Alexa Green is a PhD candidate at the Strathclyde Institute for Sustainable Communities (SISC), within the University of Strathclyde's Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Innovation. Her research focuses on exploring inclusive planning approaches that effectively harness community insights “at the right time, from the right people, in the right way”, in order to ensure sustainable transitions are aligned with community needs. Recognising that communities are on the frontlines of climate change and other environmental crises, her work emphasises the necessity of civil society leadership in localised climate action and wider resilience-building.

Alexa's PhD is the first to be funded through the newly established SISC; a cross-faculty initiative that underscores the pivotal role of communities in fostering sustainability. SISC is co-led by Director Professor Matt Hannon from the Strathclyde Business School and Deputy Director Dr Jennifer Roberts from Civil & Environmental Engineering.

With a long-standing passion for human-environment interactions, Alexa holds a BSc in Psychology and a BA in Sustainability Studies from the University of Florida, as well as an MSc in Environmental Protection and Management from the University of Edinburgh. Her master’s thesis focused on how climate change was framed to members of Scotland’s Climate Assembly and how this affected the recommendations made for climate policy.

Previously, Alexa was a Research Associate at Scotland’s Rural College's Rural Policy Centre, where she studied community-driven climate responses including circular economy initiatives on Scottish islands and coastal communities’ vulnerability to climate change. She completed a SEFARI fellowship exploring participatory approaches to policy development for decarbonising transport to and within Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. She also worked with the UNEP Global Peatlands Initiative to help organise workshops with leading scientists and stakeholders in Peru, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo to discuss ways to improve governance around tropical peatland protection using the Three Horizons framework.

Alexa is most interested in understanding how communities can engage in sustainable action and shape transformative policies for a just and sustainable transition in Scotland and abroad. More information about her research can be viewed via Pure and she can be reached by email at alexa.green@strath.ac.uk