Announcements
Call for PhD participants: Conducting research at global environmental negotiations
Call for PhD participants
Abstract deadline: June 30, 2019
Hannah Hugues (Cardiff University) and Alice Vadrot are looking for PhD students to participate as active discussants in a workshop on methods for Conducting research at global environmental negotiations.
The workshop will take place at the University of Vienna, 10th to 11th of September 2019.
Prospective participants need to have an interest and experience in researching global environmental negotiations, from the intergovernmental meeting to all elements of mega-events, including the COPs, side events, and surrounding protest to the more distant research site that is connected and impacted by these events.
Please send an abstract to maripoldata.erc@univie.ac.at of how your research interest might connect to the workshop by June 30th.
Workshop Abstract
Recent scholarship in Global Environmental Politics makes apparent the importance of gaining access and observing the making of global environmental agreements in order to understand the process and power relations of their formation (Campbell et al. 2014; Ciplet, Roberts and Khan 2015; Depledge 2013; Dimitrov 2010). As more scholars attend and collect data at intergovernmental meetings and global mega-events, the need to develop new conceptual and methodological apparatus to capture the dynamics within and between these sites has become apparent, which has resulted in interventions and developments in the field (Betsill and Correll 2007; Campbell et al. 2014; Corson et al. 2019; Hughes, Marion Suiseeya and Vadrot 2019).
While these innovations challenge our understanding of the people, practices, and power relations that shape global environmental politics, they do not provide practical guidance to those new to these study sites. An increasing number of scholars use the mega biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development conferences as sites to gain access to networks of global environmental politics and interview participants. Many also attend intergovernmental meeting sites to observe and document the actors, practices, discourses and institutional dynamics of global environmental agreement making. However, once on site, researchers do not always have a clear sense of how to cope with the scale of researching the complex interactions that are apparent on arrival, which meeting or side-event to attend, or from whom to collect data and how to make sense of it.
This workshop will bring together scholars experienced in global environmental negotiations and contributing to the development and application of conceptual and methodological innovations. The aim is to further develop these innovations and produce a guide for those new to the study of environmental meetings. To achieve this, the workshop will integrate the needs and perspectives of postgraduate scholars so that together we can explore how a new generation of research can be catalysed, the aim of which is to transform how we collectively study global environmental agreement making.
The Project
This workshop responds to the need for greater practical methodological guidance and is part of a series of events that are designed to facilitate in-depth discussion between experienced, early career and postgraduate researchers in order to develop appropriate research tools and frameworks. The workshop builds on work by Hughes and Vadrot as published in a recent special section in Global Environmental Politics on Methodological Innovation in the Study of Global Environmental Agreement Making, edited by Hannah Hughes, Kimberly Marion Suiseeya and Alice Vadrot.
The workshop also draws on and informs research conducted in the ERC Project MARIPOLDATA directed by Alice Vadrot. Participants to the workshop will become part of the MARIPOLDATA research methods network. As such, they will be invited to share their views on applying our conceptualisations and methodological approaches to the specific case of an emerging negotiation site.
MARIPOLDATA studies negotiations on a new international legally binding instrument to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) under the United National Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and in the framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The BBNJ case will be used to develop and apply a new multi-scale approach to study new forms of power at the intersection between ocean science and marine politics. PhD students working in the project will share their experiences in conducting research at ongoing BBNJ negotiations. The MARIPOLDATA team and invited PhD participants will contribute an important element of the workshop discussion, offering insights from their research and the challenges they have faced during fieldwork, and will have the opportunity to publish collective contributions.
The Practicalities
- The workshop will include 3 night’s accommodation, workshop lunches and a dinner, and support travel up to €200 within EU/€600 outside EU.
- If you have questions regarding financial support and advice for travel arrangements, please contact Emmanuelle Brogat at maripoldata.erc@univie.ac.at
Call for researcher experienced in interviews on intergovernmental negotiations
Call for researcher experienced in interviews on intergovernmental negotiations
Abstract deadline: June 30, 2019
Hannah Hugues (Cardiff University) and Alice Vadrot are looking for a researcher to participate in a workshop on methods for Conducting research at global environmental negotiations.
The workshop will take place at the University of Vienna, 10th to 11th of September 2019.
The prospective participant needs to have extensive experience in conducting interviews on global environmental negotiations from the intergovernmental meeting to all elements of mega-events, including the COPs, side events, surrounding protest to all sites connected or impacted by these events.
Abstract
Recent scholarship in Global Environmental Politics makes apparent the importance of gaining access and observing the making of global environmental agreements in order to understand the process and power relations of their formation (Campbell et al. 2014; Ciplet, Roberts and Khan 2015; Depledge 2013; Dimitrov 2010). As more scholars attend and collect data at intergovernmental meetings and global mega-events, the need to develop new conceptual and methodological apparatus to capture the dynamics within and between these sites has become apparent, which has resulted in interventions and developments in the field (Betsill and Correll 2007; Campbell et al. 2014; Corson et al. 2019; Hughes, Marion Suiseeya and Vadrot 2019).
While these innovations challenge our understanding of the people, practices, and power relations that shape global environmental politics, they do not provide practical guidance to those new to these study sites. An increasing number of scholars use the mega biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development conferences as sites to gain access to networks of global environmental politics and interview participants. Many also attend intergovernmental meeting sites to observe and document the actors, practices, discourses and institutional dynamics of global environmental agreement making. However, once on site, researchers do not always have a clear sense of how to cope with the scale of researching the complex interactions that are apparent on arrival, which meeting or side-event to attend, or from whom to collect data and how to make sense of it.
This workshop will bring together scholars experienced in global environmental negotiations and contributing to the development and application of conceptual and methodological innovations. The aim is to further develop these innovations and produce a guide for those new to the study of environmental meetings. To achieve this, the workshop will integrate the needs and perspectives of postgraduate scholars so that together we can explore how a new generation of research can be catalysed, the aim of which is to transform how we collectively study global environmental agreement making.
For more details, see attached PDF.
We ask all workshop participants to prepare a 2-3000 word concept paper.
Please send an abstract to maripoldata.erc@univie.ac.at of how your research interest might connect to the project by June 30th.
New publications from Alice Vadrot in the journal Global Environmental Politics
Global Environmental Politics
Volume 19 | Issue 2 | May 2019
Together with Hannah Hughes and Kimberly R. Marion Suiseeya, Alice Vadrot has published a special section in the journal Global Environmental Politics, a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal which examines the relationship between global political forces and environmental change, with particular attention given to the implications of environmental change and environmental governance for world politics.
The article “Weighting the World: IPBES and the Struggle over Biocultural Diversity“, written with Hannah Hughes, also appeared in this issue.
This article has two aims. The first is to provide an account of the struggle over the term biocultural diversity during the intergovernmental approval of the first IPBES thematic assessment report. Second, in detailing this struggle, we aim to contribute to scholarship on global environmental negotiating processes and the place and power of knowledge within these by introducing the notion of a weighted concept.
Panel at 4s Conference 2019 – New Orleans, USA
Open Panel – 4S New Orleans.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2019
Exploring Policies and Practices of Studying and Monitoring the Oceans: Innovations and Interruptions in Ocean Science
Panel Organisers:
Sarah de Rijcke, Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS)
Alice Vadrot, University of Vienna
Healthy oceans contribute significantly to combating climate change. However, a lack of ocean scientific knowledge continues to challenge efforts to protect ocean ecosystems. This gap is steadily closed by global initiatives like the International Census of Marine Life programme. Furthermore, detection methods, observing infrastructures and data management have significantly improved over the past two decades, reconfiguring how oceans are studied and monitored.
In many respects, the study and monitoring of the oceans represents a new form of knowledge production. Challenges include producing systemic insights into ocean ecology; working toward industrial-scale production of innovations; providing scientific data to support environmental policy; and operating against the backdrop of a highly research-focused academic system. These developments are amplified by data scarcity, complicating the command of funding and shaping policies and practices of studying, monitoring and protecting the oceans.
This panel discusses particular cases of global and national policies and practices of ocean science and monitoring. Which dynamics occur when ocean science becomes (even more) subject to multiple valuation registers, including those associated with steering efforts toward more interdisciplinary engagement, societal relevance and demands from policy-makers? How do monitoring policies and practices contribute to the scientific representation of the ocean and its manifestation as a site, where different technological innovations compete for scientific legitimacy and marketability? What are key innovations in ocean science and marine technology and how do they shape the policies and practices of the field?
More information about the programme HERE.
Alice Vadrot was elected to the Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
Young Academy of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW)
APRIL 2019
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) welcomed 29 new members. At the Annual General Meeting on the 12th of April 2019, 19 researchers from different disciplines in the humanities, social and cultural sciences as well as mathematics, natural and technical sciences were admitted to the Academy for their outstanding scientific achievements and professional reputation.
Announcement of the Austrian Academy of Sciences : https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/detail/news/oeaw-waehlte-29-top-forscherinnen-zu-neuen-mitgliedern-1/
Alice Vadrot is joining the Earth System Governance network as a Senior Research Fellow
The Earth System Governance
FROM SPRING 2019
Alice Vadrot has been accepted as a Research Fellow by the Earth System Governance. Earth System Governance — a global research alliance, is the largest social science research network in the area of governance and global environmental change.
Senior Research Fellows are senior scientists and faculty members who seek to link their own research projects with the broader themes and questions of earth system governance. Through a bottom-up, dynamic, and active network, senior research fellows and research fellows collaborate on research, debate ideas and disseminate information on relevant events and opportunities in the field.
More information about Earth System Governance: https://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/
Talk by Alice Vadrot at the Rutgers University – Newark, USA
Epistemic Selectivities in Global Environmental Politics:
The Case of Biodiversity
APRIL 10, 2019
Rutgers University is a public research university in New Jersey. The Rutgers Division of Global Affairs organizes a weekly Capstone Colloquium Series, which has for theme this semester Justice, and the Global Environment.
At this occasion, Alice Vadrot will speak about “Epistemic Selectivities in Global Environmental Politics: The Case of Biodiversity”.
The MARIPOLDATA team participates in fieldwork at UNCLOS - New-York, USA
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea – New York
MARCH 25 – APRIL 5, 2019
Fieldwork for WP1
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) is an international treaty that sets out the legal framework for ocean activities and boundaries.
While UNCLOS defined marine Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (ABNJ), commonly called the high seas, no international instrument exists to protect the exceptional marine biodiversity from these territories.
In order to address this challenge, the UN General Assembly aims to develop an international legally binding instrument under UNCLOS on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity of areas beyond national jurisdiction (resolution 69/292 of 19 June 2015) by 2020.
Between March 25, 2019 and April 5, 2019 the 2nd Session of the Intergovernmental Conference on BBNJ will take place in New-York.
Two members of the MARIPOLDATA team have been nominated by the International Studies Association (ISA) to participate which will allow them to pursue MARIPOLDATA WP1 research objectives aiming at observing how governments position themselves within these negotiations and how is scientific knowledge used.
More information: https://www.un.org/bbnj/
Paper Presentation at ISA 2019 – Toronto, Canada
The International Studies Association’s 60th Annual Convention – Toronto
MARCH 29, 2019
After the epistemic community model: Using IPCC and IPBES to map organisational formation
By Hannah Hughes, Cardiff University and
Alice Vadrot, University of Vienna
The International Studies Association (ISA) is one of the oldest interdisciplinary associations dedicated to understanding international, transnational and global affairs.
The International Studies Association’s 60th Annual Convention will take place in March 2019 in Toronto. This conference brings together international affairs experts from across the world to discuss issues related to international, transnational and global affairs.
At this occasion, Alice Vadrot will participate in Panel FA 81 “Great Power Responsibility and Global Environmental Protection” organized by Barry Buzan (LSE). She will present a co-authored article written with Hannah Hughes (Cardiff University).
More information: https://www.isanet.org/Conferences/Toronto-2019
Blog on collaborative work by Alice Vadrot and Hannah Hughes
Work in Progress Paper Presentation – Cardiff
February 6, 2019
On the 6th of February Dr Alice Vadrot visited Cardiff University to discuss the Work-In-Progress paper entitled ‘Conceptualising the establishment of intergovernmental organisations: Learning from the IPCC and IPBES’, co-authored with Dr Hannah Hughes. Dr Hannah Hughes is a lecturer in International Relations and Co-director of the Environmental Justice Research Unit at Cardiff University. The two have a long-standing collaborative relationship having first started working together in September 2015. Among other publications, they have a forthcoming article titled ‘Weighting the world: IPBES and the struggle over biocultural diversity`, which will be published as part of a special section in Global Environmental Politics.
To read the whole blog by Rosa Maryon, please click here: https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/isru/2019/02/20/conceptualising-the-establishment-of-intergovernmental-organisations-learning-from-ipcc-and-the-ipbes-dr-hannah-hughes-dr-alice-vadrot/
Events
The role of oral histories in understanding science-policy interrelations - June 25, 2019 - Cambridge Judge Business School
Date: 25 June, 2019
Time: 13.00 – 17.00
Venue: Cambridge Judge Business School
Dr Alice Vadrot, principal investigator of the ERC funded research project MARIPOLDATA (which investigates the politics of marine biodiversity data), and the Centre for Science and Policy will be hosting a workshop on the role of oral histories in understanding science-policy interrelations.
Context
In order to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ) governments are currently negotiating a new legally binding treaty under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Marine biodiversity science plays a central role in supporting intergovernmental efforts to identify, protect and monitor marine biodiversity. This field will also inform governments on particular aspects of marine biodiversity, including its economic use and contribution to biosecurity. It will also shape the practicalities of certain policy options and the potential effects on ocean science conducted in ABNJ.
Mapping the overall field of marine biodiversity science, the leading scientific experts, how they are connected and how they are involved in international negotiations, is a necessary research step for understanding science-policy interrelations more broadly and why they matter in current intergovernmental negotiations for protecting marine biodiversity. Given that biodiversity science represents a heterogeneous bundle of research activities, interests and methodologies, individual scientists provide an important entry point for assessing and analysing how marine biodiversity has emerged as a key issue within ocean politics.
Presentation of MARIPOLDATA - June 18, 2019 - Political Ecology Group of Department of Geography - Cambridge University
MARIPOLDATA kick-off meeting - May 21, 2019 - Vienna
Science Talk 2019 - March 12, 2019 - University of Vienna
Paper presentation - February 6, 2019 - Cardiff University
Event Archive
Coming soon…
Maripoldata in the news
Article by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (in German)
Exzellenz im Bild
Eine Politologin im Zoo, ein Mathematiker als Jongleur und eine Musikologin im Tanzstudio: Wissenschaft „Marke FWF“ steht für Exzellenz und Vielfalt.
Article by the FWF Austrian Science Fund (in German)
m Bild v.l.n.r.: FWF-Zukunftskolleg-Koordinator Muammer Ücal, Wissenschaftsminister Heinz Faßmann, FWF-Präsident Klement Tockner, FWF-Schrödinger-Stipendiatin Alice Vadrot © FWF/APA/Tanzer
Spitzenforscherinnen und Spitzenforscher aus Österreich konkurrenzfähiger denn je
Wissenschaftsminister Heinz Faßmann und FWF-Präsident Klement Tockner forcieren Wettbewerb in der Grundlagenforschung
Geografisch gesehen ist Österreich ein kleines Land. Doch immer mehr Forscherinnen und Forscher heimischer Universitäten und außeruniversitärer Forschungsstätten zeigen im weltweiten Wettbewerb um die neuesten und bahnbrechendsten Erkenntnisse aus der Grundlagenforschung erfolgreich auf. Diesen Trend belegen nicht zuletzt die aktuellen Zahlen, die Wissenschaftsminister Heinz Faßmann und FWF-Präsident Klement Tockner am 14. Mai 2019 bei einer gemeinsamen Pressekonferenz im APA-Pressezentrum in Wien präsentierten.
Article by the University of Vienna about the Science Talk 2019 (in German)
© Universität Wien/derknopfdruecker.com
Dies Academicus: Stipendienverleihung und Science Talk (Teil 2)
Redaktion (uni:view) | 13. März 2019
Beim Science Talk am Dies Academicus 2019 erzählten zwölf ERC Starting Grant-PreisträgerInnen und sechs Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellows aus ihrem Alltag und beantworteten – bei einem Glas Wein – die Fragen der Tischgäste. Zuvor wurden Preise und Stipendien an NachwuchsforscherInnen verliehen.
Read more…
Article by the University of Vienna (in German)
Alice Vadrot auf Feldforschung auf der UN Biodiversity Conference im November 2018. (© IISD/ENB/Franz Dejon)
Die Politologin Alice Vadrot erhält als erste Wissenschafterin der Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften einen ERC Starting Grant. Mit dieser hochdotierten Förderung kann sie ihr Projekt “The Politics of Marine Biodiversity Data” realisieren, in dem sie internationale Umweltpolitik analysiert.
Plastikmüll, Verschmutzung durch Chemikalien, Klimawandel und Überfischung haben für die Ökosysteme der Weltmeere dramatische Auswirkungen. Obwohl WissenschafterInnen und Umweltschutzorganisationen schon lange an die internationale Politik appellieren, endlich aktiv zu werden, einigte sich die internationale Staatengemeinschaft erst im April 2018 darauf, bis 2020 ein neues Abkommen auszuhandeln, das unter anderem die Errichtung von Meeresschutzgebieten zum Ziel hat.
Ein langer Prozess
Doch bis sich die mehr als hundert Staaten einig werden, ist es ein langer Weg mit vielen Sitzungen, Konflikten, Spannungen und Kompromissen. “Genau diesen Schnittpunkt zwischen internationaler Politik und Wissenschaft finde ich unglaublich spannend. Mich interessiert, wie wissenschaftliche Aspekte in politischen Verhandlungen aufgenommen werden und wie auch umgekehrt Politik die Wissenschaft beeinflusst”, erklärt Alice Vadrot, Politologin an der Universität Wien, die grundsätzliche Fragestellung ihres ERC-Projekts “The Politics of Marine Biodiversity Data”.
Article in Austrian Newspaper "Die Presse" (in German)
In ihrer Forschung befasst sich Alice Vadrot mit Verhandlungen zum Schutz der Hochmeere. In der Freizeit besucht sie gern das Haus des Meeres. – (c) Akos Burg
In ihrem ERC-Start-Preis-Projekt untersucht Alice Vadrot die Haltung einzelner Staaten bei den aktuellen Hochseeschutz-Verhandlungen der UNO.
Als Teenager wollte Alice Vadrot Diplomatin werden. Die Laufbahn, die sie tatsächlich eingeschlagen hat, ist davon gar nicht so weit entfernt. „Ein Großteil meiner Arbeit basiert auf Feldforschung bei zwischenstaatlichen Verhandlungen im Zuge internationaler Umweltabkommen“, sagt die Politikwissenschaftlerin. Seit gut zehn Jahren beobachtet sie das Zusammenspiel von Macht und Wissenschaft in der Umweltpolitik. „Irgendwann habe ich gemerkt, dass mir der analytische Blick auf die Diplomatie und ihre Praktiken mehr liegt als das Diplomatendasein selbst.“
2008, noch als Studentin der Politikwissenschaft an der Uni Wien, hat Vadrot erstmals an einer Vertragsstaatenkonferenz der UN-Konvention über die biologische Vielfalt teilgenommen. „Ein Mega-Event, bei dem Regierungsvertreter aus aller Welt über die Rahmenbedingungen für den Artenschutz und den nachhaltigen Umgang mit der Natur verhandelten“, erzählt die 32-Jährige. „Man fand, dass mehr Wissen den politischen Willen zum Naturschutz erhöhen würde, und diskutierte die Einrichtung eines dem Weltklimarat ähnlichen Gremiums.“
