| # | Date | Topic | Lecturer | Slides | Group presentations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15.09.2026 | Introduction and key concepts in environmental psychology | Viktoria Cologna & Jan Pfänder | No presentations | |
| 2 | 22.09.2026 | Public opinion on climate change and the deficit model | Viktoria Cologna | No presentations | |
| 3 | 29.09.2026 | A question of trust | Viktoria Cologna | No presentations | |
| 4 | 06.10.2026 | Mental models and framing | Jan Pfänder | HTML · PDF | No presentations |
| 5 | 13.10.2026 | Climate change emotions | Viktoria Cologna | Groups 1 & 2 | |
| 6 | 20.10.2026 | Guest speaker: Dr. Cornelia Schwierz | Invited speaker | Group 3 | |
| 7 | 27.10.2026 | Guest speaker: Prof. Dr. Reto Knutti | Invited speaker | Group 4 | |
| 8 | 03.11.2026 | Climate change in the media | Viktoria Cologna | Groups 5 & 6 | |
| 9 | 10.11.2026 | Climate change misinformation | Jan Pfänder | Group 7 | |
| 10 | 17.11.2026 | Guest speaker: Dr. Leonard Creutzburg | Invited speaker | Group 8 | |
| 11 | 24.11.2026 | From communication to behavior change | Jan Pfänder | Group 9 | |
| 12 | 01.12.2026 | Guest speaker: Dr. Cornelia Staub | Invited speaker | Group 10 | |
| 13 | 08.12.2026 | Guest speaker: Dr. Cornelia Eisenach | Invited speaker | Group 11 | |
| 14 | 15.12.2026 | Discussion and lessons learnt | Viktoria Cologna & Jan Pfänder | Groups 12 & 13 |
The Psychology of Climate Change Communication
Theoretical insights and practical applications
ETH Zurich · Autumn 2026 · Tuesdays 16:15 · room CAB G 61
ImportantRoom change
From Tuesday, September 22, 2026, the course takes place in room CAB G 61 (previously CHN G 42).
Instructors
Dr. Viktoria Cologna | viktoria.cologna@eawag.ch
Dr. Jan Pfänder | janlukas.pfaender@gmail.com
Course Description
Climate change communication influences how individuals, organizations, and societies perceive climate change, and how they react to it. In this course, students explore research from environmental psychology and communication science to understand how people respond to climate change messages and what makes communication effective. Students work in groups to evaluate climate change communication examples and propose evidence-informed improvements, presenting their analyses orally and reflecting on the process in writing. The course is pass/fail based on a group presentation and written individual reflection.
Participation requires a course-internal commitment at latest by Friday, September 25, 2026 (23:59). After this date, groups/projects will be fixed, and students are expected to remain in the course. See the syllabus for details.
Schedule
Guest speaker descriptions and some readings are still being finalized. Full session descriptions and readings are in the syllabus. Slides are posted in the table below after each session, Quarto decks as HTML and PDF, other decks as PDF.
Course calendar — get all sessions into your calendar app.
Subscribing keeps the events up to date when the schedule changes. A downloaded copy will not receive later changes. In Google Calendar, subscribe via Settings → Add calendar → From URL with https://janpfander.github.io/course_climate_communication/course-sessions.ics.