Geoffrey Henderson is an assistant professor in the Environmental Policy and Planning specialization. He joined SEAS from Colby College, where he was a visiting assistant professor of environmental studies. His research focuses on how to make democracy work better in the context of large-scale environmental problems, primarily climate change.

His work considers how organized groups shape climate policy debates by mobilizing people to participate, influencing voting behavior, and building coalitions. He has studied efforts to engage people in small-dollar campaign finance and environmental activism, how climate communication affects attitudes, and how representatives learn their constituents' opinions.

His August 2026 book, Getting to Work on Climate Policy, examines the question of why organized labor advocates alongside environmental groups for climate policy in some times and places but not others. Drawing on case studies of four states--California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington--the book argues that legislative gridlock on climate policy motivates environmental groups to build coalitions, and that labor is more likely to join these coalitions when the policymaking process provides certainty about economic benefits for workers such as union job creation.

After receiving his PhD in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. Prior to academia, he worked as a climate policy researcher at the World Resources Institute. He received his BA in political science from Haverford College.