Samuel Lietaer is an environmental social scientist working on the subjective dimensions of human interactions with environmental change, with a focus on marginal regions of low-income countries. He is currently working for the MIGRADAPT research project in Senegal to which he couples a PhD-thesis at SONYA (Research Center on Socio-Enviromental Dynamics, previously Centre d’Etudes du Développement Durable) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).



Description

Samuel Lietaer is an environmental social scientist working on the subjective dimensions of human interactions with environmental change, with a focus on marginal regions of low-income countries.  He is currently working for the MIGRADAPT research project in Senegal to which he couples a PhD-thesis at SONYA (Research Center on Socio-Enviromental Dynamics, previously Centre d’Etudes du Développement Durable) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

The project and his PhD dig further into migration as adaptation strategy to environmental changes, which over the last decade gained strong recognition in both academic and policy circles. His thesis project aims at analysing the social mechanisms that enable 'political remittances' in terms of adaptation to adverse environmental change at home community level. He uses qualitative and multisited ethnographic research methods in mainly three study zones: Belgium, suburbs of Dakar and villages in the Middle Valley in Northern Senegal.

Previously, Samuel has worked as a climate policy officer at 11.11.11, the overarching development NGO in Belgium. He also conducted research for the Belgian development cooperation in the fields of climate compatible private sector development using perception approaches.

He holds three master’s degrees from the VUB, namely in Political Science, Public Law and International and European Law, with specialisations in Environmental and Migration Law.

Fields of activities
  • Migration-environment-development nexus
  • Mobilities and Migration linked with adaptation to environmental change
  • Translocal social resilience, for example (cf. School of Vienna)
  • Qualitative, interdisciplinary research approaches and multi-sited empirical fieldwork
  • Political ecology lenses.
Teaching

For three years in a row, Samuel supervised the seminar "Controversies related to environmental and climate migration" in the framework of the course "Conflicts, resources and environment" (ENVI-F-504) given by prof. François Gemenne.
He also participates in the supervision of students' dissertations in the field of research on mobility in relation to environmental change. He provides support to students in the framework of Interdisciplinary Projects (PID 1 and 2).

In terms of public lectures, Samuel responds positively to the call of different institutions and organisations, both academic and associative, to disseminate the knowledge resulting from his field research.

Taking a posture of a committed academic, he is open to requests for contributions to public debates, notably through meetings with ley public but also with the press and the media.

Samuel is also engaged in the citizen's climate movement, notably through Climate Express, the Belgian Climate Coalition and Climate Voices.

Research projects
Publications
  • Lietaer, S., Durand-Delacre, D. (2021), “Situating ‘migration as adaptation’ discourse and appraising its relevance to Senegal’s development sector”, Environmental Science and Policy, issue tbc.
  • Boas, I., Farbotko, C., Adams, H., Sterly, H., Bush, S., van der Geest, K., Wiegel, H., Ashraf, H., Baldwin, A., Bettini, G., Blondin, S., de Bruijn, M., Durand-Delacre, D., Fröhlich, C., Gioli, G., Guaita, L., Hut, E., Jarawura, F. X., Lamers, M., Lietaer, S., Nash, S., Piguet, E., Rothe, D., Sakdapolrak, P., Smith, L. Furlong, B.T., Turhan, E., Warner, J., Zickgraf, C., Black, R. & Hulme, M. (2019). “Climate migration myths”, Nature Climate Change, 9(12), 901-903. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0633-3
  • Durand-Delacre, D., Bettini, G., Nash, S. L., Sterly, H., Gioli, G., Hut, E., Boas, I., Farbotko, C., Sakdapolrak, P., de Bruijn, M., Furlong, B. T., van der Geest, K., Lietaer, S., & Hulme, M. (2021). “Climate Migration is about People, not Numbers”. In S. Boehm & S. Sullivan (Eds.), Negotiating Climate Change in Crisis. Open Book Publishers. https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/1488.
  • Scheerens, C., Bekaert, E., Ray, S., Essuman, A., Mash, B., Decat, P., De Sutter, A., Van Damme, P., Vanhove, W., Lietaer, S., De Maeseneer, J., Madzimbamuto, F. & Ruyssen, I. (2021), “Family Physician Perceptions of Climate Change, Migration, Health, and Healthcare in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Exploratory Study”, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021; 18(12):6323. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126323
  • Lietaer, S., Bruening, L. & Faye, C.N. (2020), « Ne pas revenir pour mieux soutenir ? Perceptions de la migration comme stratégie d’adaptation face aux changement environnementaux dans trois régions du Sénégal », Emulations- Revues de sciences sociales, Numéro 34 (2020), 97-113. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14428/emulations.034.05
  • Lietaer, S. (2020), De Senegalese diaspora als motor voor klimaat -en milieu-adaptatie : gemeende Europese hoop?, Publication en ligne: 01/12/20192019-12-01
  • Lietaer, S., Zaccai, E., Verbist, B. (2019), “Making clean cooking champions: perceptions on development of private actors in Uganda”, Environmental Development, 32, doi/10.1016/j.envdev.2019.07.002
  • Lietaer, S. (2018), « Stephen Smith, La Ruée vers l'Europe. La jeune Afrique en route pour le Vieux Continent », Belgeo, 1; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/belgeo.29709
  • Lietaer, S. (2017), “International Private Climate Finance”, KLIMOS Working Paper #11, March 2017, https://ees.kuleuven.be/klimos/papers/wp11_international-private-climate-finance_with-lexicon.pdf
  • Access to his page on researchgate
Mail : samlietaer@gmail.com  or samuel.lietaer@ulb.be
Tél : (+32) 2 650.26.36 ou (+32) 498/057058 (WhatsApp)
Bureau : DB6.252
Faculté des Sciences
Campus du Solbosch - CP 130/03
Avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 50 1050 Bruxelles
Updated on May 30, 2023