Dr. Karlijn Van Den Broek

Biography

Karlijn van den Broek is an Assistant Professor at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University. She is an environmental psychologist focusing on public understanding of the complexity of environmental problems, mental models, and how these factors influence decision-making and pro-environmental behavior. Karlijn founded the Sustainable Behaviour Group, a special interest group within the Copernicus Institute that unites researchers from various disciplines to study the human dimensions of sustainable transitions. She has developed the M-Tool, a groundbreaking application designed to capture mental models, which offers a standardized approach that requires participant literacy to elicit mental models. The tool enables comparisons of mental models among stakeholders, with the true state of the system, measure changes over time, and initiate dialogue among stakeholders addressing system challenges. In her ongoing research, she investigates eco-anxiety in youth, the understanding of IPCC graphs among policymakers, and the role of mental models in sustainable transitions, linking exposure to climate change information in the media to mental health. She is also an alumnus of the Postdoc Academy for Transformational Leadership, where she trains the next generation of leaders in sustainability transformation in Europe, and serves as an associate editor for the journal Global Environmental Psychology.

Research Interests

Experience