WokeScientists

Issue 001 — August 2026 — evidence before outrage

Research that is apparently radical.

Woke Scientists makes useful research harder to dismiss: with clear methods, honest limits, original sources, and just enough humour to survive the headlines.

Read the evidence Meet the founder

Founded and curated by Sofie Voss; open to future contributors.

01

Featured story

Water / everyday behaviour

The loud version: “Scientists want to police your shower.”
The actual question: which in-shower routines are most strongly associated with shower duration?

David Morizet, Pablo Pereira-Doel, Xavier Font, Caroline Bastide, Juliette Brun, and Valérie Drey combined 8,550 sensor-recorded showers from 319 German households with time-stamped post-shower surveys. This was an observational event-level modelling study: it identifies associations, not proof that changing a routine will necessarily shorten a shower.

Read the original study
02

Woke research

The evidence is usually more interesting than the argument.

A launch reading list featuring work by Sofie Voss, Pablo Pereira-Doel, Benjamin Gardner, and Xavier Font. Every card links to the original source and credits the complete author team.

01

Sustainable food

Guiding pro-environmental behaviour.

Field experiments tested cognitive and behavioural menu interventions designed to encourage vegetarian choices in hotel restaurants.

Journal of Sustainable Tourism · peer reviewed
Authors: Sofie Voss · Helena Andre · Florian Kock · Marion Karl · Alexander JosiassenOriginal source
02

Water efficiency

Promoting domestic water efficiency via behaviour change.

A co-created research and impact agenda sets out the water-efficiency questions that matter most to researchers, practitioners, and the sector.

Research and impact agenda · not peer reviewed
Authors: Benjamin Gardner · Ian Walker · James Daly · Julia Brown · Sofie Voss · Pablo Pereira-DoelOriginal source
03

Hotel water

Reducing shower duration in tourist accommodations.

A covert field experiment tested continuous real-time eco-feedback and persuasive messaging using objective shower-sensor data.

Journal of Travel Research · peer reviewed
Authors: Pablo Pereira-Doel · Xavier Font · Kayleigh Wyles · Jorge Pereira-MolinerOriginal source
04

Hotel water

Showering Smartly.

A field experiment explored whether water-saving technology could foster more sustainable showering among hotel guests.

e-Review of Tourism Research
Authors: Pablo Pereira-Doel · Xavier Font · Kayleigh Wyles · Jorge Pereira-MolinerOriginal source
05

Habit science

What is habit and how can it be used to change real-world behaviour?

A practical account of habit theory and how it can help bridge the gap between behavioural theory and real-world interventions.

Social and Personality Psychology Compass · peer reviewed
Authors: Benjamin Gardner · Amanda L. Rebar · Sanne de Wit · Phillippa LallyOriginal source
06

Water & tourism

Smart-metre insights into ecolodge guests’ water and energy behaviours.

A field quasi-experiment examines guests’ water and energy use through smart-meter data in an ecolodge setting.

Journal of Sustainable Tourism · peer reviewed
Authors: Stefen MacAskill · Susanne Becken · Alexandra Coghlan · Christopher Warren · Xavier FontOriginal source
03

Headline vs evidence

Not every headline is a useful summary

Turn down the noise. Keep the question.

These are representative framings, not quotations, unless a source is named. Each evidence check links to the underlying work.

01

Common framing

Shower feedback is framed as micromanagement.

Evidence check

A covert field experiment tested whether real-time feedback and carefully designed messages changed measured shower-water runtime.

Scope: tourist accommodation settings, objective sensor data, and specific interventions.See source
02

Common framing

Menu interventions are framed as shaming people into eating differently.

Evidence check

Two hotel-restaurant field experiments tested whether cognitive and behavioural menu designs changed vegetarian choices.

Scope: observed choices in specific hospitality settings, not a moral judgement about diners.See source
03

Common framing

Habit research is framed as evidence that personal choice does not matter.

Evidence check

A state-of-the-field review argues that habit is one influence on behaviour: intentions can dominate in some contexts, and habits in others.

Scope: a theoretical review of habit and behaviour change, not evidence that people lack agency.See source

Referenced coverage

The articles behind the “woke” label.

Daily MailCoverage of showering and shampooing researchDaily MailCoverage of shower metersUniversity of SurreyShower and toilet habits key to closing England’s water gapUniversity of SurreyOur actions are dictated by ‘autopilot’, not choiceUniversity of SurreyWater sector must understand human behaviourUniversity of SurreyShampoo routines could be driving household water waste
04

Meet the scientists

The roll call begins with one.

Woke Scientists starts as a founder-led editorial project. Guest scientists and contributors can join the record when it is useful, thoughtful, and properly sourced.

Founder & curator

Sofie Voss

Behavioural-science PhD researcher working on water conservation, sustainability, and everyday behaviour change.

Sofie studies what makes sustainable choices easier in the real world. Her work is interested in the small details that become habits—and in explaining those details without pretending they solve everything.

WaterBehaviourSustainable tourismScience communication
CertifiedWokeScientist
05

About & values

A note on the name

A name with history. A purpose with limits.

“Woke” has roots in Black political language, where it referred to staying alert to racial injustice. This project uses the name carefully: not as an empty marketing trend, but in response to the pejorative way it is sometimes used to dismiss research about environmental protection, public health, equality, and policy. It was born after Sofie Voss was called a “woke scientist” in Daily Mail coverage of showering and shampooing and a separate story on shower meters.

The answer is not more outrage. It is transparent methods, clear limitations, original sources, and a sense of humour. Woke Scientists is not a partisan news site, an anti-media account, or a generic activist brand. It is evidence-led research for people and planet.

01

Evidence before outrage.

02

Accessible science without dumbing it down.

03

Practical research that improves everyday life.

04

Curiosity, kindness, and intellectual honesty.

Submit research

Have a paper worth reading?

To suggest research for Woke Scientists, send the original source, a short note explaining how it has been publicly dismissed or oversimplified, and what the evidence can—and cannot—say.