As an interdisciplinary social scientist, I pursue question-driven research across the fields of global environmental politics, governance of emerging technologies, public engagement, and climate justice. My research program focuses on solar geoengineering governance.
I approach this by pursuing theoretically-grounded and policy/practitioner-relevant knowledge, and by developing new methodological, conceptual, and analytical tools as needed. My work is also highly collaborative; I conduct research with students, peers, and mentors from various disciplinary backgrounds.
My research program revolves around answering questions related to:
- What near-term steps can be taken to enable governance of emerging climate intervention technologies that is effective, inclusive, and just?
- How does engagement with the public and other interested groups matter for governance, and for justice?
Specific lines of my research explore the relationship between governance and public engagement, capacity building, and research into public perceptions.
Directly below are brief abstracts of three papers of which I am first author. Other publications are listed further below.
We present a novel analytical framework to evaluate the ethical, political, and justice implications of research on perceptions of emerging technologies. Using the literature on perspectives on solar geoengineering as an object of study, our framework interrogates: whose perceptions are being studied, by whom, using what methods, following which lines of inquiry, and crucially, for what purposes.
We propose the concept of “governance capacity building” to help focus research and practice toward building and strengthening the knowledge, skills, tools, practices, or resources needed to govern solar geoengineering. Centrally, we argue that governance capacity building is needed to enable multiple types of actors to contribute to all stages of the governance process, should be owned by recipients, and aimed toward building long term and durable forms of capacity.
We reflect on our participation in a solar geoengineering governance scenario exercise by discussing a number of issues likely to arise in a scenario wherein a group of ‘middle powers’ force solar geoengineering onto the international agenda. These include the manner in which political considerations are likely to influence the physical and technical aspects of deployment schemes, as well as ways in which emergency framing may undermine political legitimacy.
Other Publications
Journal Articles
Jinnah, Sikina, and Zachary Dove. 2025. “Solar Radiation Management: A History of the Governance and Political Milestones.” Environmental Science: Atmospheres 5 (6): 656–73. https://doi.org/10.1039/D5EA00008D.
Jinnah, Sikina, Simon Nicholson, David R. Morrow, Zachary Dove, Paul Wapner, Walter Valdivia, Leslie Paul Thiele, et al. “Governing Climate Engineering: A Proposal for Immediate Governance of Solar Radiation Management.” Sustainability 11 (14): 3954. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143954.
Laurens, Noémie, Zachary Dove, Jean-Frédéric Morin, and Sikina Jinnah. “NAFTA 2.0: The Greenest Trade Agreement Ever?” World Trade Review 18 (4): 659-667. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474745619000351.
Book chapters
Laurens, Noémie, Zachary Dove, Jean-Frédéric Morin, and Sikina Jinnah. “2022. NAFTA and the Environment: Decades of Measured Progress. In NAFTA 2.0. Canada and International Affairs, edited by Gilbert Gagné and Michèle Rioux Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https:/doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81694-0_11
Books
Jinnah, Sikina, Zachary Dove (co-first authors), Mahmud Farooque, Erika Check Hayden, Alice Siu, Shuchi Talati. Building Capacity for Public Engagement on Solar Geoengineering. Accepted for publication at Cambridge University Press.
Works in Progress
Journal Articles
Dove, Zachary, María Inés Carabajal, Julia Guivant, Chris Lennard, Hassaan Sipra, Portia Williams, and Sikina Jinnah. “Solar Radiation Management and Anticipatory Diplomacy: Exploring the Implications of an Expanding Role for the Global South.” Manuscript in preparation.
Dove, Zachary, and Sikina Jinnah. “Governance by Engagement: Enhancing (or Degrading ?) Governance of Novel Climate Intervention Technologies” Manuscript in preparation.
Dove, Zachary, and Sikina Jinnah. “Solar geoengineering expert perceptions of public engagement” Manuscript in preparation.
Pues, Delaney, Anna Bridel, Valeria Cuevas, Zachary Dove, and Sikina Jinnah. “Global Perspectives of Carbon Dioxide Removal” Manuscript in preparation.
ZACHARY DOVE 