2018 · Dean’s List

BAPhilosophy, Politics & Economics

Propaedeutics in International Business Management Tio Business School logo

2020 · Distinction

MScPhilosophy & Public Policy

Expected 2028 · SSHRC Fellow

PhDInterdisciplinary Studies

Consumer behaviour × public health

Why does evidence of harm lead some people to change what they consume—and others to resist?

I analyse how people respond to evidence that their consumption behaviours may cause harm to themselves or others.

Through research on cannabis use for sleep and meat consumption, I examine two forces that shape that response: personal experience and identity.

Two domains. One aim.

Cannabis × sleep Experience

As I began working in research in 2021, I was asked to figure out dosing for a clinical trial on cannabis and sleep. I conducted and published a large-scale systematic review—and found that subjective improvements were common, but objective sleep measures did not corroborate these.

SLEEP

Original article · Volume 45 · Issue 11 · 2022

Cannabis Dosing and Administration for Sleep: A Systematic Review

Rob Velzeboer · A. Malas · P. Boerkoel · K. Cullen · M. Hawkins · J. Roesler · W. W. K. Lai

Abstract · Results

“While subjective improvements in sleep quality were often observed, diagnostic testing showed no improvements in sleep architecture.”

This led to the question How do consumers reconcile what they experience with what evidence shows?

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Meat × gender Identity

I noticed men seemed more wedded to meat consumption than women, so I conducted and published a scoping review. Across surveys, experiments, and interviews, I found masculinity was linked to higher meat consumption, but also potentially heightened resistance to change:

American Journal of Men’s Health

Original article · Volume 18 · Issue 2 · 2024

Masculinity, Meat, and Veg*nism

Rob Velzeboer · E. Li · N. Gao · P. Sharp · J. L. Oliffe

Discussion

“Calls for reducing meat consumption or switching to alternatives may provoke reactance among men.”

This led to the question How does identity make consumers resist changes in what they eat, use, and adopt?

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To study the distance between evidence of harm and consumer responses—how experience and identity shape what evidence means to people, and what they do with it.