Raven developed a strong passion for the environmental protection from a young age. This passion grew when she saw the areas she loved being threatened by the expansion of deep-sea oil drilling, the threat of coal mines on conservation land and the effects of climate change.

“When I came to University, I chose Law because I wanted to understand the systems that govern our society. And I chose Environmental Studies because I want to understand the science behind the issues I care about.

“Ultimately, I want to study the relationship between people and the environment and how we can make that more sustainable.”

Raven has enjoyed the multi-disciplinary approach of Environmental Studies. “There are so many interesting topics that we cover, such as conservation, social justice, sustainable development, science, culture and more.”

As a lawyer and a volunteer climate-change campaigner, James Young-Drew chose to pursue the Master of Climate Change Science and Policy when he realised that addressing climate change requires interdisciplinary expertise.

“Everything we are learning in this programme is directly applicable to contemporary domestic and international climate change policy. These are urgent, real-world issues.”

“There’s a lot of incredible climate-change related research and innovation happening here in New Zealand. Unfortunately, there’s a real gap between this work and widespread misunderstandings about climate change.

“Part of problem is that things seem very divided—the physical scientists are doing their work over here, the social scientists are over there, communities and businesses are doing their own thing, and government policy often doesn’t fit with any of it.

“If we’re going to get to grips with climate change we need everyone working on the same page. I hope to make some contribution to making this happen.”

After earning a PhD in Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, Wokje took up postdoctoral fellowships in England, New Zealand and Canada. She was appointed as a lecturer in Environmental Studies at Victoria University of Wellington in 2013.

“My research focuses on human behaviour in relation to environmental issues. I study the barriers people may have to engage in environmentally friendly actions. I also evaluate the effectiveness of various approaches (such as information campaigns) to encourage environmentally friendly behaviours, to find out what works, what doesn’t work so well, and why.”

“In our Environmental Studies programme we encourage students to view environmental issues from different perspectives. My students come from a range of majors and backgrounds. This diversity in the classroom is a great way to highlight the importance of interdisciplinary approaches.”