Ms Elzarie Theron

My research interests sit at the intersection of psychology, climate change, and health. From a psychological perspective, I am interested in how pro-environmental behaviour change can support more sustainable relationships between people and the environment. From a health care perspective, I focus on emergency health care preparedness for climate impacts, including disaster risk reduction, climate-health education, and the extent to which communities are willing and able to adopt adaptive and mitigative responses. I am currently particularly engaged in the climate–migration health nexus, analysing how climate-migration discourses in Southern Africa interact with policy, healthcare access, and agency. Across these areas, I prioritise interdisciplinary approaches that connect social meaning, institutional response, and lived experience to inform equitable and contextually appropriate climate change adaptation and mitigation.