Pierce Veitch

Pierce is an ESRC-funded PhD researcher in social and political psychology at the University of Kent. His doctoral research examines public trust in AI-assisted policymaking and the political leaders who use these tools. He uses experimental, qualitative, and computational text analysis methods to investigate questions in moral and political psychology.

In terms of human–animal intergroup relations research, he focuses on how political ideology, and social environments shape people’s relationships with non-human animals. His work examines the psychosocial experiences of ethical vegans, including vystopia: the distress associated with perceiving society’s treatment of animals as fundamentally at odds with one’s moral values. He is interested in the relationship between political orientation and animal advocacy, including why favourable attitudes towards animals may fail to translate into sustained behaviour change. Across these interests, he seeks to understand the psychological barriers to adopting and maintaining plant-based diets and engaging in animal advocacy.