Profile
Abigail Kern

Abigaïl-Laure KERN

Post Doctoral researcher, Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy
Spoken languages
French, English, German
Areas of expertise
  • Urban governance
  • Action-research
  • Political, economic and social impact of digital technologies
  • Social Entrepreneurship Social Innovation
Geographical Region of Expertise
  • China
  • Caribbean
  • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Switzerland

With a dual training in sociology and in political sciences always applied to the context of urban development in emerging and developing countries, Abigaïl-Laure KERN focuses her work on public policies, administration and decentralization, urban and local governance and the general contexts of crisis. She studied in Strasbourg (Sciences Po), in Berlin (Humbodlt Universität) and she did her PhD in Lausanne (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne EPFL) and in Port-au-Prince (Quisqueya University UniQ).

Specialized in various social sciences methods, especially in qualitative research, single and multiple case study analysis, she did the design, the implementation, the coordination and the follow-up of multiple development projects, mainly in the academic field with a continuous dimension of applied research and a focus on sustainable development.

She is working now with the A. Hirschman Center on Democracy on youth participation, from the local to the global, and the impact of AI on democracie.

Articles and book chapters

  • Casséus R.M., Chéry G., Kern A.-L., Décentralisation dans les États francophones du Sud. Contexte et mise en œuvre en Haïti, Revue Études caribéennes n°24/080, 2022.
  • Kern A.-L., De ville moyenne à ville intermédiaire : les dynamiques de Jacmel et son positionnement en Haïti, les Cahiers d’Outre-Mer 2019/1, n°279, p. 267 à 288, 2019.
  • Bras A., Kern A.-L., and al. (direction), La mise en commun des activités de recherche en Économie, Éducation et Études Urbaines de l’Université Quisqueya, Haitian Studies Association, 2018.
  • Bolay J.-C., Kern A.-L., Intermediate Cities, The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies, Online, 2017.
  •  Kern A.-L., Leroux M., Bolay J.-C., The intermediate role of Medium sized cities in China between ultra-dense rural areas and ultra large cities in Verdini G., Wang Y., Zhang X., (Eds). Urban China's Rural Fringe. Actors, dimensions and management challenges. (Aldershot: Ashgate), 2014.
  •  Kern A.-L., Bolay J.-C., “Participatory processes in urban planning project in China: the example of Cayoang Village, Shanghai” in Jean-Claude Bolay, Silvia Hostettler, Eileen Hazboun, ed “ Technologies for Sustainable Development, a way to reduce poverty?, Springer : Paris, Heidelberg, New York, Dordrecht, London, 2013.
  • Bolay J.-C. and Kern A.-L.. Technology and cities: What type of development is appropriate for cities in the South, in Ciudades intermedias. Dimensiones y definiciones, p. 314-337, 2012.
  • Kern A.-L., J.-C. Bolay and L. N. Thanh. Peri-Urbanisation and the Vulnerability of Population to the Effects of Climate Change in Southern Vietnam: Innovating Solutions in Research, in Technologies and Innovations for Development. Scientific Cooperation for a Sustainable Development, p. 155-168, 2012.
  • Bolay J.-C. – A. Kern, Technology and Cities: What Type of Development Is Appropriate for Cities of the South ? Journal of Urban Technologies Volume 18, Issue 3, 2011
  • Hugrée C. et A. Kern, Observer des téléenquêteurs. Les paradoxes de la rationalisation de la production statistique, Genèses n°72, 2008/3