Antioch University New England (AUNE) has created a new graduate fellowship in conservation psychology, thanks to an anonymous gift of $50,000. The fellowship, the first of its kind in the country, was announced at the celebration of AUNE’s Department of Environmental Studies’ fortieth anniversary, on November 9.

Conservation psychology is the science and practice of understanding and promoting human care for nature. “It’s really about appreciating our relationship with the natural world and encouraging people to act on behalf of that relationship,” said Carol Saunders, one of the founders of conservation psychology and a research faculty member in AUNE’s Department of Environmental Studies. Ten years ago, she co-edited a special issue of Human Ecology Review that helped define the new discipline.

The fellowship will help coordinate a network of interested professionals and broaden the reach of this new field through training and other opportunities. Saunders is excited about the potential, saying that “it will help build our capacity to connect people who want to apply insights from psychology toward environmental issues.”

Additional information can be found here.