Oliver Truffer
Ph.D. Student
Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies
University of Zurich
Winterthurerstrasse 190
8057 Zurich
Office: Y13-J-52
Email
Research interests
My work focuses on EU environmental governance and investigates how the EU's split-level legitimacy shapes policymaking, with a particular focus on biodiversity policy over the last three decades. Central to my research is the European Commission and the role it plays in driving environmental governance.
To understand the institutional processes behind EU policy outputs, I combine quantitative methods such as natural language processing with qualitative approaches, including process tracing and discourse analysis. Through this mixed-methods lens, I aim to uncover how legitimacy dynamics translate into concrete policy decisions, contributing to broader debates on democratic governance and sustainability in the European Union.