Prof. Dr. Viktoria Jansesberger

I am an Assistant Professor of Environment and Development in the Department of Political Science at the University of Basel. Before joining the University of Basel in January 2026, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the interdisciplinary Cluster of Excellence The Politics of Inequality at the University of Konstanz, where I worked in the Global Inequalities research group and on the project Climate Inequalities in the Global South. I hold a PhD in Political Science from the University of Konstanz and an MA and BA in Political Science from the University of Salzburg. My research examines the societal and political consequences of environmental change across different geographical regions and political contexts. A central focus of my work is the interplay between environmental change and social, economic, and political inequalities. In my research on the Global South, I investigate how climate disasters and environmental hardship interact with existing inequalities and under what conditions they affect political and societal outcomes. In particular, I study whether and when environmental hardship contributes to declining levels of trust, increased protest activity, or greater governmental repression. In the Global North, my research focuses on how inequalities and perceptions of unfairness shape support for more sustainable policies and climate change adaptation and mitigation. For example, I examine how perceptions of inequality and fairness affect public support for loss and damage funding or carbon pricing. Situated at the intersection of comparative and international politics, my research also examines how international responses to climate change shape inequalities. This includes studying how climate finance from international development banks and the activities of multinational firms involved in extracting resources for the energy transition affect inequalities within and across countries, and whether these activities contribute to exacerbating or mitigating them.