Career background
I am an Assistant Professor in Strategy and Enterprise in the Management Department at Edinburgh Business School.

Prior to moving into academia, I worked in sustainability management for over ten years. I was Research and Policy Manager in the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability at the University of Edinburgh, working on socially responsible supply chains and procurement, responsible investment, circular economy, and the university as a Living Lab. I worked for international and local non-governmental organisations in Senegal and India, on sustainability certifications and value chain development.

I completed a PhD in Psychology at the University of Edinburgh in 2022, and then gained ESRC funding for a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Heriot-Watt, before becoming an Assistant Professor.

Areas of expertise
My areas of expertise are sustainability in organisations (environmental and social) and qualitative analysis of interactions using discursive psychology. I have specific knowledge of product and supply chain sustainability, in product development/design and public procurement.
    
Research interests
I am particularly interested in studying conversations in business and organisation settings in which sustainability factors are discussed, for example in workplace meetings. I am interested in understanding micro discursive aspects of decision-making and social influence related to sustainability strategy.
    
Research methods expertise
I have experience of collecting and analysing recordings of naturally occurring discussions, and conducting and analysing semi-structured interviews. I developed expertise in discursive psychology to analyse talk-in-interaction during my PhD. I have also conducted thematic analysis when collaborating on other research projects. 
    
Disciplinary intersections
My research spans several disciplines. I currently draw on discursive social psychology to understand sustainable business phenomena, including design and engineering decision-making, and sustainability management.
    
Research collaborations
I am seeking new collaborations with engineering and design scholars and practitioners, and with sustainability professionals, to study negoitiation, influence, and decision-making through analysing workplace interactions between stakeholders.
    

British Academy of Management Transitions 1 grant 'Role morality and sustainability professionals: managing expectations of sustainable behaviours in work and non-work roles' https://www.bam.ac.uk/grants/project-repository/funded-transitions-1-projects/2025-liz-cooper.html Grant Ref: 2025-T1-525 (£5,772.69; 2025-2027).

British Academy Early Career Researcher Network Development Fund 'Researching Sustainability Management – Developing Interdisciplinary Understandings Of New And Emerging Sustainability Professions' DEV12425\24011 (£906.18; 2025). 

Economic and Social Research Council postdoctoral fellowship ‘Developing the contribution of discursive psychology to sustainable business and circular economy research’, grant number ES/Y009916/1. (£108,875; 2023-2024).
    
Principal’s Career Development Scholarship (University of Edinburgh) to fund PhD research ‘Navigating expectations for sustainable product design: a discursive psychology analysis of designers’ accounts’ (2019-2022).
    
Collaborative bid writing and project management for EU Commission funded 3-year research project 'Make ICT Fair', partnering with ten NGOs across Europe (€3,885,000; 2017-2020).

Alongside my research on sustainability in organisations, I currently devise content and learning activities for, and teach on, three undergraduate courses - Sustainable Business (C17SB), Sustainable Change Management (C10SA) and Leading in Organisations (C10LO). I am the Year 4 Coordinator for the business management Graduate Apprenticeships programme. I have previously taught research methods at postgraduate and undergraduate levels, and various management and psychology courses at undergraduate level. I supervise undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and doctoral candidates.

Within Heriot-Watt, I am an active member of two funded research labs - the Sustainable Circular Innovation Lab and the SOCIAL social psycholgy lab (deputy lead). Externally, I am a member of the British Academy of Management (Sustainable and Responsible Business); British Academy Early Career Researcher Network; EAUC; and Royal Society of Edinburgh Young Academy of Scotland.

I am a peer reviewer of funding bids for the British Academy Early Career Researcher Network and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. I am a member of the ESRC Peer Review College. I have previously been a reviewer for the EAUC Green Gown Awards.