Professor Patrick Devine-Wright was conferred to the Fellowship of the Academy in spring 2025. He is Professor in Human Geography and Director of the Advancing Capacity for Climate and Environment Social Science (ACCESS) project, and ESRC-funded project led by the universities of Exeter and Surrey. Patrick’s research focuses on the social and geographical dimensions of low carbon energy transitions, and he is particularly in interested in the dynamics of local siting controversies – often referred to as ‘NIMBYism’ – including technologies such as onshore and offshore wind farms, and high voltage power lines.
Professor Patrick Devine-WrightFAcSS
Informed by theoretical ideas from Environmental Psychology and Human Geography, Patrick developed a novel approach drawing on concepts of place attachment and place identity to understand why communities feel threatened by large-scale infrastructure proposals. His research has been ranked in the world’s top 1% of social science according to citation of publications in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Patrick received an Achievement award in 2014 for the book ‘Place Attachment’, which he co-edited with Professor Lynne Manzo; and he was a Distinguished Visiting Scientist at CSIRO, Australia between 2012-2013. Patrick is currently Adjunct Professor in Geography at Trinity College, Dublin and Honorary Lecturer in Geography and Planning at the University of Liverpool.
As his career has progressed, Patrick has become more committed to ensuring that social science evidence informs policy and practice. He was selected as a Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 6th Assessment report on Climate Mitigation; was a member of the Social Science Expert Panel advising Defra and DECC, Chair of the Devon Net Zero Task Force and Chair of Exeter Community Energy. For the past three years, he has been Director of the £6.25m ACCESS (Advancing Capacity in Climate and Environment Social Science) leadership team working to increase the visibility, use and impact of social science to tackle environmental problems.
Why do the social sciences matter?
On environmental problems such as climate change, the view is often expressed that new technologies are the answer. We just need to build more wind farms or drive electric cars. These ‘technocentric’ views fail to recognise that all new technologies are embedded in society and environment. The social sciences are crucial to understand their human dimensions, not least how they can be deployed or adopted in ways that are fair to society as a whole, and to local communities on the ground.
What do you enjoy most about your work?
I would say, bringing social science insights and evidence to the attention of decision-makers, particular those working in government; enabling and empowering early career social scientists to work in a theoretically informed way, but with practical outcomes; and collaborating with and learning from others, particularly experts from other disciplines.
What is the most urgent issue social scientists need to tackle today and within the next three years?
To me, the most urgent issue that we face globally is the environment and climate emergency. I worry about what kind of world we will pass on to future generations. I studied Environmental Psychology 30 years ago, driven by curiosity about how humanity is influenced by our environment. This has now been complemented by an interest in the impacts we are having on that same environment, individually and collectively, locally and globally. Social science is central to understanding those impacts, as environmental problems are caused by humanity. That is why the ACCESS project is so important, to make visible how social science evidence and insights can better help us to understand, and to solve, those urgent and serious environmental problems.
What does being a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences mean to you?
I see it as a wonderful opportunity to learn from and collaborate with existing Fellows to raise the visibility and impact of social science. Being a Fellow is also a way of recognising all of the collaborators, from postdoctoral students and researchers to non-academic partners, that I have worked with over the years across numerous research projects and initiatives. Thank you to all!