Dr Susannah Fisher
Dr Susannah Fisher
Grantham Research Institute and Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy
London School of Economics and Political Science
I am a researcher working on issues of climate change and development with both an academic and an applied focus to my research. I joined the Grantham Research Institute in September 2011 after completing a PhD in the Geography Department at the University of Cambridge. My PhD research looked at the role of sub-national and non-state networks in instigating climate policies at different scales in India and included research in urban governments, rural villages and national policy forums. The research sought to explain the role of actors beyond the national government in climate policies and politics and explored theoretical ideas of climate governance, participation, and policy mobilities. As well as conducting academic research, I have also worked with a variety of public and private organisations such as an environmental charity, an ethical investment fund, and the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit.
I have an MSc in Environment, Science and Society (Distinction, UCL) and a BA in Human Sciences (First class, Oxford).
The politics of climate change, particularly in South
Asia, and the intersections between climate politics and policies and other
sectors such as water; this includes how such sectors might adapt to climate
change and the barriers they face.
Urban governance for climate change mitigation and
adaptation; how local governments currently understand climate change
issues, how scientific information is understood and used at the local level
and the interactions of such new agendas with existing urban priorities; the
role of other actors, such as the private sector, in urban climate change
policies.
Equity and justice in the climate change debate; this includes the implications of new forms of climate governance on equity, as well as moving beyond the international sphere to consider the equity implications of national and local mitigation and adaptation policies.
2012
Climate change and violence: a bleak picture but there’s still room for optimism
Susannah Fisher, LSE Review of Books, 19 May
Comment: Why climate equity matters in India
Susannah Fisher, Responding to Climate Change (RTCC), 1 February
What are the options for financing climate change adaptation?
Susannah Fisher, The Guardian FAQs, 28 February
What is climate change adaptation?
Susannah Fisher, The Guardian FAQs, 27 February
2011
India's fight against climate change starts at home
Susannah Fisher, RTCC (blog), 9 November
Journal articles and working papers
Fisher, S., 2011, Knock, knock, knocking on closed doors: exploring the ideal of the collaborative research relationship, Area, 43:4 p456-462
Fisher, S., 2012, Policy storylines in the Indian climate change regime: opening new political space?, Environment and Planning C, 30:1 p109-127
Fisher, S., 2012, The emerging geographies of climate justice, Working Paper 84 Grantham Research Institute, LSE
Fisher, S., in review, Exploring nascent climate policies in Indian cities: a role for policy mobilities?, Environment and Planning A
Fisher, S., and Surminski, S., in review, The roles of public and private actors in the governance of adaptation: the case of agricultural insurance in India
Book chapters
Fisher, S., 2012, India and climate change: energy, equity and development in Bailey, I., and Compston, H., (Eds), Feeling the Heat: Political Strategy and climate policy outside the affluent West, Palgrave Macmillan
Reports
Fisher, S., Networks for climate change: policy report on PhD research, Cambridge University
'Sustainability and resilience in Indian cities: thinking about urban institutions', Seminar on Urban Sustainability in India, University of Liverpool, July 2012
'Practices in the times of climate change: cities, environmentalists and the State’, Symposium: Climate change in India and Southeast Asia: how are local cultures coping?, Institute for Advanced Studies of the Humanities, Essen, Germany, June 2011
'India and the low carbon transition’, ESRC Low Carbon
Transitions Seminar Series, Department of Geography, University of Liverpool,
June 2011
'The hybrid governance of adaptation? Learning from experiences in risk governance' (with S. Surminski) Adaptation Futures Conference, University of Arizona, June 2012
'Writing policy briefs', Panel on Writing for a policy audience, British Association of South Asian Studies, May 2012
'The emerging geographies of climate justice: the case of India', in Panel on Development and Justice in South Asia, British Association of South Asian Studies, May 2012
'Water planning and urban transitions', Seminar on Urban Transitions, Durham University, March 2012
'Urban policy mobilities in India: creating an anti-politics of climate change?', LSE Geography and the Environment Seminar Series, Jan 2012
'Managing climate change in Indian cities: bringing politics back in’, ESRC Seminar, Salford Business School, Mar 2011
'Reflections on Methodology: ethics, collaboration and “giving back”’, Cambridge
Geography Graduate seminar series, Oct 2010
'Equity and climate governance in India: the case of a transnational municipal
network’, Marie Curie Early Career Training Workshop (fully funded place), Free
University Berlin, Oct 2010
'Networked actors in the Indian climate change regime’,
Theorising Climate Governance workshop, ESRC/Leverhulme workshop, Durham, Sep
2010
'India has climate politics too: non-state action at multiple
scales', RGS-IBG Annual Conference, Royal Geographical Society, August 2010
'Knock, knock, knocking on closed doors: exploring the ideal
of the collaborative relationship', Rhetoric vs reality in research: a one day
methods symposium, Queen Mary University of London, July 2010
Smuts Memorial Fund 2010
Darwin College Travel Award, 2009
Philip Lake Award to attend COP 15 (Copenhagen) 2009
Youth Scholar Award, TERI Delhi Summit for Sustainable Development, 2008, 2009
ESRC Difficult Language Extension (Hindi), Sep 2008 – Dec 2009
UCL Graduate School Award for Language Training, 2008
UCL Postgraduate Geography Dissertation Prize, 2007
ESRC PhD Quota Award 2007 - 2011
Alan Bullock Travel Award, 2004
Rose Scholarship, St Catherine’s College, Oxford University, 2003
United World College Scholarship 1999-2001
Teaching: Given guest lectures on UCL MPhil course
“Urban climate change adaptation in the global South”, Cambridge MPhil course
“Environment and Urbanisation”, and conducted tutorials and seminars at
Cambridge and UCL as well as teaching on professional programmes such as on the
Programme for African Leadership (LSE).
Languages: French (advanced C1/C2 CEFR); Hindi (speaking: advanced;
writing: intermediate).
Professional Membership: Member of the British Association of South Asian
Studies.
Convenor: Climate change knowledges and governance reading group (LSE)
E-mail: s.e.fisher@lse.ac.uk
Phone: 02078523679