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Dr Nicholas Bernards

Dr Nicholas Bernards

Contact details

Email: n.bernards@warwick.ac.uk
Tel.: +44(0) 24765 28445
Room: R3.19 Ramphal Building

Advice and Feedback Hours, Term 1: Mondays, 12-1:00, R3.19 or MS Teams; Fridays, 1:00-2:00, MS Teams

A&F meetings do not need to be booked in advance. Please come by my office or send a chat message on MS Teams. These hours are set aside for current Warwick students, if you are external to the university please send me an email to arrange a meeting.

Associate Professor

  • Director of Graduate Studies (Taught)

Biography

I am a political economist with research and teaching interests in the past and present intersections of labour, finance, and global governance. My work is historically-oriented, with an emphasis on how long-run legacies of colonialism and uneven development have shaped the present context of sustainable development practice, and draws from a broadly historical materialist perspective.

Prior to starting at Warwick in 2017, I held a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University, Canada, funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

I am currently Director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes in GSD.


Research

My research looks at the intersections of finance, development, and global governance from a broadly historical materialist perspective. You can see a selected list of my recent publications below. I'm interested in historicizing and critically interrogating proposed 'solutions' to development and sustainability challenges. In recent years this has included work on the intersections of climate and development financing with financial hierarchies and uneven development, as well as on the durable impacts of colonial capitalism. Much of my work is historical, including engaging with archival and other historical sources. I work with broadly Marxist perspectives on money and finance, exploitation, and the state.

PhD Supervision

I welcome inquiries from prospective PhD students interested in topics which intersect with any of my research interests.

I'm especially keen to hear from researchers interested in: critical political economy and political ecology approaches to sustainable development issues; global labour issues; global governance; technological change; critical approaches to finance and sustainable development; historical approaches to sustainable development; colonial histories.

Example topics from students I'm currently supervising:

  • The political ecology of alternative finance for sustainable energy
  • Marxian ecological theory and just transition discourses
  • Nature-based climate solutions and contested processes of valuation

Teaching

Current modules

Teaching Qualifications

Fellow - Higher Education Academy


Selected publications

Books

Edited collections

Selected recent journal articles

* For a complete list of publications, see hereLink opens in a new window.


Selected recent blogs and commentary