Affiliate of Centre for Research in Social Psychology (CRiSP)
Centre for Research in Social Psychology
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Affiliate of Social Identity and Groups Network (SIGN) Research Centre
Social Identity and Groups Network
Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences
Availability:
Not available for supervision
Dr Cassandra Chapman has a PhD in the psychology of charitable giving. She is now an Associate Professor and ARC DECRA Fellow at The University of Queensland.
Cassandra came to academia after almost a decade working in nonprofits. Informed by this experience, her research focuses on donor psychology and fundraising. She uses diverse methods to understand when and why people are willing to help one another. These insights have implications for how charities communicate and raise money. Cassandra often works with nonprofits to design and deliver research. She also shares research insights for fundraisers on her website www.donorpsych.org.
Cassandra’s research has won national and international research awards. Notable awards include the AFP Early Career Emerging Scholar Award(AFP, 2023), the Skystone Partners Prize for Research on Fundraising and Philanthropy (AFP, 2020), and the Gabriel G. Rudney Memorial Award for an Outstanding Dissertation in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research (ARNOVA, 2019). Cassandra has also published over 45 articles in leading international journals.She recently served as Associate Editor of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (2022-2025).
Sara and her research group, the Low Harm Hedonism Initiative, develop theories of environmentally significant human behaviour and leverage them to design practical measures that trigger pro-environmental behaviour without undermining consumer satisfaction. These new behavoiur change interventions are then tested in real-world contexts, so their effectiveness on actual behaviour change with environmental consequences can be established. Sara’s research is driven by scholarly curiosity and the desire to create meaningful change. Sara is a dedicated supervisor and mentor of early career researchers.
