Kewan joined the CSI in December 2021 as a postdoctoral researcher with European Marie-Curie individual fellowship funding (MSCA-IF). He studies the role that environmental science and economics play in the development and implementation of environmental protection mechanisms in France and Europe. Terrestrial environments are rapidly changing and often intensely inhabited and frequented. His research focuses on the interweaving of science and environmental policy in a context of rapid environmental degradation.
His MSCA research project, entitled “NatUVal – Opening the Black Box of Nature Valuation: The Case of UNESCO Parks in Europe,” was completed in 2024. Kewan is currently working on a European Biodiversa+ project (Become) in collaboration with UNESCO and MAB France. His task involves drafting a Policy Brief for this year’s COP 16 on biodiversity. This temporary project provides him with the networks necessary to continue his research on the relationships between science and environmental policy.
As an associate researcher at CSI, Kewan is currently focused on publishing and disseminating the results from his NatUVal research. A book chapter and a scientific paper are planned for 2025. He also participated in a documentary about a protected area in the Alps — Chaudun: an ecological catastrophe —broadcast by ARTE. Kewan is also involved in teaching at the CSI, including in « analyses de controverses » and « Société, Histoire, Culture ».
Before joining the CSI, Kewan completed a PhD on the impact of landslides and risk reduction strategies in Uganda. He then adopted an approach from Science and Technology Studies (STS) to critically examine how geography tends to address risks and disasters. In the following article, he questions certain elements of his own work and proposes a different way of practicing geography: “Reassembling disaster risk: towards a more self-reflexive and enabling geography”. Belgeo [Online], 4 | 2021.
Kewan also conducted a laboratory study with environmental economics researchers on the use of the concept of “ecosystem services” within a European H2020 project. An article issued from this work was recently published in Science As Culture and can be accessed here: Making explicit an Ecosystem Services indicator as a policy instrument.