Pascal van Griethuysen Joins the UNRISD Team

UNRISD is pleased to announce the appointment of Pascal van Griethuysen to the position of Research Coordinator for Socially Sustainable Development. In his new position, which he starts on 1 September, he will take on the responsibility for conceptualizing, developing and managing research related to socially sustainable development, an area central to the emerging post-2015 development agenda.

“UNRISD has an impressive track record in providing a critical appraisal of development pathways, and providing alternative visions and policies. Sharing UNRISD’s highest exigencies in terms of scientific, human and ethical standards, I am thrilled to bring my conceptual and theoretical approaches to the Institute, where I hope to continue doing original research and to bring the results to bear on the debates and decisions of a wide range of audiences beyond academia.”

Pascal comes to UNRISD with 14 years’ experience at the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, where has honed his considerable expertise at the intersection between economics and the environment. As well as managing a wide-ranging teaching programme, he has published extensively on ecological, critical institutional and property economics as alternative perspectives on development, researching concepts like degrowth and applying an evolutionary economic approach to sustainable development.

Pascal’s research experience is rich with collaboration with UN agencies and international civil society, bringing to UNRISD a valuable network of field experts. He is also familiar with policy advisory work, serving on a variety of Commissions and Scientific Committees, such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policies, and the International Sustainable Energy Organization for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency. International multi-stakeholder conferences likewise form part of his professional repertoire, having participated both in the original Rio Earth Summit and in Rio+20, amongst others.

Pascal’s educational pedigree, like his nationality, is Swiss: After taking a first M.Sc .in Political Economy in Lausanne, he internationalized and greened his education by completing a second M.Sc. in International Relations in Geneva, with a focus on development, climate change and economics. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Geneva in which he investigated the potential of an evolutionary economic approach to sustainable development.