Creating change through e-waste research: Meet Dr Yue Xi

July’s researcher profile features Dr Yue Xi, a Research Fellow at Social Marketing @ Griffith. Yue applies behavioural science and social marketing to tackle environmental challenges, with a particular focus on reducing electronic waste and advancing circular economy initiatives. With her award-winning PhD only just conferred, she is now embarking on the next stage of her career. Yue reflects on her doctoral journey, the real-world impact of her work and what’s next as she works to advance environmental and social behaviour change. 

Can you give us an overview of your PhD project and what it explored? 

My PhD examined why people hold onto electronic waste—old phones, laptops, cables and batteries—rather than recycling it, and what it actually takes to change that behaviour. The thesis is titled Escape the e-waste trap: A roadmap for behaviour change, and it does exactly what the title suggests: it maps the psychological and structural barriers that keep e-waste sitting in drawers, then tests practical, evidence-based approaches to shifting that behaviour. 

E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream globally, and Australia generates among the highest per-capita volumes in the world. But awareness alone doesn’t move people. Most of us know recycling is the right thing to do and still don’t do it. My research used the COM-B model and social marketing frameworks to understand the specific capability, motivation and opportunity barriers at play, then designed and evaluated targeted interventions across two major case studies. 

The first was a campus-based pilot—a six-week, co-designed campaign that diverted more than two tonnes of e-waste from landfill and created volunteering and employment opportunities, including for autistic youth. The second was a 12-week community-industry engagement process with Sunshine Coast Council using the Creating Collective Solutions (CCS) method, which generated more than 130 actionable strategies and ultimately informed a campaign that tripled safe battery disposal rates across more than 40 collection points. Across both case studies, we engaged more than 600 stakeholders from local government, universities, social enterprises and communities. 

My PhD thesis received the Award of Excellence in a Research Thesis. Knowing that all examiners were unanimous in their assessment of its significance and contribution to the field means a great deal to me.

Dr Yue Xi [right] with her principal supervisor Professor Sharyn Rundle-Theile

What sparked your interest in this area and how has your thinking evolved over time? 

‘Sharyn often reminds us of two things when you’re trying to make change happen: first, that rejection is normal; and second, to “do it now, do it wrong, do it again, better”.’

Honestly, the fascination with the gap between what people know they should do and what they actually do has been with me since I was little. My father has spent his entire career in solar energy, so sustainability wasn’t an abstract concept in our household; it was part of my upbringing. I grew up understanding that good intentions and good technology aren’t enough on their own. People still have to choose to act. 

My principal supervisor, Professor Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, has built a career spanning health, environmental and social contexts. She saw potential in me, and that belief shaped the kind of researcher I’ve become. To witness behaviour change in action at Social Marketing @ Griffith—to design something, implement it and then see people actually do things differently—is the most powerful form of evidence I know. That’s what drives me. 

The research journey hasn’t been smooth. The biggest obstacles have come from the systems around the work, not the work itself. But I’ve had the best team to navigate that with. Sharyn often reminds us of two things when you’re trying to make change happen: first, that rejection is normal; and second, to “do it now, do it wrong, do it again, better”. Both have stayed with me. The second, especially, captures something real about how behaviour change research—and doing a PhD—actually works.

What was your day-to-day experience like as a doctoral candidate? 

‘The PhD itself occupied roughly 40 per cent of my time; the rest was spent working across different projects with different researchers, teaching, designing courses and contributing to applied work…’

Studying and working within Social Marketing @ Griffith has profoundly shaped the way I conduct research and the way I think. Having Sharyn as my principal supervisor meant I was never just doing a PhD in isolation. The PhD itself occupied roughly 40 per cent of my time; the rest was spent working across different projects with different researchers, teaching, designing courses and contributing to applied work in the field. That structure was deliberate. It prepares you to become a stronger, more versatile researcher, not just a specialist in one narrow problem. 

That breadth matters because we operate from a systems perspective. With a single PhD study, you risk seeing the world through one lens. But everything is connected and interacts. For example, a behaviour change problem in e-waste shares underlying mechanisms with problems in health, conservation and community engagement. Working across projects gave me access to diverse methods, stakeholders and ways of engaging communities that I simply wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. 

So, on any given day, I might’ve been facilitating a co-design workshop with council partners in the morning, running NVivo analysis on interview transcripts in the afternoon and reviewing a grant application or preparing a tutorial before the day was done. The rhythm was demanding, but it was the kind of demanding that builds something.

Now that you’ve had your PhD conferred, what’s next for you and what are you hoping to carry forward from the experience? 

I am in the middle of a transition. I am now a Research Fellow at Social Marketing @ Griffith, funded through an ARC grant, and continuing to work on behaviour change research across environmental and social contexts. 

Looking further ahead, I’m interested in expanding this work, particularly in electronics circularity and the circular economy. The research provides a replicable model that can be adapted by local governments, universities and communities across Australia and internationally. E-waste recovery supports multiple Sustainable Development Goals, and the more partners we can bring into that work, the greater the reach.

Completing a PhD is never an individual effort; it is the culmination of the encouragement, guidance and support of an entire village—the whole Social Marketing @ Griffith team. To everyone who has stood by my side:
“Behind every exceptional achievement lies a journey shaped by stories. But behind every story are those who chose to stand by me when they didn’t have to”. 

Griffith is proud to produce world-class research contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals.

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