Profile picture (Fabien Cottier)

I am a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Columbia University, where I am involved in a multidisciplinary NSF-funded project modeling migration flows in West Africa.

In my research, I study the causes and consequences of migration and displacement in developing countries. As part of my Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Geneva, I have investigated under what conditions environmentally-induced migration raises the risk of conflict. I am currently under contract with Routledge to publish my dissertation as a book.

In addition, I have also investigated the determinants of migrants-natives violence in Côte d’Ivoire, the impact of displacement on the spread of violence in Africa, as well as how environmental drought affects irregular migration flows to the European Union.

Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist with the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University (2020–2022). In addition, I have been a postdoctoral researcher in the department of political science at the University of Geneva (2018–2020) and a visiting scholar with the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace studies at Columbia University (2019–2020).

I am passionate about data science and proficient with the programming languages R, Python and SQL. I hold a M.A. in Comparative and International Studies from the ETH Zürich (2012), as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Geneva (2018).

My research has been supported by Swiss National Science Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the Axa Research Fund.