Research Interests

Professor Nicholson's research and teaching focuses on the politics of food and agriculture, global environmental and energy politics, and issues to do with emerging technologies.

Selected Publications

• "Intelligent Design? Unpacking Geoengineering's Hidden Sacrifices," in Michael Maniates and John Meyer (eds.) The Environmental Politics of Sacrifice (MIT Press, forthcoming.)
• "A Sea Change in Food Aid?" (2009) Foreign Policy (Online Edition) July 23, 2009. Available at: www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/07/23/a_sea_change_in_food_aid
• "Genetically Modified Organisms and Global Hunger: A Real Solution?" (2008) Sustainable Development Law and Policy vol. 9(1), pp. 57-61, 77. Available at: www.wcl.american.edu/org/sustainabledevelopment/documents/08fall.pdf
• (with Borut Grgic and Pablo Reyes) "Energy Risk Index: Central and Eastern Europe" (2005) report for Onamics LLC (Washington DC) / Institute for Strategic Studies-Ljubljana. Available at: www.onamics.com/downloads/OnamicsESI05.pdf
• "Toward a Pluralist Conception of Human Rights," (2002) Swords and Ploughshares vol. 11, pp. 79-89.
• "Water Scarcity, Conflict, and International Water Law: An Examination of the Regime established by the UN Convention on International Watercourses," (2001) New Zealand Journal of Environmental Law vol. 5, pp. 91-125.

Professional Presentations

• (with Dan Chong) "Framing Climate Change: How a Human Rights Approach Affects Climate Policy," for the ISA/ABRI Annual Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 22-24 July 2009.
• "The Political Geography of Hunger," for the Congressional Hunger Center, Washington, D.C., 21 July 2009.
• "Our Ecological Condition: A Primer on Analysis and Action," for City Year Washington D.C.'s Green Idealism Conference, Washington, D.C., 11 June 2009.
• Moderator and panellist, “Urban Jungle, Food Desert: How Media Can Help Redefine the Cityscape,” panel discussion organized for a conference titled Urban Transformations: Public and Private Practices of Social Change, American University, Washington D.C., 21 March 2009.
• “The Hungry Billion: Making Sense of the Global Food Crisis,” prepared for the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Auckland, New Zealand, 12 March 2009; also presented at the University of Arizona, 17 April 2009.
• "A World Beyond Ecological Limits: Lessons from Iain M. Banks' Culture Series," prepared for the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, New York, 15-18 February, 2009.
• "Seizing the Bioenergy Opportunity," for a Roundtable hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute titled The Politics of Corn: The Effects of Corn-Based Biofuels on the Latino Community in the U.S. and Abroad, Washington, D.C., 14 May 2008.
•  "Sustainable Biofuels: Lessons from the Green Revolution," for a conference titled Construyendo una Estrategia Sostenible de Biocombustibles para Colombia y la Región, Bogotá, Colombia, 24 April 2008. Slideshow available at: www.ceelat.org/eventos.html

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

• Fulbright Award

Grants and Sponsored Research

• Workshop Grant, Academic Council on the United Nations System
• Workshop Grant, Oikos Foundation