Arya Satoskar

I am a doctoral researcher at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of Catalonia (ICTA-UAB), working within the ERC BIG-5 project. I hold a postgraduate degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science, with a focus on behavioural economics and social psychology, and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Sir Parashurambhau College, India. My interest in behavioural economics and its policy implications led me to LSE, where I encountered degrowth thought and the systemic-level thinking it demands. My master’s thesis was an ethnographic study of Auroville, an alternative economic system in India, examining how it negotiates India’s dominant growth paradigm. I found that sustaining such alternatives carries real psychological costs for those involved, and that growth-oriented states actively shape how alternatives can operate. This experience led me to ask how degrowth might work at a more systemic, practical scale, particularly alongside environmental sustainability and climate action, which is what brought me to this project.

As a doctoral researcher within the ERC BIG-5 project, I study how digitally mediated relational values can shape environmental stewardship and behaviour. My research examines whether and how exposure to different types of social-media content influences people’s environmental actions, moving beyond self-reported attitudes to consider behavioural change in practice. I use a combination of experimental and qualitative approaches, including a randomised exposure study and follow-up interviews, to investigate how people interpret digital content, develop relational meanings around the environment, and translate these into everyday environmental practices.