Valeria Zambianchi

KU Leuven, Belgium; Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Based in

Belgium
Europe

Valeria is pursuing a joint PhD degree at the faculty of Social Sciences, KU Leuven, and the faculty of Geosciences, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University. She is affiliated with the ERC-funded PolyCarbon Project led by Prof. Katja Biedenkopf.

Valeria studies actors and governance structures in socio-ecological systems affecting climate change mitigation. She is particularly interested in the history, dynamics, and effects of climate policyscapes, which she examines via the case of electricity generation in the United Kingdom (1956-today). Her PhD therein explores various modes of interactions within climate policyscapes and their effects on the uptake of solar PV and onshore wind in England and of offshore wind in the North Sea. She employs a spatial-institutional lens and combines network analysis, comparative historical analysis, and thematic analysis.

Broadly trained in the social sciences and environmental studies, Valeria has an interdisciplinary background with specialisations in climate change governance and human geography. She holds a Bachelor degree from University of Pavia and a Master of Science from University of Copenhagen, where she wrote her thesis on the vulnerability and resilience to urban flooding in Mumbai. She also completed a Master of Philosophy in environmental policy at the University of Cambridge. Previously, Valeria worked as a research assistant at the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, UNEP DTU Partnership.