Rebecca Willis

Rebecca Willis (born 20 February 1972 ) is a British consultant and academic, who holds a professorship in energy and climate governance at the University of Lancaster. Her advisory work has addressed the intersection of environment, especially climate change and energy, with politics and public policy. Her research concerns environmental and sustainability policy.

Biography Willis graduated with a BA in social and policy sciences from King's College, Cambridge in 1994 and took a master's degree in environment, development and policy at the University of Sussex in 1996.

From 2004 until it was closed in 2011, Willis was vice-chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, an advisory body to the UK governments. She was a non-academic member of the council of the UK government's Natural Environment Research Council from August 2011 until 2015.

From 2014, Willis has been associated with the University of Lancaster, where she was awarded a doctoral degree by publication in sociology in 2018 and appointed professor of practice in 2019. In partial response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the assembly's final report supported economic recovery measures that reduced greenhouse gases and encouraged green changes to lifestyles.

In 2020, Willis was awarded a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship. She took up the chair in energy and climate governance at Lancaster University in 2021.

Personal life Willis is divorced and has two sons.