Kelly Kirkland

I am a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and an Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne. My research explores how to foster cooperation in the face of complex societal challenges, such as climate change and rising polarization. A central focus of my work is understanding how societal structures — particularly economic inequality — shape social cohesion, moral judgment, and tolerance of ideological diversity. For instance, I examine how inequality can undermine cooperation and contribute to political and moral divides, and I investigate strategies for promoting tolerance and mutual understanding in pluralistic societies. My approach is interdisciplinary, drawing on social, developmental, political, and moral psychology, as well as economics. To capture the complexity of human behaviour in dynamic social systems, I use a range of methods including experiments, large-scale cross-national surveys, social media analysis, AI tools, and qualitative research.