Dr Fabian Dablander
About
Fabian Dablander is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science and the Global School of Sustainability at LSE.
The IPCC has warned that “there is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all.” Fabian aims to contribute to securing such a future through research, teaching, and community building.
His research focuses on understanding how climate action and wider societal transformation can be accelerated. Combining behavioural science, data science, and complex-systems approaches, Fabian studies topics including sufficiency and limits, media coverage of climate change, the effects of extreme weather events, the role of scientists on a planet in crisis, and the drivers of climate engagement among elites and the wider public. He is a founding member of the Climate Media Lab and is working to build a behavioural data observatory that integrates large-scale behavioural and psychological data to support evidence-based policymaking.
In his teaching, Fabian aims to give students a rigorous understanding of the behavioural and societal changes needed to address the climate and ecological crisis, and a clearer sense of their own agency in bringing those changes about. He has taught on the Complex Systems and Policy Master's programme at the University of Amsterdam and delivered guest lectures on climate action across a range of courses. At LSE, he is developing a new course on climate and societal change, planned for Autumn 2027.
Societal change requires building communities of action and strengthening connections with practitioners and civil society. Fabian co-founded the Amsterdam Complexity School on Climate Change and has co-organised it annually since 2024, bringing together researchers and non-academic stakeholders to work on collaborative projects for climate action. He was also involved in Scientist Rebellion, where he helped organise national and international initiatives and build a global network of engaged scholars. He co-founded CorrelAid Netherlands, which connects data scientists with organisations working for social impact, and was a Data Science for Social Good Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University in 2022.
Before joining LSE, Fabian held research positions at several institutes at the University of Amsterdam, including the interdisciplinary climate institute SEVEN and the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics. He received his PhD in Psychological Methods from the University of Amsterdam, with research spanning Bayesian hypothesis testing, causal inference from observational data, and early warning signals of tipping points.
Awards
- Greener Groceries: Data-Driven Interventions for Low-Impact Diets — NWO Veni (declined)
- Beyond Delay Frames: Building Resilient Journalism — NWO KIN
- Minimal and Maximal Thresholds for a Just Transition — ENLENS Research Priority Area, University of Amsterdam