Rate My Professor Birgitta Gatersleben

Birgitta Gatersleben is Professor of Environmental Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Surrey, where she leads the Environmental Psychology Research Group and the associated MSc programme. She earned her MSc from the University of Leiden in 1994 and her PhD from the University of Groningen in 1998. Joining the University of Surrey in 2001, she serves as Head of the Environmental Psychology section and Programme Leader for the MSc in Environmental Psychology. She teaches modules such as The Psychology of Sustainable Development, The Psychology of Architecture and Planning Research, Key Questions in Environmental Psychology, Social Change and Influence, and Academic Research Training, and runs a one-week statistics course for MSc students. Her research investigates people-environment interactions, emphasizing how physical environments influence feelings, thoughts, and behaviors, particularly the relationship between environmental sustainability and human wellbeing.

Gatersleben's work centers on environmental sustainability and wellbeing, with specific foci on nature engagement, active transport, and consumerism. She is co-director of the £6.25 million ESRC-funded ACCESS network (2022-2027), which champions environmental social science to address climate challenges. As principal investigator, she leads an ESRC project on wellbeing benefits from nature engagement during the pandemic and the Dunhill Medical Trust-funded Birds and Bees project, co-designing conservation activities to promote nature engagement among older people. She is also co-investigator on the UGPN project Less Netflix, more nature, exploring green social prescribing perceptions. Previous involvement includes major interdisciplinary programmes like CUSP, RESOLVE, and Elicit on sustainable prosperity and wellbeing. Key publications include Measurement and Determinants of Environmentally Significant Consumer Behavior (Environment and Behavior, 2002), Values, identity and pro-environmental behaviour (Contemporary Social Science, 2014), and recent works such as Man or bear? How gender affects experiences of natural environments (Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2025) and Noticing nature: The role of environmental awareness in promoting well-being (People and Nature, 2025). Her Google Scholar profile shows over 13,900 citations. In 2026, she was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.