Climate-driven migration is having global impacts, something Hélène Benveniste Ph.D. ’21 is acutely aware of thanks to her research. There are an increasing number of people who need to move and don’t have the resources to do so. Helping these hidden communities should be top of mind for policymakers.

In this episode of #Changemakers, she discusses her research on climate change policy, as well as the challenges she faces as a woman in academia. She also shares advice for anyone considering a Ph.D., most importantly the value of "knowing yourself" since research is such an involved activity. 

Benveniste is a postdoctoral environmental fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment at the Kennedy School. She graduated from SPIA in 2021 with her Ph.D. in Public Affairs, focusing on Science, Technology, & Environmental Policy (STEP). Previously, she was a researcher at University of California, Berkeley and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. She also served as a research scientist and project manager for the French negotiation team during the creation of the Paris Climate Agreement.

#Changemakers is a podcast series featuring the many Princeton SPIA alumni who built up their policy toolkits at Princeton and went on to change their communities. The show is produced, hosted, and edited by B. Rose Huber, director of communications and senior writer at SPIA.