Jittip Mongkolnchaiarunya

Welcome! I am currently completing my PhD in Political Science at George Washington University and serve as a Research Fellow with the Earth System Governance Project. ​My research interests lie at the intersection of global governance, science and technology studies, and climate politics, with a view from the Global South.

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My dissertation, The Politics of Mapping Climate Change, investigates why counterproductive policies to mitigate climate change become adopted at the global level, with a focus on the science that guides global climate policy. My dissertation shows how policy missteps can be traced to the systematic marginalization of so-called complex and heterogeneous knowledge that do not “fit” within climate models—such as ecological findings from Southeast Asia or uncertainty in deep ocean research—at the expense of both effective global environmental policy and the region. I call this “epistemic exclusion.” Two empirical chapters, one about trees, the other about deep oceans, demonstrate these processes. A final theoretical chapter explores the implications of these exclusions for global environmental justice.

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My paper, “Why do we Grow the Wrong Trees,” which is derived from my dissertation, recently received the Robert W. & Jessie Cox Award (2024–2025), the Best Graduate Paper Award in Science, Technology, and Art in International Relations (2026), and the Honorable Mention for the Fred Hartmann Award (2024) from International Studies Association.​ The fieldwork of my research has been financially supported by the American Political Science Association's Summer Centennial Center Research Grant, GW’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies Research Grants, and the International Studies Association's Dissertation Completion Fellowship.

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Building on my dissertation, I also extend my argument to the global policy architecture of carbon markets in a working paper that analyzes why certain carbon verification standards are adopted while others are not in the voluntary markets, and examines the implications for environmental integrity. In addition to climate politics, ​I also have side projects on science and technology in global governance, the anti-escalation logic of strategic ambiguity, and network analysis in international relations. My co-authored work, “Emotions and Expert Authority in Global Governance,” is published in the Oxford Handbook of Emotions in International Relations.

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Prior to coming to GW, I received my MA in International Affairs from Columbia University and my BA from Thammasat University. I am the recipient of the Anandamahidol Foundation Scholarship under H.M. the King of Thailand (2015-2021).

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In my free time, I love cooking and eating :)