Dr. Lucy Atkinson is an Associate Professor in the School of Advertising & PR in the Moody College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin.

She has been PI on grants totaling more than $1M from government and industry sources. These grants support research exploring stakeholder communication around climate change issues. She is the PI of an industry-funded grant ($580,000 from Exxon Mobil), examining public opinion and message testing about Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). This grant builds on a Department of Energy grant, for which she is Co-PI ($339,180 for her portion), that examines mental models around CCS among stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico and tests appropriate outreach messages. She is also PI on a $180,000 grant funded by Merck and Meta examining COVID vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans. This study assesses the role of medical mistrust in vaccine hesitancy and tests different messages via social media to boost vaccine uptake. Most recently, Atkinson is PI on a grant from the City of Austin ($100,000) looking at AI-assisted emergency preparedness to enhance resilience and equity in underserved communities during climate change-induced weather events. Atkinson’s work has appeared in top-ranked flagship journals, like the Journal of Advertising, Health Communication, Environmental Communication, Science Communication and New Media & Society.

Her work on sustainability and environmental communication has established her as an expert outside of academia. She has worked with stakeholders such as the City of Austin, the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College (London, UK), and Ipsos Public Affairs to provide expert commentary on public opinion about climate change and sustainability. Outside of academia, her work has been covered in international and national news media, including the Guardian (UK) newspaper, and National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition and On Point with Tom Ashbrook.

In addition to her research, Dr. Atkinson also serves as Associate Director of the Global Sustainability Leadership Institute, which trains students to be leaders around issues of environmental communication, responsible innovation, and corporate sustainability. She is also a senior faculty research affiliate with the Center for Media Engagement in the Moody College of Communication.

She teaches classes on advertising history, environmental communication, integrated communication campaigns, and consumer psychology. In 2016 she was named a recipient of the UT System Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award and in 2017 was named a Provost Teaching Fellow.

Before pursuing her doctorate, Atkinson worked for several years as a newspaper reporter in New York.

Atkinson completed her Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her M.A. at New York University and her B.A. at McGill University

She teaches classes on advertising history, environmental communication, integrated communication campaigns and consumer psychology. In 2016 she was named a recipient of the UT System Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award and in 2017 was named a Provost Teaching Fellow.

Before pursuing her doctorate, Atkinson worked for several years as a newspaper reporter in New York.

Atkinson completed her M.A. at New York University and her B.A. at McGill University.