First name pronounced as [ee-hjan]
<aside> <img src="/icons/home_gray.svg" alt="/icons/home_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Home
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/book_gray.svg" alt="/icons/book_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Publications
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/library_gray.svg" alt="/icons/library_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Teaching
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/briefcase_gray.svg" alt="/icons/briefcase_gray.svg" width="40px" /> CV
</aside>
I am a political scientist specializing in environmental politics, with a focus on climate change, biodiversity, and sustainable development governance. My research explores the role of civil society and emerging technologies in shaping environmental politics, with a regional emphasis on East Asia and Europe.
Since January 2024, I have been a postdoctoral researcher at Lund University, working on a BECC project on global climate and biodiversity governance. My interdisciplinary work explores civil society engagement, youth discourse in climate politics, and the role of artificial intelligence in international negotiations.
I received my PhD from the Technical University of Munich, and my dissertation was published as a book by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022. Before joining Lund University, I was a postdoctoral researcher at UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles in Belgium, where I investigated youth actors in international environmental politics.
2025, In J. Gellers and H. Saetra (Eds.). Environments, Oxford Intersections: AI in Society. Oxford University Press
<aside>
Lecture on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6prEMJrXaSE&list=PL3eMwlld4EWZ5G5ZQgRYWTHpvSyZtZJn7&index=4
In September 2025, I gave a lecture for the Nordic-Korea Next Generation Training Program, run by the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) based in Stockholm, on the topic of Green Transition and Korea-Nordic cooperation. The lecture is now available online for your inspiration!
</aside>
<aside>
Book presentation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ct3qnGgWxLE
Watch a short presentation about my book, Climate Change Adaptation in River Management.
</aside>
<aside>
Podcast interview
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0V35LuQca8kUEfP74SvYux?si=FQu9sX6jSXK9814PLTwUQA&nd=1&dlsi=4b2155ea87fe4117
An interview with News From the Castle! run by the Association of Foreign Affairs (UPF Lund) on youth engagement in environmental politics.
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/megaphone_pink.svg" alt="/icons/megaphone_pink.svg" width="40px" />
New article! Since 2018, when Greta Thunberg initiated the Fridays for Future movement, youth climate activists have gained global attention, largely positively, though also with criticism. Especially, including Greta, youth who engage in climate politics have sometimes been denounced as 'youth climate elite' with privileged backgrounds and status. Does such an elite really exist, and what does it mean for global climate politics? With Amandine Orsini, I investigated the profiles of prominent youth and compared their socio-demographic characteristics to answer the question.
Check out the article published in Environmental Politics read more about our approach and findings!
Greta Thunberg and the transnational youth elite in global climate politics: myth or reality?
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/megaphone_red.svg" alt="/icons/megaphone_red.svg" width="40px" />
New book release Essential Concepts for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: An A-Z Guide (Routledge)
I co-edited the book together with four experts in this field, namely Frank Biermann, Thomas Hickmann, Carole-Anne Sénit, and Yixian Sun. As a co-editor, I coordinated communication with over 100 authors worldwide. One of the authors wrote to me that it was “exemplary smooth and well-organized publishing process”! The publication is also very nice with a digital cross-referencing system. 🙂
Check out the book in the following link. We aim to provide a highly accessible and easy-to-navigate overview of the essential concepts and terms related to the current global endeavour to implement the SDGs. Most importantly, it is open access!
Essential Concepts for Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals: An A-Z Guide
</aside>
<aside> <img src="/icons/megaphone_pink.svg" alt="/icons/megaphone_pink.svg" width="40px" />
New article! With Noémi Bontridder, I discuss how AI is perceived in global sustainability governance, particularly in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals. We highlight the tendency to rely on AI to address societal challenges that are considered too complex for humans to comprehend as a potential form of 'AI solutionism.'
Project MUSE - The Role Assigned to Artificial Intelligence in Global Sustainability Governance
</aside>
🌐 https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/yi-hyun-kang
:linkedin: Yi hyun Kang
