Hi! I am Nina Lopez-Uroz, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) in Cologne, and I earned my PhD from the Department of Social and Political Sciences of the European University Institute in early 2026.

My research bridges comparative political economy, comparative politics and policy studies. My current project, "Greening the Home", explores why and how European states intervene to decarbonise housing, especially how they navigate the distributive conflicts nested in the two logics of green housing policy: greening energy supply through low-carbon technologies and reducing energy demand via building efficiency. These logics mobilise distinct constituencies (e.g. consumers, construction and real-estate actors, utilities, and heating-system manufacturers) with competing or overlapping interests - and I study comparatively how these struggles unfold in the European context, depending on pre-existing housing and energy regimes legacies.

I am also exploring the political economy of the adaptation of housing to the climate crisis. Together with Rens Chazottes, we study how governments and economic actors respond to the risk of homes becoming stranded assets due to drought-induced clay shrinkage and swelling (“retrait-gonflement des argiles” in France). This phenomenon raises critical questions about how insurers and public authorities handle these risks and how households respond politically to potential or real losses. 

I am more broadly interested in the political economy of environmental crises, with collaborative mixed-methods projects on climate education and agriculture, combining in-depth interviews and experimental methods. This collaborative research has been published in high-ranking scientific outlets, like Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and New Political Economy.

During my doctoral studies, I was a visiting junior researcher at Sciences Po Paris and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. I also taught at the University of Lucerne and the University of Dusseldorf, and will soon teach at the University of Cologne. You can find more information in my CV.

Feel free to contact me at nina.lopezuroz@mpifg.de to discuss anything!