Dr. Lukas Paul Fesenfeld

Lukas was a member of the Energy and Technology Policy Group (EPG) from 2018 to 2020, after finishing his PhD (D.Sc. ETH) at the chair of International Political Economy and Environmental Politics, ETH Zurich. After a postdoc at the external page Policy Analysis and Environmental Governance group at the University of Bern/EAWAG and an exchange at the external page Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University, Lukas joined the group again in 2023. His dissertation was awarded the external page SNIS-award for the best dissertation published at a Swiss university in the field of international studies. His PhD concentrated on the political feasibility of transformative climate policies in the food and transport sector.

Lukas is a senior researcher and lecturer at ETH Zurich. He is also lecturer at the University of Bern and member of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research. Furthermore, Lukas is co-​founder of the non-​​​profit organization external page NAHhaft–Institute for sustainable food strategies. His main research interests lie in the field of environmental policy analysis, political economy, and political psychology. Lukas is particularly interested in the nexus of food and climate policymaking and regularly publishes on the political economy of food system transformation. Some of his recent research projects include the SNIS-funded project external page „The political economy of meat system transformation“ and the UBA-funded project on the external page “Transformation of the German food system (Transfern)”. In 2021, Lukas was invited to chair the expert panel on Swiss Food System Transformation initiated by external page SDSN Switzerland.

In his work, Lukas has conducted several comparative, large-​​scale survey and field experiments in China, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States to study public support for policies reducing the environmental impact of the food and transport sector. In his research, Lukas enjoys combining different methodological approaches, such as survey and field experiments, econometrics, discourse and social network analysis, machine learning, qualitative interviews, focus groups and process tracing.

Lukas received his Bachelors of Liberal Arts (B.L.A.) from the University College Maastricht (Maastricht University's honours program) in European Law, International Relations and Political Economy. He holds a Master of Public Policy (MPP/M.Sc.) from the Hertie School of Governance (Berlin) with a focus on Political Economy and Policy Analysis. He also studied at the University of Seville and the Humboldt-​​Viadrina School of Governance (Berlin). He gathered further professional and research experiences with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change, the Hertie School of Governance, United Nations and the GLS Gemeinschaftsbank. Lukas' academic work has been supported by the German Academic Foundation, Mercator Foundation and the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

In his free time, Lukas enjoys playing with his two sons, hiking and dancing tango.

Other peer-reviewed publications

Fesenfeld, L.P., Stuckatz, J. Kiesgen, T., Ruß, D., Summerson, I., & Klimaschewski, M. (2015). It’s the Motivation, Stupid! The Influence of Motivation of Secondary Currency Initiators on the Currencies’ Success. The International Journal of Community Currency Research. 165–172. external page http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2015.016

Books & Book chapters

Fesenfeld, L.P. & Sun, Y. (2022). Public opinion in food transformation. In Political Economy of Food System Transformation. J. Swinnen & D. Resnick. IFPRI-Oxford University Press (Forthcoming)

Fesenfeld, L (2020). The Political Feasibility of Transformative Climate Policy – Public Opinion about Transforming Food and Transport Systems. ETH Dissertation, forthcoming, ETH Research Collection. external page https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000425564

Fesenfeld, L.P. Merten, C. F., Schulze, C., & Vahle, T. (2012). Exploring the usefulness of Problem Based Learning in Education for Sustainable Development - a case study. In W. Fihlo (Eds.), Sustainable Development at Universities: New Horizons. Peter Lang Wissenschaftsverlag. ISBN-13: 978-3631625606