Understanding How People Respond to Climate Risks in the Real World

How do people’s experiences with weather and climate risk shape their beliefs and actions? This talk presents findings from two large-scale projects in Australia examining the behavioural and perceptual impacts of climate-related events. The first project investigates how chronic weather anomalies, such as temperature and rainfall deviations, and acute disasters, such as wildfires, floods, and cyclones, relate to pro-climate beliefs, political attitudes, and pro-environmental behaviours over the past decade. The second project focuses on predictors of household adaptation behaviours, including home renovation and insurance uptake, using survey and spatial risk data. It explores how factors such as exposure to flood, fire, and cyclone risk, prior experience, demographic characteristics, and climate beliefs interact with different communication frames that vary in intention, time horizon, and message focus. Together, these projects aim to advance our understanding of how lived experience and risk communication can foster informed, resilient, and sustainable responses to a changing climate.

About the Speaker

Omid Ghasemi is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Institute for Climate Risk & Response. His research examines how people form judgments and make decisions about climate change, with a focus on risk perception, emotions, trust, and policy communication. Drawing on large-scale survey and behavioural data, he explores how experiences of extreme weather, risk communication, and policy framing shape beliefs, decisions, and public support for climate solutions. His broader goal is to bridge behavioural science and climate research to better understand how people make sense of complex risks and how this understanding can support more adaptive and sustainable choices.