Arnault Barichella

Research Topics

Climate and energy policies in Europe and the United States, Sustainable cities and sub-national actors, Artificial intelligence, Cybersecurity and digital technologies

Thesis

The UN Climate Change regime and the articulation of multi-level governance. A case study of the global cities of Paris, Boston and New York, under the supervision of Dr. Colin Hay

Arnault Barichella is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the social sciences for the ‘New Energy Sustainable Mobilities’ (NESMO) project with the Institute for Sustainable Energy at the University of Paris-Saclay. His work focuses on the role of sustainable and smart cities, including the feasibility for deploying new technologies in the transportation sector across the Ile-de France region.

Arnault received his PhD thesis in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris in 2022. His research interests are two-fold. His doctoral dissertation, under the supervision of Dr. Colin Hay, focused on the role of sub-national actors, such as cities, regions and states, within the global climate regime. This constitutes his first main axis of research, involving a comparative study of the articulation of multilevel governance and subnational climate initiatives in the United States and Europe. Arnault’s thesis was published as a book in June 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan in their Energy, Climate and the Environment series .

Arnault’s interest in climate change is linked to his professional experience. He interned for UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program, has also served as a Consultant for the UN Environment Program (UNEP) within the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics. Arnault has been invited to present his doctoral research at several workshops as part of an EU Jean-Monnet grant from George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs to facilitate transatlantic subnational climate initiatives. He was selected to be a member of the Sciences Po Paris delegation to the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow, and also participated in the 22nd Transatlantic Policy Symposium hosted by Georgetown University.

Arnault teaches a class for the Collège universitaire at Sciences Po Paris entitled ‘Global Climate Politics: Comparative EU-US perspectives.’ The seminar covers the Paris Agreement and the new global climate regime, with a comparative analysis of climate politics in the EU and the US. Arnault also teaches at the Graduate level for Sciences Po’s École d’affaires publiques an Étude de Cas entitled ‘The COP Negotiations in the Global Climate Change Regime: Perspectives, Approaches and Engagement of Different Actors’. This class combines both the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, followed by practical engagement whereby students are able to participate in three different COP simulations, each time involving a different set of actors.

Arnault’s second main axis of research focuses on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, especially in relation to critical infrastructure. This is linked to his experience as a research assistant for the French Senate’s Commission on Foreign Affairs and Defense. He was subsequently hired by the Jacques Delors Institute as an affiliated researcher to work on these issues.

Palgrave Macmillan selected Arnault to be editor-in-chief for the Palgrave Handbook of Cybersecurity, Technologies and Energy Transitions. The aim of the Handbook, the first of its kind dedicated to these topics, is to collect research, thinking and practice that captures the complex and subtle interconnections between two transitions that lie at the heart of transformations in modern societies: the dual digital and clean energy transitions. A broad range of contributing experts have been invited from leading academic institutions, as well as think tanks, NGOs, governments, international organizations and the private sector. This Handbook will contribute to launching the new Palgrave Studies in Energy Transitions (PSET) series.

Arnault has also been invited to participate in a number of conferences to present his research on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Highlights include ‘New geopolitical landscapes in the energy sector’ at the French War College, as well as the EU Commission’s panel discussion on the Cybersecurity Package with the European Cyber Task Force. More recently, he was invited to speak at the International Forum on Cybersecurity in Lille, as well as the Enedis Forum on Innovation in March 2022. Moreover, Arnault has contributed a book chapter on ‘Cybersecurity and Data Protection in the Power Sector’ in Considine J., Cook D. and Wood G. (eds) A Research Agenda for Energy Politics, which was published by Edward Elgar in April 2023.