PhD defence: Søren Lund Frandsen

In order to obtain the PhD degree, Søren Lund Frandsen has submitted his thesis entitled:

States and Experts Assembling Expertise for Climate Change and Pandemics

Economies and societies around the world are increasingly facing the consequences of a changing climate and more frequent infectious disease outbreaks. These problems are generally articulated as issues that require new forms of expertise and expert institutions for their handling. This dissertation investigates changes to the dominant institutional mechanisms through which Nordic states have assembled expertise for climate change and pandemic preparedness between 1980 and 2021. Combining insights from the Sociology of Expertise and International Political Economy, it develops an analytical approach that conceptualizes the relationship between the state and expertise as interactive, dynamic, and interdependent. This approach is applied to study how the state assembles expertise across four cases: the domestic field of climate expertise, green industrial governance, pandemic expert controversies, and changing agency authority. Overall, the dissertation argues for an enhanced focus on the role and power of the state in the development of climate and pandemic preparedness expertise, as well as the role of experts in shaping how states respond to the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Primary Supervisor:

Professor with special responsibilities Eleni Tsingou (Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School)

Secondary Supervisors:

Associate Professor Lasse Folke Henriksen (Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School)

Assessment Committee:

Associate Professor Oddný Helgadóttir (Chair) (Department of Organization, Copenhagen Business School)

Professor Matthew Paterson (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester)

Professor Annabelle Littoz-Monnet (International Relations and Political Science, Geneva Graduate Institute)

Thesis:
The thesis will be available from research.cbs.dk

Reception:
The CBS PhD School will host a reception, which will take place immediately after the defence at the tables outside the kitchen of IOA, 4th floor of Kilen.