Dr. Nicolas Schmid

Nicolas Schmid joined the Energy and Technology Policy Group in March 2017 as a PhD candidate, and finished his dissertation in August 2020. Following his PhD, he continued working at the EPG group as a sencior researcher and lecturer. In November 2022, Nicolas became a research associate at external pageINFRAScall_made.

Nicolas Schmid was a senior researcher and lecturer working on how modern political systems and policy processes steer and accelerate transitions to solve the climate crisis. In particular, Nicolas is interested in how policy-induced transitions, such as the diffusion of renewable energy technologies, feed back into climate and energy policy. In a comparative approach, he examines transition politics in longitudinal, cross-country, and cross-technology research designs. To do so, Nicolas uses a portfolio of methods, combining social network analyses and quantitative text analysis with qualitative methods such as process tracing. Nicolas is on the editorial board of Humanities & Social Sciences Communications (Springer Nature), and serves as reviewer for leading journals such as Environmental Research Letters, Climate Policy, Policy Studies Journal, or Policy Sciences. Beyond academia, Nicolas engages in policy consultancy with organizations such as the external pageInternational Institute for Sustainable Developmentcall_made, or the external pageGerman Environment Agencycall_made.

For his PhD, Nicolas has been awarded with the ETH Silver Medal for Outstanding Doctoral theses. From August 2019 to December 2019, Nicolas conducted his research as a Visiting Student Researcher with the external pageEnergy & Environment Policy Labcall_made at external pageUC Berkeleycall_made. Nicolas holds a dual Master’s degree in Political Science from the external pageUniversity of Stuttgartcall_made and external pageSciences Po Bordeauxcall_made and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Stuttgart. Additionally, he spent two semesters at the external pageUniversity of Torontocall_made. During his studies, he received a scholarship from the external pageDeutsch-​​Französische Hochschule (DFH)call_made and the external pageBaden-​​Württemberg-​​Stipendiumcall_made.

Before joining EPG, Nicolas has worked as project manager in the European Union Horizon-​​2020-​project external pageSmartResiliencecall_made. Previously, he worked as research assistant at the Department of Political Science at University of Stuttgart and at SciencesPo Bordeaux, and as project assistant for the external pageMinistry of Environment Baden-​​Württembergcall_made. He interned with the external pageGreen Partycall_made in the regional parliament in Stuttgart and in a project about sustainable agriculture with the decentralized cooperation external pageItasy-​​Aquitainecall_made in Ampefy, Madagascar. 

In his spare time, he enjoys playing football, hiking and skiing.