Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Nicole Ardoin, the Emmett Faculty Scholar, is the Skyes Family Faculty Director of the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (SDSS). She is a senior fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment and an associate professor of Environmental Behavioral Sciences.
Professor Ardoin studies motivations for and barriers to environmental behavior among a range of audiences and in varying settings; the use of social strategies by NGOs to engage individuals and communities in decisionmaking related to natural resource management; and the role of place-based connections and environmental learning on engagement in place-protective and stewardship actions over time.
Professor Ardoin's Social Ecology Lab group uses mixed-methods approaches--including participant observation, interviews, surveys, mapping, network analysis, and ethnography, among others--to pursue their interdisciplinary scholarship with community collaborators through a field-based, participatory frame. Professor Ardoin is an associate editor of the journal Environmental Education Research, a trustee of the California Academy of Sciences, and chair of NatureBridge's Education Advisory Council, among other areas of service to the field.
RECENT RESEARCH (Selected):
The Summen Project: Coastal Fog-mediated Interactions Between Climate Change, Upwelling, and Coast Redwood Resilience (funded by NSF Coastal SEES Program, the National Geographic Society, and the TELOS Fund; in partnership with UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, Carnegie, Oregon State University)
Scholars and Land-Trust Managers Collaborating for Solutions (funded by Realizing Environmental Innovations Projects, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. Co-PI: Deborah Gordon, Biology, Stanford)
Community and Collective Environmental Literacy as a Motivator for Participating in Environmental Stewardship (funded by the Pisces Foundation)
Hybrid Physical and Digital Spaces for Enhanced Sustainability and Wellbeing (funded by Stanford Catalyst for Collaborative Solutions, PI: Sarah Billington, Civil and Environmental Engineering, with co-PIs from Engineering, Computer Science, Psychology)
Blue Habits: Leveraging Behavioral Science to Support Pro-Ocean Behaviors (funded by Booking Cares Fund. In partnership with The Oceanic Society)
eeWorks: Examining the body of evidence for environmental education with regard to conservation, academic outcomes, civic engagement, and positive youth development (funded by North American Association for Environmental Education, US EPA, Fish and Wildlife Service, and others)
RESEARCH INTERESTS (alphabetically):
Community Involvement and Youth Development
Community-Based Conservation
Connecting Research and Practice
Environmental Behavior and Stewardship
Environmental Learning and Literacy
Equity and Inclusion in Environment and Conservation
Evaluation and Assessment of Environmental Efforts
Individual and Collective Action
Mixed-methods Research
Qualitative Research
