Overview
Stacia works on an interdisciplinary, mixed-methods research project funded by the UK Natural Environmental Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council, entitled ‘Attitudes toward Shale Gas in Space and Time.’ The project is focused on exploring how public responses to shale gas development unfold at national, regional, and local scales in the UK. She is also working on a second research project funded through the same program, which focuses on risk perception and community engagement in the context of geothermal energy. She is the lead editor of the just-released book "Environmental Justice in the Anthropocene: From (Un)Just Presents to Just Futures.” Stacia received her PhD in Sociology in 2019 from Colorado State University, where her dissertation work involved multi-sited critical policy ethnography to explore how power exacerbates issues of procedural justice across multiple governance scale decision-making processes for regulating oil and gas development in Colorado’s Front Range.
Broad Research Specialisms
Temporality, spatiality, scale and power in environmental, energy and climate justice contexts.
Research
Research interests
Temporality, spatiality, scale and power in environmental, energy and climate justice contexts.
Research projects
Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of public attitudes and community responses to shale gas: an integrated approach (UKUH), Risk perceptions and public engagement with geothermal energy (UKUH), Just Transitions for Industrial Decarbonisation in the UK (IDRIC)
Research networks
Earth System Governance
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Mayer A, Ryder S (2022). Food, Energy, and Water Security in the Era of COVID-19: Preliminary Evidence from Colorado, United States. Environmental Justice, 15(5), 306-312.
Evensen D, Whitmarsh L, Bartie P, Devine-Wright P, Dickie J, Varley A, Ryder S, Mayer A (2021). Effect of “finite pool of worry” and COVID-19 on UK climate change perceptions.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
118(3).
Abstract:
Effect of “finite pool of worry” and COVID-19 on UK climate change perceptions
Research reveals that a “finite pool of worry” constrains concern about and action on climate change. Nevertheless, a longitudinal panel survey of 1,858 UK residents, surveyed in April 2019 and June 2020, reveals little evidence for diminishing climate change concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the sample identifies climate change as a bigger threat than COVID-19. The findings suggest climate change has become an intransigent concern within UK public consciousness.
Abstract.
Devine-Wright P, Ryder S, Dickie J, Evensen D, Varley A, Whitmarsh L, Bartie P (2021). Induced seismicity or political ploy?: Using a novel mix of methods to identify multiple publics and track responses over time to shale gas policy change.
Energy Research and Social Science,
81Abstract:
Induced seismicity or political ploy?: Using a novel mix of methods to identify multiple publics and track responses over time to shale gas policy change
To date, little research has investigated how public perceptions of policies to ban or restrict fossil-fuel extraction change over time; yet this topic is of crucial importance as countries worldwide seek to transition towards ‘net zero’ economies. This study addresses this gap by focusing on public responses to the 2019 moratorium on shale gas extraction in England, using an analytical framework comprising awareness, interpretations and opinions, and a mixed-method approach combining national survey, social media and local case interviews. Findings show high levels of awareness and support for the moratorium, yet differences between coalitions of interest based on ideology, scale and demographics. Social media analyses reveal a peak in public response across several days during a general election campaign in which different parties took divergent positions on shale gas. Public support for the moratorium – and induced seismicity as the primary reason for its introduction - was evidenced by the national survey, yet coincided with scepticism about its timing, extent and motivation, as indicated by social media activity and local case interviews. For some publics, the moratorium was a ploy to ensure electoral support, embedded in public distrust. This study indicates the merits of a mixed-method approach to understand the psychological and institutional context of public responses to policy change as it unfolds over time, and discusses the longer term implications of politicised attitudes for energy transitions.
Abstract.
Publications by year
2022
Mayer A, Ryder S (2022). Food, Energy, and Water Security in the Era of COVID-19: Preliminary Evidence from Colorado, United States. Environmental Justice, 15(5), 306-312.
2021
Evensen D, Whitmarsh L, Bartie P, Devine-Wright P, Dickie J, Varley A, Ryder S, Mayer A (2021). Effect of “finite pool of worry” and COVID-19 on UK climate change perceptions.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
118(3).
Abstract:
Effect of “finite pool of worry” and COVID-19 on UK climate change perceptions
Research reveals that a “finite pool of worry” constrains concern about and action on climate change. Nevertheless, a longitudinal panel survey of 1,858 UK residents, surveyed in April 2019 and June 2020, reveals little evidence for diminishing climate change concern during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, the sample identifies climate change as a bigger threat than COVID-19. The findings suggest climate change has become an intransigent concern within UK public consciousness.
Abstract.
Devine-Wright P, Ryder S, Dickie J, Evensen D, Varley A, Whitmarsh L, Bartie P (2021). Induced seismicity or political ploy?: Using a novel mix of methods to identify multiple publics and track responses over time to shale gas policy change.
Energy Research and Social Science,
81Abstract:
Induced seismicity or political ploy?: Using a novel mix of methods to identify multiple publics and track responses over time to shale gas policy change
To date, little research has investigated how public perceptions of policies to ban or restrict fossil-fuel extraction change over time; yet this topic is of crucial importance as countries worldwide seek to transition towards ‘net zero’ economies. This study addresses this gap by focusing on public responses to the 2019 moratorium on shale gas extraction in England, using an analytical framework comprising awareness, interpretations and opinions, and a mixed-method approach combining national survey, social media and local case interviews. Findings show high levels of awareness and support for the moratorium, yet differences between coalitions of interest based on ideology, scale and demographics. Social media analyses reveal a peak in public response across several days during a general election campaign in which different parties took divergent positions on shale gas. Public support for the moratorium – and induced seismicity as the primary reason for its introduction - was evidenced by the national survey, yet coincided with scepticism about its timing, extent and motivation, as indicated by social media activity and local case interviews. For some publics, the moratorium was a ploy to ensure electoral support, embedded in public distrust. This study indicates the merits of a mixed-method approach to understand the psychological and institutional context of public responses to policy change as it unfolds over time, and discusses the longer term implications of politicised attitudes for energy transitions.
Abstract.
Refresh publications
External Engagement and Impact
Environment & Society Director, Exeter Community Energy
