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Benjamin ButtlarView profile

Professor

• Social Psychology
• Environmental Psychology
• Cognitive Conflict
• +5 more

Benjamin Buttlar is a Professor at the Department of Psychology, University of Trier, Germany. His research focuses on cognitive conflict in decision-making at the intersection of social, environmental, and biological psychology. He investigates why people make decisions conflicting with financial, health, sustainability, or moral goals, using mixed-method approaches including experience sampling, process tracing, and virtual reality experiments. Key research themes: Meat paradox, moral disengagement, ambivalence dynamics, stress-attitude links Editorial roles: Associate Editor at Collabra: Psychology , Consulting Editor at PHAIR Recipient of 8 university start-up grants (2016-2022) and EASP Seedcorn Grant (2021) His work reveals how ambivalence drives dietary behavior change, with recent studies showing ambivalence's role in meat consumption dynamics (2025). He developed the Meat Ambivalence Questionnaire (2023) and TUNA image database (2024), and has published extensively on stress-coping mechanisms and their physiological correlates. His 15 most recent articles span 2025-2022, focusing on meat-related conflict resolution, false memory formation, and ambivalence-induced information seeking. Scientific awards include: Outstanding Dissertation Award (2019), Trier Publication Award (2019), ESCON Finalist (2018). He supervises PhD/MSc theses, teaches social psychology courses (BSc/MSc level), and actively communicates science through media appearances (Deutschlandfunk, Deutsche Welle, Quarks) and science slams.

Jan Willem WielandView profile

Associate Professor

• Ethics
• Climate Ethics
• Responsibility
• +3 more

Jan Willem Wieland is an Associate Professor of Ethics at the Department of Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He joined the university in 2013 with a research focus on strategic ignorance, particularly addressing consumer responsibility in issues like meat consumption and climate inaction. His current work explores collective harms, ethical responsibility in global challenges, and Kantian approaches to cooperation. He teaches courses on normative ethics, responsibility in corporate contexts, and philosophical foundations of sustainability. Research Interests: Wieland’s scholarship centers on moral responsibility in collective action problems, climate ethics, and the ethical implications of epistemic neglect. His outreach emphasizes accessible ethical reasoning, including debates on air travel ethics (e.g., "Flying within your budget?" ). He leads projects like "Ethics of Cooperation" (2021–2025) and "We should know better" (2013–2016), focusing on moral epistemology and collective responsibility. Grants & Projects: Active in interdisciplinary research, Wieland’s current project investigates Kantian frameworks for addressing climate change. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals on climate action and responsible consumption. Labs/Teams: Collaborates with researchers like Dr. Pascal Robichaud and PhD candidate D. Boll on collective ethics and moral philosophy.

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Social Licence to Operate
• Food Waste
• +4 more

Associate Professor Bree Hurst is affiliated with QUT’s Faculty of Business & Law, School of Advertising, Marketing & PR. She holds a PhD in corporate social responsibility and organizational communication. Her research focuses on corporate responsibility, social licence to operate, and food waste reduction, emphasizing systemic stakeholder engagement beyond profit-driven approaches. She co-edited a special issue on social licence and engagement in Public Relations Review, and contributed to award-winning handbooks like the Handbook of Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility. Her roles include Deputy Director of QUT’s Centre for Decent Work & Industry, Chief Investigator in the Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, and Subject Coordinator for Public Relations. She teaches across postgraduate and undergraduate programs. Research funding has supported work in food waste, agriculture, and mining. Bree’s articles explore topics like food waste paradoxes, stakeholder engagement processes, and social impact frameworks. Her recent work addresses systemic challenges in supply chains and policy advocacy for marginalized groups. Professional memberships include the International Communication Association and Higher Education Academy. Key projects include the Meat Supply Chain Food Waste report and submissions to Australia’s Food and Grocery Code Review. She advocates for equitable policies through public articles on supermarket accountability and modern slavery reforms.

Hank RothgerberView profile

Professor

• Human-Animal Interactions
• Food Psychology
• Cognitive Dissonance
• +3 more

Dr. Hank Rothgerber is a Professor in the Department of Psychology within the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Louisville. He holds a B.A. in Psychology and Government from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Texas A&M University. His research centers on human-animal interactions in food contexts , specifically investigating how individuals psychologically navigate the 'meat paradox'—reconciling affection for animals with meat consumption. Key research domains include: Cognitive dissonance mechanisms among omnivores Psychological barriers to vegetarianism/veganism Dietary identity formation and social expression Meat dissociation strategies and scale development Rothgerber's work has generated significant international media engagement, featuring in NBC News , Scientific American , Psychology Today (where he maintains his column The Motivated Mind ), and the British Psychological Society . His Psychology Today blog has accumulated nearly 500,000 reads, and he has been interviewed by Discovery News and CDKU radio. Outside academia, he coaches middle school basketball, plays competitive chess, and follows soccer/basketball while prioritizing family time with his wife and children. His professional blog at hankrothgerber.com expands on his research interests and public commentary.