Robert Falkner

Robert Falkner is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He serves as the LSE’s Academic Director of the TRIUM Global Executive MBA, an alliance between LSE, NYU Stern School of Business and HEC Paris and one of the world’s leading global EMBA programmes. In 2017-22, he served as the Research Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at LSE. Before joining LSE, he held academic positions at the universities of Oxford, Kent and Essex. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University in 2006-07 and is currently a Distinguished Fellow of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. In 2023, he will be Simone Veil Fellow at Project House Europe, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Born in Germany, he read for a double-degree in politics (MA Politikwissenschaft) and economics (Diplom-Volkswirt) at LMU Munich. After moving to the UK, he gained a doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford (Nuffield College).

Robert’s research focuses on global environmental politics, global political economy, and the role of business in international relations. He has published widely in these areas, including Great Powers, Climate Change and Global Environmental Responsibilities (co-edited with Barry Buzan) (Oxford University Press, 2022), Environmentalism and Global International Society (Cambridge University Press,2021), The Handbook of Global Climate and Environment Policy (edited, Wiley-Blackwell, 2013) and Business Power and Conflict in International Environmental Politics (Palgrave, 2008). Robert’s research has been supported by grants from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), European Commission, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Rockefeller Foundation and Stiftung Mercator, among others. Robert was a member of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission at LSE IDEAS, which published its final report in February 2021, laying out the principles that should underpin Britain’s future trade and investment policies and making ten recommendations for future action. He was an associate fellow of Chatham House from 1999 to 2020 and an associate editor of the European Journal of International Relations (2004-08).

Robert has extensive experience of executive-level speaking, consultancy and advisory work, for private and public sector organisations, including the Department for International Development (UK), Duke Corporate Education, the European Commission, the European Environment Agency, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany), HEC Paris, Oxford Analytica, TRIUM Global EMBA and the World Economic Forum.