François Gemenne is a specialist in environmental geopolitics and migration governance. He teaches these subjects at Sciences Po Paris, the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin, and the University of Liège.His research primarily focuses on migratory flows, particularly those related to ...
François Gemenne is a specialist in environmental geopolitics and migration governance. He teaches these subjects at Sciences Po Paris, the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin, and the University of Liège.
His research primarily focuses on migratory flows, particularly those related to environmental changes and natural disasters. He has conducted numerous field studies, notably in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (2005), in the Tuvalu archipelago, China, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Japan after the Fukushima disaster (2011).
He has participated in numerous international research projects dedicated to these issues, including the European project EACH-FOR, where he led research in Asia-Pacific and Central Asia. He also coordinated the DEVAST project, one of the first international projects dedicated to studying the political and social consequences of the Fukushima disaster. Additionally, he served as the scientific advisor for the exhibition “Terre natale, ailleurs commence ici” at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, and has also been a consultant for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, the ACP Observatory on Migration, and the British government (Foresight). In 2010, he received the ISDT-Wernaers Prize for his work in scientific outreach to the general public.
He holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po Paris and the University of Liège, Belgium (dual degree). He also has a Master’s in Development, Environment, and Societies from the University of Louvain, and a Research Master’s in Political Science from the London School of Economics, where he also taught. Following his thesis, he was awarded a post-doctoral research fellowship from the Axa Research Fund. He has published his work in several journals, including Science and Global Environmental Change, and is the author of several books on the environment and migration.
He is also the director of the “Sustainable Development” series at Presses de Sciences Po, and president of Ecosphère, a European think tank dedicated to human rights and the environment.