Rakhyun E. Kim, PhD (ANU Fenner School), is Associate Professor of Earth System Governance at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. He directs a five-year research project on the complex dynamics of 'problem shifting' between international environmental treaty regimes, supported by a 1.5 million euro 'Starting Grant' from the European Research Council.
Kim is an interdisciplinary social scientist at the intersection of global environmental governance and international environmental law. His research interests include exploring the structural complexities of global governance, with a focus on international regimes, agreements, and organizations as its key institutional building blocks. He has authored more than 80 publications in journals and books, including the edited volume Architectures of Earth System Governance: Institutional Complexity and Structural Transformation (Cambridge University Press, 2020).
Kim is a Senior Research Fellow at the Earth System Governance Project, where he co-leads the Task Force on Earth System Law, the Working Group on Earth-Space Governance, and a research cluster of the Task Force on Ocean Governance. At the Copernicus Institute, he co-leads the Special Interest Group on Network Analysis for Sustainability. He sits on the editorial board of six leading journals, such as Earth System Governance and Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law. Kim served as a Lead Author of the United Nations Environment Programme's flagship report Global Environment Outlook (2019) and co-authored the 10-year Science and Implementation Plan of the Earth System Governance Project (2018).
At Utrecht University, Kim teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and supervises research students, including five PhD candidates. He was nominated twice by a student association for the university-wide Outstanding Teacher Award in 2019 and 2022.
Kim is the winner of the 2013 Oran R. Young Prize.
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