Julia Blocher

Julia Blocher is a Research Officer at the United Nations University (UNU) Office to the United Nations, a think tank within the UN system. Her main research interests are in the geopolitical impacts of climate change and migration, displacement and planned relocations. She serves as the New York focal point for the UNU Migration Network, a network of over 40 migration and refugee studies scholars across the United Nations University institutes and entities. Ms. Blocher is also an Associate Member of the Hugo Observatory (University of Liege) and a Ph.D candidate, conducting field-based research for the International Organization for Migration (IOM)-led ‘Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Evidence for Policy’ (MECLEP) and for the EU-supported FP7 Consortium ‘High-End cLimate Impact eXtremes’ (HELIX) projects.
 
Prior to joining the office in New York, Ms. Blocher was a Visiting Scientist at the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) and a Research Assistant for the “Politics of the Earth” Program at Sciences Po Paris. She previously worked for the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre of the Norwegian Refugee Council (IDMC-NRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). She has recently lectured in environmental geopolitics and the governance of migration and asylum at Sciences Po Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité (Paris XIII) and Addis Ababa University.