Dr Julien-François Gerber
Early Career Fellow 2018
When economic expansion transgresses all limits: indebtedness and extractivism as two major causes of social unrest in the coming decade
Indebtedness and extractivism have reached unparalleled levels worldwide. The two phenomena are intimately associated with the growth-addiction of neoliberal capitalism, which relentlessly seeks new accumulation opportunities – both virtual (financial) and spatial (as in mining, logging and planting). Debt and extractive industries have generated massive socioeconomic and environmental destabilization, but also two major potentially counterbalancing forces: anti-debt and anti-extractive movements. The objective of this proj
More informationResearch outcomes
The awkward struggle: A global overview of social conflicts against private debts. Journal of Rural Studies, 86, 651-662.
Areas of interest
Cohort
Biography
He is broadly interested in the political economy of sustainability, including in its anthropological, psychological and spiritual dimensions. His research has explored some of the paths and obstacles to human and nonhuman flourishing.
Prior to joining the ISS, Julien-François was based at universities in Bhutan, India, and the USA, including the Royal University of Bhutan (2015-16), Jawaharlal Nehru University (2012-13), and Harvard University (2010-12). He has a MSc from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and a PhD in political ecology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (supervised by Joan Martínez-Alier and Giorgos Kallis).
In 2023, Julien-François received an Advanced Certificate in Ecopsychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA. He is currently undergoing training in Gestalt psychotherapy (an offshoot of psychoanalysis focusing on body awareness, existential phenomenology, and system theory).
Biographical details correct as of 12.03.26