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 page INFRAS.

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 page International Institute for Sustainable Development, or the external page German Environment Agency.

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 page Energy & Environment Policy Lab at external page UC Berkeley. Nicolas holds a dual Master’s degree in Political Science from the external page University of Stuttgart and external page Sciences Po Bordeaux and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Stuttgart. Additionally, he spent two semesters at the external page University of Toronto. During his studies, he received a scholarship from the external page Deutsch-​​Französische Hochschule (DFH) and the external page Baden-​​Württemberg-​​Stipendium.

Before joining EPG, Nicolas has worked as project manager in the European Union Horizon-​​2020-​project external page SmartResilience. 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 page Ministry of Environment Baden-​​Württemberg. He interned with the external page Green Party in the regional parliament in Stuttgart and in a project about sustainable agriculture with the decentralized cooperation external page Itasy-​​Aquitaine in Ampefy, Madagascar. 

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