School of Social and Political Science

Background

Darrick's research and teaching lie in the broad area of environmental politics and governance.  He is particularly focused on energy policy, both at domestic and international/global scales.  Much of his research examines the public as a non-state actor in environmental and energy policy debates.  He investigates public perceptions, preferences, and public actions taken in response to environmental and energy issues and policy decisions.  He is currently studying public perceptions of and reactions to climate change and energy transitions, specifically new technologies and approaches associated with more sustainable/green energy production and consumption.

Teaching: In typical years, Darrick's teaching includes: (1) an MSc course on environmental risks (perceptions, communication, and ethics), (2) a unit on Global Environmental Politics in the post-graduate 'Global Environment: Key Issues' course, (3) units on International Governance and Environmental Justice in the two introductory undergraduate Sustainable Development courses, (4) a week on climate movements in the the STIS course 'Science, Nature and Environment', and (5) occasional guest lectures in the School of Geosciences.

Research: Darrick has published extensively on public perceptions of and reactions to energy development and energy transitions in North America and the UK.   He has also examined public knowledge and attitudes towards climate policy.  His colleagues, co-authors, and collaborators span a large range of nations across six continents.  He relies on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, often combining them in his research and teaching.  He feels strongly that the methods chosen for research should be suited to the question asked, not the reverse.

Funding: Darrick's research has been funded previously by the ESRC and NERC research councils within UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the European Commission (Horizon 2020 and Marie Curie Actions), the Scottish Parliament, the Norwegian Research Council, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US National Park Service, the US Department of Agriculture, and the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC).  He is currently:

• Co-investigator on a UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) large grant examining 'hydro-mechanics of fluid-induced seismicity in the context of the green-energy transition'; Darrick's work package addresses public perceptions and reactions to the technologies and industry (2022-2027);
• Principal investigator on a UK NERC grant, run through the British Geological Survey (BGS), that works to establish a social science baseline for the BGS's Carbon Storage Research Facility Project (2023-2024);
• Co-Investigator on a European Commission (Horizon Europe) grant that seeks to establish a 'zero emission network to facilitate CCUS uptake in industrial clusters' (2022-2024);
• Principal investigator on a small seed grant awarded through a collaborative relationship between the University of Edinburgh, Cornell University, and King's College London, exploring public perceptions and risk communication about deep geothermal energy in the UK and US (2023-2024);

Work with Darrick:  Dr Evensen is no longer considering PhD students for Autumn 2024 entry.

If you are interested in studying at the University of Edinburgh with Darrick (i.e., PhD research) in a future year (autumn 2025 or later), please do not hesitate to send Darrick an e-mail with your background and potential connection to Darrick's research interests.

Recent Publications (2021 onwards):

        **For full list, see Google Scholar profile: https://bit.ly/327mdn2.

Evensen D, Sovacool B. 2024. Political economy of low-carbon electricity: Governance effects across 198 countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 189, 114016.

Dixon G, Hart S, Clarke C, Evensen D, Jacquet J. 2024. The complexity of pluralistic ignorance in Republican climate policy support. Communications Earth & Environment.

Li G† Evensen D, Stedman R. 2024. COVID-19’s effects on sense of place, pro-environmental behaviour in Wuhan. Geographical Research. 

Ferguson M, Robinson T, Ferguson L, Evensen D, Schwartz F, Gonyo S, Freitag A. 2024. Cultivating commitment: How cultural ecosystem services affect visitor loyalty attitudes and intention to return to parks and protected areas. Ecosystems and People, 20, 2297560.

Evensen D, Whitmarsh L, Devine-Wright P, Dickie J, Bartie P, Foad C, Bradshaw M, Ryder S, Mayer A, Varley A. 2023. Growing importance of climate change beliefs for attitudes towards gas. Nature Climate Change, 13, 240-243.

Evensen D, Warren G, Bouder F. 2023. Satisfaction with governmental risk communication both increases and decreases COVID-19 mitigation behaviours. International Journal of Public Health, 68, 1604966.

Sørensen M*, Evensen D. 2023. Framing the Covid-19 pandemic: A comparative analysis of Swedish and Danish crisis communication. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. 

Clarke C, Evensen D. 2023. Attention to news media coverage of unconventional oil/gas development impacts: Exploring psychological antecedents and effects on issue support. Energy Policy, 173, 113355.

Sovacool B, Evensen D, Kwan T, Petit V. 2023. Building a green future: Examining the job creation potential of electricity, heating, and storage in low-carbon buildings. The Electricity Journal, 36, 107274.

Ferguson M, Lynch M, Evensen D, Ferguson L, Barcelona R, Giles G. 2023. The nature of the pandemic: Negative impacts of COVID-19 upon recreation visitor experiences in parks and protected areas. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 100498.

Bartie P, Varley A, Dickie J, Evensen D, Devine-Wright P, Ryder S, Whitmarsh L, Foad C. 2023. Great Britain’s spatial twitter activity related to ‘fracking’. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 103, 101978.

Evensen D, Varley A, Whitmarsh L, Devine-Wright P, Dickie J, Bartie P, Napier H, Mosca I, Foad C, Ryder S. 2022. Effect of linguistic framing and information provision on attitudes towards induced seismicity and seismicity regulation. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15448-4.

Evensen D. 2022. Public perceptions of carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS). Oxford Energy Forum, 130, 21-24.

Evensen D, Graham G. 2022. The irreplaceable value of air travel to in-person conferences. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 83, 101880.

Bradshaw M, Devine-Wright P, Evensen D, King O, Martin A, Ryder S, Short D, Sovacool B, Stretesky P, Szolucha A, Williams L. 2022. ‘We’re going all out for shale’: Explaining shale gas failure in the United Kingdom. Energy Policy, 168, 113132.

Theodori G, Wynveen B, Measham T, Evensen D. 2022. A Systematic Quantitative Review of the Perceived Environmental and Natural Resource-Related Impacts of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development. The Extractive Industries and Society, 12, 101176.

Mahdavian F, Warren G, Evensen D, Bouder F. 2022. The relationship between barriers and drivers of COVID-19 protective behaviors in Germany and the UK. International Journal of Public Health, 67, 1604970.

Ferguson M, Giles G, Ferguson L, Barcelona R, Evensen D, Barrows C, Leberman M. 2022. Seeing the forest for the trees: A social-ecological systems approach to managing outdoor recreation visitation in parks and protected areas. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, 38, 100473.

Ferguson M, Caraynoff A, Ferguson L, Barcelona R, Evensen D, Knox H, Pytlik S, Grosz D. 2022. Whether They Return: Modeling Outdoor Recreation Behaviors, Decision-making, and Intention-to-return in Congressionally Designated Wilderness. Forests.

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 USA, 118, e2018936118.

MacEwen M†, Evensen D. 2021. Mind the gap: Accounting for gender in energy democracy in Kenya. Energy Research and Social Science, 71, 101843.

Ferguson M, Evensen D, Bidwell D, Ferguson L, Firestone J, Mitchell C, Dooley T. 2021. Uncharted waters: Exploring coastal recreation impacts, coping behaviors, and attitudes towards offshore wind energy development in the United States. Energy Research and Social Science 75, 102029.

Luke H, Evensen D. 2021. After the dust settles: Community resilience legacies of unconventional gas development. The Extractive Industries and Society 8, 100856.

Sarmadi M, Rahimi S, Evensen D, Moghaddam V. 2021. Interaction between meteorological parameters and Covid-19: An ecological study of 406 authorities of the UK. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-15279-2.

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 81, 102247.

Balog-Way D, Evensen D, Löfstedt R, Bouder F. 2021. Effects of public trust on behavioural intentions in the pharmaceutical sector: Data from six EU countries. Journal of Risk Research, 24, 645-672.

†  A cross (†) denotes a postgraduate (MSc or PhD) student co-author.

*  An asterisk (*) denotes an undergraduate student co-author.