Fiona Kinniburgh is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Portugal. Her interdisciplinary research bridges political science and Science and Technology Studies to investigate how science, public policies, and imaginative practices influence transitions toward sustainability. As part of the Horizon Europe project NATURESCAPES: Nature-based solutions for climate resilient, nature positive and socially just communities in diverse landscapes, she currently examines competing values and interpretations of nature embedded in urban “naturescape” imaginaries across various empirical contexts.

Fiona earned her PhD in Environmental Politics and Technology (2023) from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany. Her doctoral research focused on multi-level governance of sustainable agri-food system transitions and the role of expertise in policy processes, particularly in efforts to reduce or phase out pesticide use within the EU and at the international level. As a postdoctoral researcher at TUM’s Department of Science and Technology Studies, Fiona contributed to Horizon Europe project examining science-policy interfaces in the production and use of climate information  (“Climateurope2,” a Horizon Europe-funded project) and a project investigating risks and political implications of negative greenhouse gas emissions (“Negative emissions and the politics of a projected future,” in cooperation with Lund University).

Before pursuing her PhD, Fiona worked on agricultural and biodiversity policy at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris. There, she analyzed the effectiveness of domestic measures to sustain biodiversity across five countries, contributing to the preparation of the post-2020 framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sustainable Development from Columbia University (New York, USA), a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po Paris (France), and a PhD from TUM’s Department of Governance, Chair of Environmental and Climate Policy.

Area of activity: Environmental Governance, Science and Technology Studies

Keywords: Urban imaginaries, Environmental governance, Science-policy interfaces, Transformations toward sustainability, Politics of expertise