Sarah THOMPSON

Bio

Sarah Thompson is a PhD candidate and teaching assistant in Political Science at ULB. She holds a dual Master's degree in International Affairs from Sciences Po Paris and International Political Economy from The London School of Economics and Political Science. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Simon Fraser University in Canada, with a specialisation in international development, environmental, and economic issues. During her undergraduate studies, she completed a semester exchange at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji.
Sarah formerly held roles at Sciences Po Paris with the European Chair for Sustainable Development and Climate Transition and on the Horizon 2020 project CIVICA Research. She also previously worked with the United Nations Population Fund and on a public health research project in Vancouver, Canada.

Research presentation

Thesis title: '"Weak Goals, Powerful Effects? Assessing the effects of international climate finance goals formulated under the UNFCCC." Supervised by Romain Weikmans (REPI).

Sarah Thompson's PhD project seeks to understand the concrete effects of international climate finance goals, focusing on the US$100 billion annual goal, to better understand how seemingly "weak" (non-binding, non-legal) global policy instruments can still have significant impacts. Contributing to international relations literature on global goal-setting, the study seeks to draw lessons from the US$100 billion goal to anticipate the potential effects of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG).

Research interests

• Climate finance
• Climate governance and international climate change negotiations
• Governance through goal-setting
• Climate obstruction
• International development
• Policy effectiveness
• International relations