Nominees for ESEE Student Representative
2021-2023
Ernest Aigner
Clara Léa Dallaire-Fortier
Nick Fitzpatrick
Till Heydenreich
2 nominees can be chosen.
Clara Léa Dallaire-Fortier
I am a doctoral student at the Department of Economic History at Lund University, Sweden. I have
been trained in political economy and development studies through a master in commerce from the
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, and in post-Keynesian economics and convention school
through a master (M2) from University Paris Sorbonne Cite, France. My research interests revolve around
industrial changes, systems of provision, and frontline communities. I had the chance to collaborate with
different research institutes and knowledgetransfer organizations like the Institute of Socioeconomic Research and Informations. I also worked in regional agencies in the Canadian North and Newfoundland and in 2019, I completed a fellowship at the Institute for Political Ecology, Croatia. For my master research, I analyze systemic changes induced by a coal mine closure in South-Western Pennsylvania. I investigated the nature of de-industrialization at the macro level, disentangled meso-level effects across the mining industry and linked sectors, as well as explored the micro-level outcomes in terms of the labor market from both an individual worker and broader community perspective. Following the dissertation, I published a policy brief, wrote a letter to the
community, and held a Just Transition chronicle in a morning show to share the result with the concerned communities and the general public.
Motivation
In 2019, I had the chance to participate in the summer school in Turku. I felt lucky to have the
opportunity to meet with ESEE scholars and fellow students. It allowed me to go from reading the
flourishing EE literature to engaging with a welcoming community of critical scholars who are
committed to facing climate change. I wish to contribute to the Board with my experiences with
local and international student movements like Rethinking Economics. Since 2013, I have been
advocating to rethink and democratize economics via the organization of academic conferences,
the mobilization of students, and collaborations with NGOs. Going beyond the university walls,
ESEE is committed to valorize research that echoes to the broader society, shapes policies, and
cares for ecosystems. If elected, I would wish to help diffuse EE among young scholars and support
initiatives to address the divide between academics and citizens. These objectives are capital to
increase our capacity to solve socioeconomics and environmental crises.
Ernest Aigner
I am a doctorate student at the Department for Socioeconomics at the Vienna University of Business and
Economics. Currently I conduct research the development of the economic discipline using textmining
and network methodologies as well as the possibility of a social inclusive and environmentally
sustainable society without money. I also coordinate an assessment report on structural conditions for climate
friendly living in Austria. I am a lecturer in the Master Socio-Ecological Economics and Policy, the program I
visited before I started my PhD. I have been lecturing at Uppsala University on the global economy and contribute
as an advisory board member to the Alternative Monetary and Economic Systems Summer School.
Motivation
The first time I attended the ESEE conference was about eight years ago. Back then, I was inspired
by the links between theory and practice and the variety of approaches to address social ecological
concerns in research. Recent attempts to integrate social theory in discussing environmental
transformations seems a fruitful future route to me. Moreover, I experienced the community as
very open for young people, an aspect I would like to strengthen in my work as a student
representative.
Nick Fitzpatrick
Nick is currently a La Caixa Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Environmental & Sustainability Research (CENSE). This
research centre sits within the Department of Ecological Economics & Environmental Management at Nova
University, Portugal. His research topic is titled ‘Imagining Degrowth Trajectories’, which involves working at the
interface of ecological economics and degrowth in regards to practice and policy. More broadly, his research interests also include carbon budgets, multi-lateral climate governance, education for sustainability and youth engagement. Prior to beginning his PhD, Nick has worked as an educator and researcher at a host of highly renowned climate and environment institutions. This includes the Stockholm Environment Institute, Swedish Institute for International Affairs, Climate-KIC Europe, Centre for Environment and Development Studies (CEMUS) in Uppsala University and the Youth Climate Lab. He has been involved in multiple NGOs such as Rethinking Economics, PUSH Sweden and The Green Student Movement Denmark. Furthermore, he has been a youth delegate to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) since 2016 and represented Sweden at youth dialogues in the EU Commission concerning the Green New Deal. Academically, Nick holds an MSc in Geology (Ice and Climate) from Aarhus University in Denmark. Additionally, a BSc Environmental Science from the University of Wollongong in Australia. During both degrees he studied at both Uppsala University and the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden.
Motivation
I am a highly motivated 25-year-old environmental scientist and ecological economist currently
undertaking my Doctoral degree at the Centre for Environmental and Sustainability Research
(CENSE) within Nova University, Lisbon. Given my interdisciplinary academic and practitioner
background, I believe I demonstrate the balance needed to bring ESEE forward, especially in the
areas of multi-lateral climate governance, degrowth, carbon budgets and education for
sustainability. Furthermore, I believe the society should be a place of open and critical debate to
advance the field of Ecological Economics and explore the synergies between other disciplines
(whilst not letting it dominate the debate). During times of socio-ecological crises and where
young people across the world are demanding socio-economic transformation (e.g. School Climate
Strikes, Friday’s for Future, Extinction Rebellion, etc) it is therefore imperative that intellectuals
must not only critique systematic problems, but also must inspire, educate, imagine, co-create
and practice alternatives. Something of which I feel is and would be my obligation as the student
representative of ESEE.
Till Heydenreich
After studying economics in Cologne, I chose to pursue a Master’s degree in “Environmental and Natural Resource Economics” at the University of Copenhagen. Progressively, I became entirely disillusioned with environmental economics and its mainstream economic approaches and started to discover degrowth and ecological economics as an alternative, heterodox school of thought. Whenever I had the freedom to choose my own topics within the programme, I opted for degrowth related issues. For example, my Master’s thesis addresses the potential effect of degrowth on well-being in an analytical economic model. Thus, even if I did not obtain my formal education in ecological economics, I have fully adopted its way of thinking. I became intrigued and convinced by its approaches, embedding the economy in the social and natural system, as a way to appropriately address the major environmental and social issues caused by the current economic system. I am currently finishing my Master’s and will be starting a PhD at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. My research will focus on ecological macroeconomic modelling of different economic recovery scenarios in the context of the current Covid-19 impacts, by analysing economic, social, and environmental consequences.
Motivation
Even though, I am relatively new to ecological economics, it has become my passion and I am
convinced that this approach is needed in order to address the immense environmental but also
social issues faced today. My economic background has revealed to me the problematic character
of mainstream economics in dealing with these problems. Thus, I am particularly eager about
affecting the discipline of economics by disseminating ecological economics into economic
research as well as education.