PUBLISHED: February 12, 2025
UPDATED: February 14, 2025

In April, two other PhD candidates will follow in her footsteps as SCGG guest researchers, namely: Solveig Bjørkholt, University of Oslo (Norway), and Philipp Bien, University of Konstanz (Germany). And soon after the postdoctoral researcher Isabell Burmester, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, will join the center as well. 

Note: In this article, Nora Söderberg's, Solveig Bjørkholt's, Philipp Bien's, and Isabell Burmester's responses are referred to as "NS," "SB," "PB," and "IB" (e.g., NS: etc.).

Nora Söderberg, PhD candidate, European University Institute

What is the main focus of your PhD thesis? 
NS: "My doctoral research focuses on knowledge production among international organisations and non-governmental organisations in Eastern Africa, where I zoom in on the intersection between climate change and human mobility.

Nora Söderberg Photo: EUI

This is an area that is gaining increasing attention in the region as well as internationally, motivating collaborations between a variety of institutionally dispersed actors. In my research, I conduct a qualitative study around the contestations and collaborations involved in defining and justifying initiatives on 'climate mobility' in a region that is increasingly impacted by climate change."
 
What research will you be doing here?
NS: "At SCGG, I will continue doing research for my dissertation. In particular, I look forward to deepening my engagement with the literature on global environmental governance via the academic community here."

Are you connected to any specific research projects here?
NS: "No, I am not involved in any specific research project, but I will primarily be working on my PhD thesis."
 
Would you like to add anything?
NS: "In addition to my PhD project, I have conducted research and published around EU-funded migration-development work in Africa, and on environmental political issues, in particular surrounding the proposition of just energy transitions and different forms of resistance to the same. At the EUI,I am part of the Interdisciplinary Research Cluster on Environmental Challenges and Climate Change Governance.

I also have a big interest in qualitative methods and have published on multi-sited approaches, which offer an alternative to traditional comparative research designs. At the EUI, I am a co-organiser of the Qualitative and Fieldwork Working Group (Qualifie), where I organise seminars and workshops on ethnography and other qualitative methods."
 

Solveig Bjørkholt, University of Oslo

 
What is the main focus of your PhD thesis?
SB: "The working title of my thesis is now: 'The Politics of International Standardization'. It focuses on international standardization as a form of regulation, and therefore being an important aspect of global governance."

Solveig Bjørkholt Photo: Tron Trondal

What research will you be doing here?
SB: "At SCGG I will complete my dissertation by writing the introductory chapter and finishing the last article of the dissertation, which focuses on how geopolitical factors play into the standardization process (despite standardization being a very technical and, one might think, apolitical endeavor)." 

Will you be connected to any specific research projects here?
SB: "No, I will unfortunately not be connected to any specific research project".

Would you like to add anything?
SB: "I am looking forward to the stay: being at a place, attend seminars etc. where many people work within my field, i.e. global governance."

Philipp Bien, PhD candidate, University of Konstanz

 
What is the main focus of your PhD thesis? 
PB: "My dissertation focuses on multilateral international parliamentary institutions (IPIs). Specifically, I am interested in how IPIs and parliamentary participation in international and global governance more broadly affect the outcomes of international policy-making and their legitimacy."

Philipp Bien Photo: Inka Reiter

 
What research will you be doing here?
PB: "I will be working on each of the three papers of my cumulative dissertation. For my first paper, I hope to put the finishing touches on it and ready it for submission with the feedback of SCGG faculty. For the second, I hope to be able to present and refine the first results of my empirical analysis on whether attending international parliaments helps MPs fulfill their control and scrutiny duties. For the third, I aim to develop a research design throughout my stay at the SCGG on how to best research the relations of international parliaments with the
intergovernmental body of international organizations such as NATO."

 
Will you be connected to any specific research projects here?
PB: "Not that I am aware of. Though my research connects most closely with research by Professors Dellmuth and Tallberg."
 

Isabell Burmester, postdoctoral researcher, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle

 
What research are you currently conducting at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle?
IB: "I currently work on the EU-funded REUNIR project investigating how the EU can strengthen its foreign and security toolboxes to bolster the resilience and transformation of (potential) candidate countries." 

REUNIR Project

Isabell Burmester Photo: Jiri Benovsky © University of Geneva

What research will you be doing here?
IB: "At SCGG, I will conduct the first phase of my research project, titled “How International Organizations Punish a Member State: Explaining Membership Sanctions on Russia in Response to the War in Ukraine”. For this project I was awarded a Postdoc.Mobility grant [Grant number 222028] from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

How International Organizations Punish a Member State

My project focuses on how intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) respond to acts of norm-breaking by member states, particularly through the use of membership sanctions. Russia’s recent actions, culminating in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, represent a direct challenge to the liberal international order. However, responses from IGOs have varied significantly, ranging from formal sanctions to informal diplomatic isolation or complete inaction. My research seeks to develop a typology of these responses and to understand the conditions that lead IGOs to adopt specific measures."    

Will you be connected to any specific research projects at SCGG?
IB: "Whilst I will carry out my own research project at SCGG, I will be cooperating with Jonas Tallberg and the team of his research project on Democracy, Autocracy, and International Cooperation as it aligns closely with my own project."

Would you like to add anything?
IB: "Just that I am very excited to join SCGG and to do this research at Stockholm University!"