phd thesis
PhD Thesis Title: ‘The Atoms of Time’: The Politics of Sensorial Frictions in the Global Governance of Nuclear Safeguards
PhD Supervisor: Prof. Anna Leander (Geneva Graduate Institute) / Dr. Rens van Munster (Danish Institute for International Studies)
Expected completion date: 2027
The PhD research explores the politics of nuclear safeguards, a key global nuclear governance instrument designed to verify whether states comply with their commitment not to divert nuclear materials and technologies from peaceful activities to the acquisition of nuclear weapons. The thesis asks how the material elements operating within this policy — the ‘atomic matter’ — intervene in the configurations of the global nuclear (dis)order. In other words, how do the atom and the infrastructure of artifacts within safeguards affect the embodiment, the political economy, and the imagination/manifestation of that (dis)order? This thesis contributes to and engages with transdisciplinary debates on the political role of (socio)materialities, thus resituating nuclear scholarship in International Relations and Political Science by examining these material interventions at a granular level. By mobilizing insights from new materialism/posthumanism, STS, and aesthetics/affect theory, this study provides an empirically grounded theoretical repertoire to account for the associative/dissociative and sensorial ways in which these interventions unfold. This PhD research leverages affective methodologies through site observations at safeguards sites, interviews with political actors, archival and documentary research, and visual and digital methods.
profile
Lucas Perez Florentino is a PhD candidate in International Relations/Political Science and Research Assistant & Coordinator for the SNSF-funded Sinergia project “The Future of Humanitarian Design” at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Geneva, Switzerland. He holds a bachelor’s (2014) and a master’s degree (2017) in International Relations from the Institute of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI-PUC-Rio), Brazil. He was a visiting PhD student at the Department of History of the University of Vienna, Austria (April–June 2024), and an undergraduate exchange student at Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA (August–December 2012).
His research examines the politics of global governance, particularly in relation to science, technology, and art. It spans a wide range of issue areas, with a particular focus on nuclear governance and humanitarianism. His scholarship articulates posthumanism, new materialism, science and technology studies, infrastructure studies, aesthetics, and affect theory in dialogue with International Relations theory, critical security studies, and critical nuclear studies. His work is also informed by postfoundational thought and debates in epistemology. His PhD dissertation explores the politics of sensorial frictions across science, technology, and the bureaucracies involved in the global governance of nuclear safeguards. He also studies the material-affective politics of international security, with an emphasis on infrastructures, playfulness, and humanitarian design.
He has held teaching positions in International Relations programs in Brazil and Switzerland, with an emphasis on International Relations theory and global nuclear politics. He is the author of the e-course “Fundamentals on Global Nuclear Politics”, available through FGV Online. In addition, he has held project management and coordination roles in large-scale, internationally funded research projects, including fundraising, financial management, strategic planning, reporting, event organization, and team coordination.
Areas of expertise
- Global governance
- Science and technology
- Infrastructure
- Nuclear governance
- Critical nuclear studies
- International Security
- Humanitarianism
- Critical security studies
- Arts, design, affect, and aesthetics
- Theories of International Relations
- Epistemology
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES
- Research Assistant & Coordinator, “The Future of Humanitarian Design”, SNSF Sinergia, Geneva Graduate Institute, Global Governance Centre, 2025-present
- Teaching Assistant, Geneva Graduate Institute, Fall 2024: “Controversies in World Politics” (PhD); “Critical Security Studies” (MA/PhD); “Postcolonial Politics” (MA/PhD).
- Project Assistant, "Infrastructuring Democracy: The Regulatory Politics of Digital Code, Content, and Circulations", Brazilian-Swiss Joint Research Programme, Geneva Graduate Institute, CCPD, Nov 2023 - Feb 2024
- Teaching/Authorship, Online Course. ”Fundamentals on Global Nuclear Politics”, FGV School of International Relations/FGV Online (in Portuguese)
- Research Fellow, FGV School of International Relations (Brazil), 2017-2022
- Teaching, Course “Global Nuclear Politics”, FGV School of International Relations (Brazil), 2019; 2021
- Research Assistant, Institute of International Relations PUC-Rio (Brazil), 2013-2016
- Teaching Assistant, Institute of International Relations PUC-Rio (Brazil), 2015.2:“Classical Theories of International Relations”
- Research Intern, BRICS Policy Center, Institute of International Relations PUC-Rio (Brazil), 2011-2012
OTHER WORK EXPERIENCES
- Project Associate, FGV School of International Relations (Brazil), 2017-2022
FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND AWARDS
- PhD Financial Package, Geneva Graduate Institute, 2022-2026
- MA Scholarship ‘Mestrado Nota Dez’, Rio de Janeiro’s State Research Foundation, 2016 – 2017
- MA Scholarship Prosup and Proex, CAPES - Brazil’s Ministry of Education, 2015-2016
- BA Scholarship Awards, Academic Distinction, PUC-Rio, 2011.2, 2012.1, 2013.1, 2013.2
- BA Excellence Scholarship Award, College Entrance Exams Merits, PUC-Rio, 2010-2014