Psychologist, author, and broadcaster Professor Geoff Beattie from Edge Hill University has received international recognition for his groundbreaking work on trophy hunting and climate change.
Geoff’s book Trophy Hunting is on a shortlist of three to win the Taylor & Francis’ Outstanding Book and Digital Product Award.
The book, nominated in the Outstanding Professional Category, is the first to take a critical look at the psychology behind the controversial activity of killing often endangered animals for sport.
Geoff examines current research to determine whether there really is an evolutionary argument for trophy hunting, and what range of motivations and personality traits may be linked to this activity. The book has been described as ‘required reading’ by Will Travers, the President and co-founder of the Born Free Foundation.
Geoff said: ‘This is a great honour especially given that Taylor & Francis publish about 7,000 new books each year, with a backlist of over 140,000 titles available in print and digital formats. I’m delighted that being shortlisted for this award will help draw attention to the book and this serious and disturbing topic. The psychological dimension to trophy hunting needed to be explored.’
Trophy Hunting is a continuation of Geoff’s work on protecting the natural world, which started with The Psychology of Climate Change, co-authored with Edge Hill colleague Dr Laura McGuire from the Faculty of Education.
Their book is currently being translated and published in Portuguese for a Brazilian audience by publisher Editora Blucher and the Chinese language rights have also been sold. There will be more foreign translations to follow as demand for the book continues to grow.
The Psychology of Climate Change was also selected as one of the ten ‘essential environment reads’ by the Booksellers Association, in conjunction with University College London earlier this year. The book is in distinguished company with classics in the field such as Silent Spring published in 1962 and Gaia published in 1979.
The success of their work on climate change also resulted in both Geoff and Laura being invited to attend the inaugural meeting of the steering committee of the new International Panel on Behavior Change (IPBC) at the UN in Paris. So far they have taken part in two such meetings in October and February with more to follow in the coming months.
If you are interested in studying Psychology at Edge Hill, the university offers a variety of courses including BSc (Hons) Psychology, BSc (Hons) Educational Psychology and BSc (Hons) Psychology and Criminology.
