PIA M. KOHLER
I am an interdisciplinary social scientist; I conduct research on global environmental politics, chemicals governance, plastics, and science-policy interfaces. I have extensive experience teaching in international relations, environmental sciences/studies and public health. I enjoy working with other academics as a coach and editor, helping them successfully, and healthfully, navigate academia's challenges.
Originally from just outside Geneva, Switzerland, I have experience with Canadian and US university systems and am bilingual in French and English.
TRAINING
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Ph.D. International Environmental Policy
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA, USA -
Master in Environmental Sciences
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
New Haven, CT, USA -
B.Sc. Environmental Science and
Physical Geography
McGill University
Montreal, Quebec, Canada -
Member of the Editorial Freelancers Association
Member, Governance Taskforce
EXPERIENCE
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Consultant: Senior Chemicals Specialist (2022-present)
UN Environment Programme
Secretariat to the ad hoc open-ended working group on a
science-policy panel to contribute further to the sound management of chemicals and waste and to prevent pollution -
Freelance Coaching and Editing (2020-present)
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Senior Research Fellow (2019-2023)
Center for Governance and Sustainability
UMass Boston
Boston, MA, USA -
Writer and Editor (2002-2023; on leave of absence)
Earth Negotiations Bulletin
International Institute for Sustainable Development
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada -
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies (2011-2020)
Environmental Studies Program and Public Health ProgramWilliams College
Williamstown, MA, USA -
Assistant Professor of International Relations (2006-2011)
Political Science Department
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Fairbanks, AK, USA -
Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science (Spring 2006)
Political Science Department
Wellesley College
Wellesley, MA, USA
Expert Institutions and the Implementation of International Environmental Treaties
This book (published in November 2019, available in softcover as of March 2021) examines expert committees established to provide advice on science to multilateral environmental agreements. By focusing on how these institutions are sites of coproduction of knowledge and policy, this work brings to light the politics of science advice and details how these committees are contributing to an emerging global environmental constitutionalism. Grounded in participant observation, elite interviews and document analysis, this book uses the lenses of the body of experts, body of knowledge and institutional body to focus on three treaties: the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
