Karapinar Baris

Barış Karapınar is a Senior Research Fellow and a Co-leader of the NCCR Work Package on Trade and Climate Change. He is also a lead author of IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Fifth Assessment Report on climate change impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability.  He is currently working on multiple research projects in the fields of trade in agriculture, food security, climate change adaptation and sustainable management of natural resources. He is also coordinating an international research team investigating stakeholders’ priorities in development goals in seven developing countries. He teaches graduate courses in the areas of sustainable development and international trade.

Barış pursued his undergraduate studies in Political Science and International Relations at the Boğaziçi (Bosphorus) University in Istanbul. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The theme of his PhD research was the role of small scale farming in economic development in the age of globalisation. He joined the World Trade Institute as a research fellow in 2005. He worked on a research project on ‘Sustainable Agriculture within WTO Law and Policy,’ which involved an empirical assessment of various stakeholders’ perceptions of sustainability in China and Turkey. He has also coordinated an international research project on the sustainability impact of Swiss trade policies on developing countries.

In 2008, Barış became a co-leader of the WTI’s research program on trade, development and migration. In this capacity, he led the Institute’s research agenda on the ‘food crisis’ and the international trading system. He has published on various aspects of food security and international trade. He is the lead editor of ‘Food Crises and the WTO’ (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), and ‘Rethinking Structural Reform in Turkish Agriculture: Beyond the World Bank’s Strategy’ (New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2010). His most recent work examining the interplay of food security, WTO law and environmental implications of export restrictions have appeared in journals such as the World Trade Review and the Journal of World Trade. His current work focuses on the sustainable management of natural resources and climate change.

Barış has engaged in policy consultancy for a number of national and international policy institutions, including the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the World Bank, the European Parliament, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). He has worked, as a research fellow, for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI)’s Growth and Investment Program. He has also produced and hosted a series of a TV program that was broadcasted by a Turkish news channel. His weekly debate show hosted academics, politicians, celebrities and university students, discussing a topic of global relevance such as climate change, renewable energy policies, modern social democracy, labour markets and social security.