Kathinka F??rst, associate director of the Environmental Research Center, leads an iMEP class at Duke Kunshan
Kathinka F??rst, associate director of Duke Kunshan’s Environmental Research Center, has been made a faculty affiliate of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University.
‘I am very excited to join the team of distinguished researchers and practitioners at the Nicholas Institute,’ said F??rst, who also serves as assistant adjunct professor of environmental policy. ‘I look forward to building more bridges between the institute and the environmental program at Duke Kunshan.’
F??rst’s work focuses on environmental regulation and justice in China. She brings that research lens to collaborations with Nicholas Institute professionals on areas of shared interest.
Her projects working in partnership with the Nicholas Institute include analyzing China’s national and sub-national regulatory plastic frameworks as part of a broader effort to evaluate policies for reducing oceanic plastic pollution, and exploring the roles of Chinese NGOs in attempting to shape a green Belt and Road Initiative. She is also part of the founding team of the High Seas at Duke consortium.
Before joining Duke Kunshan, F??rst gained extensive experience in interdisciplinary research through her work as an administrative coordinator for the Sino-Norwegian Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research and as a research fellow at the Social Science Research Council’s China Environment and Health Initiative. She has also worked as a consultant on program management and evaluation focusing on environmental governance projects in China.
‘Kathinka is an invaluable partner in building collaboration between the Nicholas Institute and the DKU Environmental Research Center,’ said Jackson Ewing, a Nicholas Institute senior fellow who works closely with the center and Duke Kunshan’s international master of environmental policy (iMEP) program to build policy research collaboration in the United States and China.
‘Her breadth of knowledge, networks and experience across environmental policy issues in China is inspiring and, for us at the Institute, exceedingly useful,’ he added. ‘Her new appointment is a step toward our partnership deepening even further.’
Source: https://nicholasinstitute.duke.edu/articles/nicholas-institute-welcomes-dkus-furst-faculty-affiliate
