Student Workshop: Learning from the Bridgetown Initiative
The Global Studies department held the workshop "The Practice of Climate Governance: Negotiating the Bridgetown Initiative in Global Institutions" for MA students.
Academic Background: I did Asian Studies at Griffith University, Australia specializing in development studies. My honours thesis examined the emerging role of markets in centrally planned economies such as the PRC. For my PhD, my academic interestes shifted to Latin America and for my thesis I looked at banking sector reforms in Central America during the 1980s and 1990s. My first post PhD job was at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, where I conducted research on the interaction between microfinance and the subsitence economy. This line of research carried on when I took up a research position at the Foundation for Development Cooperation in Brisbane in 2008. My interest in the South Pacific continued but in a different setting. In, 2010 I accepted a position at the Center for Social Responsibility in Mining at the Universty of Queensland where I conducted research on the socio-economic impacts of mining projects. In 2012, I took up a position as senior social scientist with giant consulting firm Worley. After wrecking havoc in other parts of the world, the Global Financial Crisis finally arrived in Australia and the company lost many contracts in a matter of months, which resulted in I reduntancy for many, including me. I dedicated the next 18 months to taking care of my 2 daughters and wife: cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, washing clothes, taking kids to kindergarten and school, entertaining them after school and organising the home front while my wife worked full time. Being a stay at home dad is the most difficult job I’ve had so I salute all those who do it. In 2014, I move to Denmark with my whole family to start my current position. You can visit the PURE page to find out more about my professional self.
My research in a nutshell: I specialize in the governance of natural resources. I also look at the socio-economic impacts of non-renewable resource extraction in Latin America, the South Pacific and Greenland. My most recent project deals with finding economic alternatives for rural communities in El Salvador.
If you would not be a researcher, what do you think would be your profession today and why? It is difficult for me to think of any other profession, other than being a researcher but I do have another passion: cooking! I love cooking for myself and others because I get into a very good mood almost every time I cook. My favorite is food from South East Asia but I also like cooking my own version of Indian, Latin American and Italian food. I’m a vegetarian so finding interesting vegetarian recipes from around the world is one of my favorite past times. If one day, I get tired of being a researcher, I think I may buy a food truck and start selling my dishes to people.
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Academic Background:
I did my MA studies in History, Philosophy and English, at the Free University in Berlin and have a Master of Modern European History from St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford. My PhD is from the European University Institute in Florence and was a trilingual, transnational analysis of constructions of national identity and ‘imagined authenticity’ in travel writings. After the PhD I spent several years in different kinds of research positions both in academia but also in NGOs and public institutions. In 2007 I became Assistant Professor in International History at Aarhus University and since 2010 I have been Associate Professor for Global and European History. I am also the coordinator of the MA in International Studies.
My research in a nutshell:
My research focuses on global conceptual history as well as European and global history. Recently, I have been interested in applying a global conceptual historical approach to the study of neoliberalism. I have analyzed the thoughts and concepts of early neoliberals, focusing on how they sought to reconstruct liberalism in the crises of the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. This has led me to study global networks of intellectuals during this period, including around the League of Nations. Following up on the insights gained from this, my latest research project Global Governance Beyond Neoliberalism, looked more at our current moment and possible futures. Through a round of seminars focusing on different concepts and themes of global governance, the project sought to ask questions about where global governance is at now, and where it is heading.
Who is your favorite neoliberal thinker and why?
That would clearly be Jacques Rueff. And he is so, because he is one of the most influential intellectuals and policymakers but probably also one of the most unknown and unrecognized. It’s not that I like everything he says, but he is my favorite. He was simply everywhere.
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Academic Background: I have a BA summa cum laude in International Relations from the University of Minnesota, and an MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.
My research in a nutshell: My research has always revolved around politics and culture in one form or another. Over the years I have studied several social movements including the Global Justice Movement, the British Anti-Roads Movement, and Spain’s 15-M “Indignados” Movement, which emerged following the 2008 global financial crash. I have also done research on victims of terrorism and how they have been instrumentalized by political elites. Some of †he puzzles that have motivated my research have been questions like “What makes heterogeneous groups of people able to work together in the absence of any external incentive (e.g. getting paid to) or common identity?” or “Does email help facilitate democratic forms of participation or does it actually exacerbate offline hierarchies?”. These kinds of puzzles lead to my theoretical insights, such as my work on collective identity or social movement innovation on democracy.
What is your favorite place and why? I have many favorite places. One of them is Granada in Spain. It is the result of many beautiful and rich cultures, (Moors, Romans, Jews and Christians). The food traditions are Arab-Andalucían with strong Arab and Jewish heritage. The Alhambra is spectacular and the setting is stunning with the Sierra Nevada mountains all around and the intense blue sky. I love the architecture, all the tea shops, and the feeling of proximity to North Africa. The hammam is really beautiful too and wandering through the Albaicín connects me to the past. Finally, in Granada they go crazy with the tapas, you can drink a soda or a glass of wine and get enough food to call it dinner. It is just a magical place.
To learn more about my academic work Click Here
Academic Background:
My research in a nutshell:
In a nutshell, my research questions the often assumed environmental and social meaning of the concept of sustainability by asking the basic question of what this concept means in European Union policymaking. Through an international political economy lens, I investigate the political and economic norms, ideals and values that are embedded in the EU’s attempt to ‘mainstream’ or ‘integrate’ sustainability into different policy areas, such as ‘sustainable finance’. Methodologically, I use text analysis to interrogate official documents and I conduct interviews with civil servants to delineate how the sustainability narrative emerged and has evolved in the EU since the 1960s. The hope is that we can get a clearer picture of what to expect from future ‘sustainable Europe’ based on the current trajectory – in that sense my research certainly has a normative edge.
What is your favorite place the world and why?
In many ways I would tend to say that my favourite places in Europe are the ones that are the opposite of Denmark: Warm weather, diverse nature and mountainous landscapes where I can hike or cycle – even better if its within distance of a historic city, small enough to have a local feeling and large enough to have a good offering of modern food and coffee. One of my favourite cities in Europe is Valencia – an often-overlooked city with an interesting history, diverse neighborhoods, traditional and modern cuisine, and nicely located by the sea. And, of course, the home of a great Spanish football club.
I am interested in how knowledge is produced, primarily at the universities, and especially how this knowledge is (not) in turn contested. This involves a focus on education politics and policies, as well as institutional structures that either foster or inhibits knowledge contestation. This is investigated through a locus of the rising student movement challenging the educational paradigm in economics across Europe.
Current Research areas
To learn more about my academic work Click Here
Academic Background:
Both my BA and MA are from Aarhus University. I finished my BA in 2020 in comparative literature and philosophy. My BA project centered on an analysis of contemporary satire during the 2016 US presidential election. I finished my MA in International Studies in 2023. The MA thesis was a conceptual analysis of the concept of technocracy using justice as a conceptual lens to broaden perspectives on technocracy theory.
My research in a nutshell:
Building on my MA thesis, I hope to do a PhD at the department in the near future. A key finding of my thesis was the overlapping ideal of impartiality between justice and technocracy. From this theoretical angle, technocracy – especially on a global scale – promises justice via impartial governance. For my PhD I want to link this insight to the current crises of global governance by asking how expert actors at the WTO and WHO conceptualize technocracy and justice. The project will pay particular attention to conceptual contestations along three axis: inter-institutional contestations, intra-institutional contestations, and contestations along national, cultural backgrounds.
What is your favorite place the world and why?
I have always had a deep fascination and love for Southern Italy – especially Sicily. It is easy to fall into romanticized notions of the Mezzogiorno – this semi-mythical land of saints, demons, and cucina povera. These romances, often delivered to us through the imaginations of Southern Italy’s famous American children like Scorsese or Coppola, are not entirely incompatible with the bewildering reality of the place. Perhaps it is the region’s long and continuing history of sitting at so many crossroads, be they of trade, politics, conquest, or culture, that drives a sense of place almost constantly seeking to take you halfway around the globe, leaving you dizzy with no option but to pray to something: God, the Pope, Benedict the Moor, or Diego Maradona.