School of Social and Political Science

Dr Cat Acheson

Research Associate

Photograph of Dr Cat Acheson, a white woman who wears glasses and has red hair.
C.Acheson@ed.ac.uk
Room 1.65
Old Surgeon's Hall
High School Yards
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH1 1LZ

Research interests

Energy, environment and sustainability Global health policy Science, knowledge and policy

Plastics, Discard Studies, Environmental Justice, Science and Technology Studies, Anti-Colonial Research, Environment and Sustainability, Intersectionality 

Background

Dr Cat Acheson (she/her) is a postdoctoral Research Associate on the Wellcome-funded project ‘After the Single Use: Rethinking Plastics in Healthcare’. Cat’s work explores global efforts to transition away from single-use and toxic plastics in healthcare, with a focus on the role of intergovernmental organisations and civil society. She is currently conducting research on the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. 

Cat completed her PhD at the University of East Anglia in 2024, in the Science, Society and Sustainability (3S) research group in the School of Environmental Sciences. She has a background in intersectional climate justice and grassroots innovations. 

Cat holds a Masters' degree in Environment, Culture and Communication from the University of Glasgow, and an MA Hons. degree in English Literature from the University of Glasgow. She was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2023. Cat has also previously worked at Zero Waste Scotland and for the University of London's sustainability team.

Works within

Publications by user content

Publication Research Explorer link
Knapp P, Perrin A, Acheson C, Scagliotti V, Van Der Velden M. Climate activism in science. In Farley M, editor, The Sustainability of Science: How Science Impacts the Environment and What Can Be Done . London: Royal Society of Chemistry. 2026. p. 393-432 doi: 10.1039/9781837672202-00393
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Acheson C. Discarding well? Justice and collective care in two grassroots waste initiatives in the UK. Geoforum. 2025 Dec;167:1-11. 104440. Epub 2025 Oct 26. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2025.104440
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Acheson C, Street A, Ralston R. Plastics and human health: What’s at stake in the global treaty talks in Geneva. The Conversation. 2025 Aug 5.
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Acheson C. [Review of] Recycling class: The Contradictions of Inclusion in Urban Sustainability: by Manisha Anantharaman, MIT Pres: Cambridge, MA, 2024. xi-254 pp. index. $45.00 (paperback). $44.99 (ebook). open access, ISBN 9780262546973 and 9780262376983. Environmental Politics. 2025 Jan 23;1-3. doi: 10.1080/09644016.2025.2457830
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Acheson C, Hargreaves T, Pallet H, Seyfang G. Exploring intersectional approaches to waste through grassroots innovations in the U.K. Local Environment. 2024 Jun 28;29(10):1287-1306. doi: 10.1080/13549839.2024.2368523
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Acheson C, Dixon C, Hoerbst F, Irving S, Senior N, Sharma N. Activism and Advocacy as a Researcher. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. 2023, p. 1-3.
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Acheson C. The Intersectionality of Grassroots Innovations for Sustainable Consumption. 2022.
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Acheson C. What does “the public” look like? Protest, power, and erasure at COP26. 3S Blog. 2021 Nov 26.
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Cat Acheson's Research Explorer profile