Elsa Barron is a Ph.D. student in peace studies and political science and a 2025–26 Graduate Justice Fellow at the Institute for Social Concerns.
What is the focus of your current research?
My research focuses on international climate policy, specifically looking through the lens of climate justice. I study the ways nations that have contributed least to global emissions are often the most fundamentally impacted by issues like disaster displacement and slow-onset environmental degradation—and how they are speaking out about it on the global stage.
I am particularly interested in the Pacific region. I look at how small island nations, despite limited financial resources and small populations, have disproportionately influenced international climate policy. For example, the Pacific island nations were highly vocal advocates credited with demanding the inclusion of the 1.5°C target in the Paris Agreement. Last summer, I conducted interviews in Fiji and Vanuatu with government officials and civil society representatives to understand how these communities define climate justice, navigate international systems as historically small players, and successfully champion visionary policy frameworks in the international arena.
How did you get interested in this topic?
My interest began right after my undergraduate studies. I grew up in a faith environment that was highly skeptical of climate change, which motivated me to pursue climate advocacy from a faith perspective. I joined the Christian Climate Observers Program, a coalition of faith-based organizations that sends a cohort to UN climate negotiations. Attending COP26 in Glasgow opened my eyes to the experience and powerful witness of Pacific island nations. As a Midwesterner, I had very little prior exposure to these nations, but they were an outspoken constituency with the most morally compelling perspectives at the UN talks.
How has being a Graduate Justice Fellow impacted your research?
Being a Graduate Justice Fellow has been incredibly affirming for me as a scholar. In a Ph.D. journey, it is easy to get so focused on discipline-specific demands that you can lose sight of the bigger picture of what the research is for. The fellowship served as a vital reminder of the deeper purpose behind my scholarship: to advance the cause of justice through my research.
The fellowship encouraged me to focus on doing ethical, community-centered research where local populations are excited to participate and feel genuinely heard. It created a supportive space to connect with peers and faculty, reinforcing the idea that scholarship can and should be a tool for justice.
How do you view your research as advancing the common good?
Climate change is fundamentally an issue both of the common good and of a collective failure. One of the central puzzles of doing this work is confronting a problem so vast and dispersed that it can feel entirely overwhelming. It forces you to look at the root question: What does it mean to contribute to something that is right and just when the problem wasn’t entirely caused by you and can’t be solved by you or even by any single country alone?
Ultimately, my research aims to advance the common good by demonstrating that the solutions to global crises often come from the peripheries. By focusing on Pacific island nations, I want to show how communities facing the immediate brunt of climate change—and navigating international systems as historically small players—are the very ones championing the most equitable policy innovations. Elevating their frameworks reminds the global community that serving the common good requires listening to those on the front lines and making voices once peripheral more central to conversation.
