F&ES doctoral student Sébastien Jodoin will receive a Public Scholar Award from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for his work on human rights and global environmental governance.
Jodoin will receive a plaque and $1,000 in research funding, and will be honored at the graduate school’s convocation ceremony on Sunday, May 20, at the Hall of Graduate Studies. This annual award recognizes research and advocacy conducted by a Yale graduate student who, according to the graduate school, “engages and betters the world at large.”
Jodoin thanked the F&ES community for “developing and maintaining an enabling environment for problem-oriented academic research” and his advisor, Ben Cashore, professor of environmental governance and political science, for playing a critical role in his scholarly development.
“I came to F&ES because I wanted to be surrounded by people who were committed not only to academic excellence, but also to public service,” he said. “Ben has been a great model in this regard—someone who has made transformative contributions to political science while remaining focused on the resolution of important environmental challenges.”
Cashore, who recently launched a research initiative on Governance, Environment & Markets, isn’t surprised to see Jodoin flourishing at Yale.
“Sébastien is one of those remarkable students with diverse interests and an eye for the big picture,” said Cashore. “He is working on real-world issues. This is not something esoteric or abstract. His research represents the best of the F&ES doctoral program—taking a focused area and expanding it into a broader perspective.”
Jodoin’s research at Yale examines the linkages between human rights and climate change, with a particular focus on the implications of climate mechanisms for the rights of local and indigenous communities. He has drawn on his research to advise governments of developing and developed countries and nongovernmental organizations in U.N. negotiations on climate change, as well as in national-level policymaking processes.
In addition, he directs the One Justice Project, which is a vehicle for research and advocacy on impunity for economic, social and environmental crimes. This path-breaking work led to its selection as one of four inaugural policy-relevant research projects to be supported by the Academics Stand against Poverty network launched last year by Yale professor Thomas Pogge.
Jodoin’s research is driven by his previous work as an international lawyer and his ongoing involvement in work on human rights and the environment. “By remaining engaged in a range of policy, legal and even advocacy endeavors, I have the opportunity to undertake cutting-edge research that is of immediate public concern,” he said. “I hope to continue working on projects that are directly related to the issues that I care deeply about for many more years to come.”
