Valax Emmanuel

Emmanuel Valax is a PhD candidate and teaching assistant in the Environmental Governance and Territorial Development (GEDT) hub of the Institute of Environmental Sciences (ISE), and he is affiliated with the UNESCO Chair in Hydropolitics. From 2019-2025, Emmanuel served in various positions at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), where he most recently co-led advanced climate security research in Africa and the Indo-Pacific region. Prior to joining USIP, he worked as a project associate for conflict and stabilisation at Dexis Consulting Group, supporting USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives in the Horn of Africa and the Lake Chad Basin. Emmanuel has also been affiliated with the Stimson Center, the National Democratic Institute, and the Organisation of American States.

He holds a bachelor’s in political science from the Universidad del Zulia (Venezuela), a master’s in international peace and conflict resolution from American University (USA), and a master’s in population and development from the Sorbonne (France). Emmanuel is fluent in Spanish, his native language, English, and French.

Thesis

Research interests

Emmanuel’s research centres on transboundary water cooperation and their complex dynamics in post-colonial West Africa. His thesis focuses on a case study of the Volta Basin Authority, a regional organisation established in 2009 to promote cooperation and integration in managing the region’s water resources. He is working under the supervision of Professor Christian Bréthaut.

Water governance; Critical discourse analysis; Postcolonialism; River basin organisations; Stabilisation; Climate security; Peacebuilding; West Africa

• 14E225 CR (Fall): Water Governance and Policy (with C. Bréthaut)
• 14E207 FND (Fall): Environmental Politics (with G. Pflieger and P. Plagnat)
• 14E202 (Fall): Alpine Environment and Societies Seminar (with C. Lambert and P. Larsen)