Professor Alexa Spence

Alexa Spence has primary expertise in environmental psychology, social cognition, and behaviour change. She chairs the People and Society research group within the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham. Here, she supervises PhD students and postdoctoral students on topics including sustainable food, acceptance of hydrogen technologies, citizen science, and well-being impacts of engaging digital technologies. The commonality across research topics is the focus on perceptions, communications, and behaviour change.

Spence often works across disciplines and liaises extensively with third sector and public sector groups. She is currently co-investigator of Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute and the Trust in Autonomous Systems hub. Additionally she acts as an advisor on several other academic projects as well as within the users group within the International Energy Agency’s Technology Collaboration Partnership. Professional memberships include the International Environmental Psychology Network, the British Environmental Psychology Society, and the International Society for the Study of Digital Footprints (ISSDF). 

Alexa has achieved over 70 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, including Nature Climate Change, Nature Energy, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition to her research activities, Spence teaches at an undergraduate and postgraduate level at the University of Nottingham. She is the Deputy Director of Research within the School of Psychology as well as the Fellowships Lead.

Professor Alexa Spence and her colleagues are working on the Data donation for climate action project.

Watch Alexa and Professor James Goulding talking about their smart data research at the Digital Footprints 2025, and meet our other Smart Data Research UK accelerator teams.