Political Economy of the Environment and Development

Overview

This is an opportunity for a person from an underrepresented group to undertake a fully funded masters degree followed by a fully funded interdisciplinary PhD under the ‘Sustainable Transitions – Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme’ at the University of Essex.

Only UK domiciled applicants who do not already have a Master’s degree and who meet the following criteria may apply:

• Be from a low-income household background as evidenced by, for example, being in receipt of a full maintenance loan or Special Support loan during their undergraduate studies.

and/or

Be one of the following categories of ethnicity:

• Black African
• Black Caribbean
• Black Other
• Mixed – White and Black Caribbean
• Mixed – White and Black African
• Other mixed background (including Black African, Black Caribbean and Black Other)

The successful applicant would study an appropriate masters degree, such as:

• MSc Environmental Futures with Climate Change
• MSc Political Economy
• MSc Political Science 

The UK’s Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan sets out a range of industry specific initiatives to unlock the economic benefits of the green economy and reach the country’s net zero goals by 2050. This project explores how these and other green industrial policies reshape development opportunities and the potential for international cooperation, focusing on inequalities, risk exposure, the resilience of supply chains at both regional and global levels.   

Interdisciplinary focus

This project brings together ideas from political science, development studies, political economy, and economics. Using methods from these subjects, the project will produce knowledge how green industrial policies affect people, how political and economic institutions change as a result of these policies, who the winners and losers are and what might happen in the future.

Training and support

You will receive support through the Sustainable Transitions training program, which offers interdisciplinary research methods, secondary discipline training, and ongoing development. Doctoral scholars also have access to £2,500 through Proficio for training courses and £10,000 for research and additional training. You may audit relevant courses and will be supported by both the Sustainable Transitions management and your supervisory team.

Additionally, all scholars join the University of Essex’s Centre for Environment and Society, providing events and networking opportunities. 

Person specification

This opportunity would suit a candidate with a degree/ background in political science, development studies, or economics, with a strong interest in environmental aspects of political and economic processes.

It is not necessary for the candidate to have prior training in advanced quantitative and other social science research methods as this will be provided on the programme. 

Research proposal

The project area is broadly defined, leaving scope for the applicant to develop their own specific research proposal as part of the application.  The successful candidate will further develop their proposal in close consultation with the supervisory team.  

Supervision

The primary discipline supervisor takes the lead responsibility for supervising the project. For further detail relating to supervision see the Guidance for Applicants (.docx) document.

Additional background information

Industrial policies, and government assistance to businesses play a key role in shaping the unfolding green economy, creating opportunities, but also defining winners and losers in the market. We need to better understand the effects that different policy tools, such as carbon pricing, subsidies, emission caps, border adjustments and prohibitions have on a range of developmental outcomes, and their interaction with international competitive forces and regulatory frameworks. 

Promoting the development of industries that form the core of the green revolution, such as in green energy, but also in the extraction of essential raw materials, provide economic opportunities for disadvantaged regions. At the same time, such regions frequently carry historic burdens of previous extractive industries and are also often exposed to increased risk of natural disaster from the climate crisis. National policy frameworks, such as the UK’s Carbon Budget and Growth Delivery Plan provide a range of tools to affect the behavior of consumers and firms, but their efficacy in creating opportunities in underserved regions,   while overcoming social injustices and dealing with environmental vulnerabilities remains unproven. 

The global context of international competition in key green industries and the need for building global regulatory regimes that can support green industry standards means that regional challenges and national policy frameworks can’t be fully analyzed without taking into consideration constraints and opportunities from international political cooperation and the creation of upgraded global values chains. 

The successful candidate will investigate how these complex interactions shape economic and social outcomes, account for the political and economic processes behind them,  and generate knowledge that can inform policy makers about the effectiveness and distributional consequences of green industrial policy instruments.  

How to Apply

Full details available at Sustainable Transitions Leverhulme Doctoral Training Programme.

Supervisory team references

1. Nipa, F., LINO, A. and Arun, T., 2025. Third-Sector Organizations as Intermediaries in Climate Action: Engaging vulnerable communities in co-production in Bangladesh. Governance. 38 (4) 
2. https://www.pefa.org/sites/pefa/files/news/files/Final_Report_Uni%20of%20Essex_11-30-21.pdf 
3. Reinsberg, B. and Steinwand, M.C. 2025. Lead or follow? Participation decisions in collective development initiatives. Economic & Politics. 37(2):811-825.
4. Smirnov, O, Steinwand, M.C., Xiao, T and Zhang, M. 2018. Climate impacts, political institutions, and leader survival: effects of droughts and flooding precipitation. Economics of Disasters and Climate Change. 2(2):181-201.