Welsh Government Behaviour Change Fellowship: PI (Welsh Government funded; £80,000). Close collaboration with the Food Policy team, Decarb Team, and Strategic Evidence Unit – linked reports & paper: Verfuerth et al., (2023); De Vito et al., (2023); Miller Research (2023).
• 2021-2022 | Accessible Veg Project: PI (ESRC/ IAA £15,000); linked report: Verfuerth & Sanderson Bellamy (2022)
• 2019-2020 | Citizens’ Climate Assemblies: Understanding public deliberation for climate policy; Co-I (£25,000 funded by the European Climate Foundation; linked report: Cherry et al., (2021)
• 2019 | Conference funding: 6th BrEPS Conference for ECRs: The Future & How We Shape It; Co-I (£1000 funded by the ESRC)

Teaching

Current Teaching Committment:

• BST350 Marketing Fundamentals
• BST352 Marketing Research
• BST382 Marketing Research

Student Feedback

• “the lectures were very clear and conscience, helping me prepare for the in–class test and have a better understanding of marketing research”
• “I enjoyed the classes held by Caroline”.
• “Caroline's teaching and engagement has been great, extremely helpful and is happy to cater sessions to what we would like to focus/gain clarity on”
• “easy classroom atmosphere good inspiration and encouragement and motivation”.

Biography

Dr Caroline Verfuerth is a sustainability and environmental behaviour researcher whose work focuses on how and why people adopt low-carbon lifestyles, particularly through sustainable diets, food systems, climate change communication, identity, and lifestyle change. Since 2024, she has been a Lecturer in Marketing and Strategy at Cardiff University Business School.

Before joining the Business School, she worked at Cardiff University with the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) as a Postdoctoral Researcher and Knowledge Exchange Fellow, and from 2021 to 2023 was seconded to the Welsh Government to advise on community food systems and behaviour change policy. Her research uses mixed methods to explore sustainable consumption and public engagement with climate action. This includes work on workplace meat reduction interventions, low-carbon lifestyle change, and cross-cultural visions of climate futures in the UK, China, and Sweden.

Caroline completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield Management School on the wider impacts of workplace meat reduction interventions in private sector canteens. She also holds an MSc in Environmental Psychology from Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg and a Psychology degree from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Beyond academia, Caroline brings over 4 years of experience in qualitative market research, environmental consultancy, and applied behaviour change projects, strengthening her ability to connect academic insight with real-world sustainability challenges across policy, business, and public engagement.

Honours and awards

• Sheffield University Management School, full PhD scholarship (2015-2019)
• Tom Lupton prize for Doctoral Short Paper Competition (1st Prize); Issued by Management and Business, Accounting and Finance, and Work Psychology Pathway Annual Conference (2016)

Professional memberships

• Affiliate of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations based at Bath University, since 09/2024 – present.
• Advisory borad for the lottery funded Bridging the Gap programme, since 03/2025 – 05/2026 (programme ended).
• ACCESS Network (Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science), since 07/2024 – present.
• WellFed Cornwall Network, since 07/2024 – present.
• Faculty of Public Health: Sustainable Diet Working Group from 2022-2024.
• Member of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, since 2019

Academic positions

• Since 2024: Cardiff University, Business School, Lecturer in Marketing & Sustainability
• 2019 – 2024: Cardiff University - School of Psychology, Postdoc in the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations.
• 2022 – 2024: University of Bath - Psych Department, KE Associate the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations.
• 2021 – 2024: Welsh Government, Policy Fellow in the Strategic Evidence Unit
• 2020 – 2022:  Cardiff University - School of Psychology, Fixed-term lecturer

Speaking engagements

Selected

• 2025: Invited academic expert, British Academy – UK Government Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) roundtable on the UK Public Participation Strategy, London, UK (September 2025).
• 2024: Invited keynote speaker, British Environmental Psychology Society (BREPS) Conference, University of Portsmouth, presenting “The Messy Path of Applied Research: Lessons from Collaborative Food Research Across Sectors”
• 2023: “We need to put people at the heart of effective climate policies”, hosted by Environment Platform Wales.
• 2023: “A people-centred approach is needed to tackle climate change”, hosted by Prof Taciano Milfont at the Waikato University, New Zealand.
• 2023: “SYSTEMS MAPPING: a case study on Community Food”, talk to policy makers, Welsh Government.
• 2022: “Diet change in the workplace & at home: Key findings from a behaviour change intervention”, talk to policy makers, Welsh Government.
• 2022: “Diet & behaviour change: What are key drivers and lessons learned from ‘real-world’ behaviour change interventions?” Innovation Festival Newcastle, Northumbrian Water.
• 2021: “Transforming lifestyles: Food choices, changing behaviours, and spillover effects”, hosted by Dr Elena Sautkina, Higher School of Economics, Russia.
• 2021: Invited expert panellist on public engagement debate “Die Klimadebatte”, hosted by ‘Mehr Demokratie’ (YouTube life stream with 700+ live viewers; link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SlDz74hJRQ ).
• 2021: “What diet changes do people in the UK find desirable and feasible; and how can we facilitate these?”,  hosted by the UK Government Department of Agriculture & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
• 2021: “How can we as a society live differently and better to achieve systemic, deep and rapid emission reductions?”, Hungary-CAST-Tyndall workshop hosted by MPs in Hungary.
• 2019: Youth Debate on the impact of lifestyles on Climate Change, with local schools at the National Museum Wales (Amgueddfa Cymru).

Committees and reviewing

Journal Reviewer

• Journal of Business Ethics
• Journal of Environmental Psychology
• Journal of Marketing Management
• Technological Forecasting & Social Change

Grand Reviewer

• Belgian Government (Federal Public Planning Service Science Policy)
• Environmental Protection Agency of the Republic of Ireland
• UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Supervisions

Current supervision

Yanpeng Pei