Rate My Professor Joanne Smith

Professor Joanne Smith serves as Head of Department and Professor of Social Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Exeter. She obtained her PhD in 2003 from the University of Queensland, focusing on the impact of social influence processes. Her career at Exeter commenced as a Lecturer in the Department of Psychology in October 2007, advancing to Associate Professor from October 2009 to March 2015, and subsequently to Professor from March 2015 onwards. In addition to her professorial roles, she previously held the position of Director of Research for the Department of Psychology. Smith is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, awarded in January 2012.

Her research centers on social psychology, encompassing social influence, group dynamics, attitudes and behavior, social identity, and environmental psychology. As a member of the Social, Environmental, and Organisational research group (SEORG), she explores how descriptive and injunctive group norms affect intentions and behaviors in domains including pro-environmental actions, health decisions, charitable giving, learning analytics in higher education, and water consumption feedback. Notable publications include 'Social influence in the theory of planned behaviour: The role of descriptive, injunctive, and in‐group norms' (2009), 'Integration of social identities in the self: Toward a cognitive-developmental model' (2007), 'Charitable giving: The effectiveness of a revised theory of planned behaviour model in predicting donating intentions and behaviour' (2007), 'Congruent or conflicted? The impact of injunctive and descriptive norms on environmental intentions' (2012), 'The efficacy of learning analytics interventions in higher education: A systematic review' (2019), and 'Student engagement and wellbeing over time at a higher education institution' (2019). Her scholarship has garnered over 5,900 citations on ResearchGate. Smith served as Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Social Psychology from 2018 to 2020. Under her leadership, the Department of Psychology ranked in the global top 100 in the Times Higher Education subject rankings.