PhD Supervision

I am interested in supervising PhD students working in the following areas:

The governance of green and sustainable finance
Corporate climate action and net zero
The role of governments in creating enabling environments for impactful private environmental governance

I particularly welcome students who seek to combine theoretically rich scholarship with rigorous empirical analysis. While most of my PhD students have pursued qualitative research, I am also open to supervising projects that use mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) as part of a co-supervisory team.

Requirements

I will only consider supervising prospective applicants who:

Hold very strong academic grades from a reputable institution (equivalent to a Distinction overall and a Distinction in any dissertation-type component at Master’s level in the UK).
Are able to develop a compelling research proposal, firmly rooted in the academic literature, and one which makes a non-trivial contribution to scholarly debates in the field.

Step-by-step guidance on how to apply for PhD at the LSE can be found here.

A PhD can be a hugely rewarding endeavour, but it is not the right path for everyone. Success at doctoral level requires not only intellectual ability, but also hard work, resilience, and the tenacity to overcome the many challenges that arise during research. It is important to avoid romanticising doctoral study: it can involve setbacks, uncertainty, and extended periods of independent work.

If you are considering applying, I strongly encourage you to speak with current or recent PhD students to gain a clearer sense of both the highs and the lows, and to better understand the realities of undertaking doctoral research.

PhD Supervisions

Ongoing:

Nikolaus Hastreiter. Impact of sustainable finance on corporate carbon emissions.

Mohammed Adil Sait. Epistemic decolonisation, African minerals, and critical resource geography: implications for African development theory and practice.

Fernanda Sousa-Gimenes. Navigating political dynamics, institutions and ideas: Climate finance trajectories in Brazil.

Completed:

Matthias Taeger (2022). Constructing climate risk: how finance governs its relationship with the planet’s climate. Currently Postdoctoral Researcher at Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE.

Jonathan Barnes (2022). The assembly of climate finance in South Africa: politics, scale and justice. Currently Research Fellow in Climate Change Adaptation, University College London.

Janan Mousa (2022). Collective action in an exceptional governance context: a critical analysis of co-operative water management in the West Bank of Palestine.

Michal Nachmany (2016). The micro-dynamics of environmental policy diffusion: conditions, motivations, and mechanisms. Currently CEO at Climate Policy Radar.

Amelia Sharman (2015). Climate change as a knowledge controversy: investigating debates over science and policy. Currently Director Sustainability Reporting at External Reporting Board, New Zealand.

Maria Carvalho (2015). The internationalisation of green technologies and the realisation of green growth. Currently Head of Climate Economics and Data, NatWest Group.

Sander van der Linden (2014). The social-psychological determinants of climate change risk perceptions, intentions and behaviours: a national study. Currently Professor of Social Psychology in Society, University of Cambridge.

Katharina Rietig (2014). Learning in governance: the role of policy entrepreneurs in European climate policy integration. Currently Professor of Sustainability and International Politics, Newcastle University.

Misato Sato (2012). Carbon emissions and bilateral trade. Currently Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE.