My overriding scholarly motivation is to advance social scientific knowledge on the global governance of transboundary challenges. Within this broad field, I am especially intrigued by the question of how societies can adequately deal with global common goods and which institutions need to be in place to overcome collective action problems, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation, and promote the goal of global sustainability and peace.

My main research interests include multi-level governance dynamics in world politics, public and private authority in global sustainability politics, and the role of cities and transnational actors in climate policy.

Introduction

Thomas obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Potsdam in Germany and prior to joining the Department of Political Science at Lund University he worked at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development of Utrecht University in the Netherlands.