Dr. Elisabeth Schubiger

Biography

Elisabeth Schubiger is a post-doctoral researcher involved in the project 'Maintaining Relations: Community-owned Hydropower Infrastructure Time' funded by the Swiss National Fund from 2024-2028. She obtained her doctorate in social anthropology at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies and International Studies in Geneva. In her thesis 'Turkana Oil Prospects: Petroscapes, Development Limbos Self-Accomplishment Kenya's Northern Frontier', she developed the concept of 'Development Limbo' to understand how nomadic pastoral communities cope with unfulfilled promises of modernity and prosperity related to oil exploitation. Previously, she researched international education in private Swiss schools as part of the EduTrans project at the University of Teacher Education Fribourg. Elisabeth earned her master's and bachelor's degrees at the University of Bern, where she also worked as a research assistant and tutor. Additionally, she obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Development and Cooperation from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. Since 2024, she has been working as a project leader for the Swiss Alliance Global Research Partnerships, focusing on sustainable and equitable scientific partnerships between the global North and South. Balancing theory and practice, Elisabeth has worked and researched in various countries. In Haiti, she supported a women's vocational training center in rural areas for two years. In Kenya, she conducted research on international land acquisitions in Siaya before working for a year and a half as a development expert in West Pokot. Her research interests lie at the interfaces between local institutions and infrastructures, with a particular focus on resource management and sustainable development. Currently, she is interested in how decentralized energy supply can be successfully maintained in the long term and how it strengthens the economic and social structures of local communities, particularly in Switzerland's alpine regions where families and communities have been exploiting hydropower facilities for over a century.

Research Interests

Experience