Arnault Barichella is currently a post-doctoral researcher in the social sciences at the University Paris-Saclay for the PREVENT project (‘Predicting the Evolution and Biological Impact of the Oceanic Exposome during the Environmental Transition’). In this ANR (Agence nationale de la recherche) project, Arnault’s research focuses on the role of multilevel governance in preserving marine biodiversity and protecting oceans and seas from environmental pollution across France, with a focus on three pollutants: plastic, lithium and mercury. Previously, Arnault was a postdoctoral researcher in the NESMO (‘New Energy Sustainable Mobilities’) project, sponsored by the Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme Paris-Saclay (2023-24). In the NESMO project, Arnault’s work focused on sustainable and smart cities, including the feasibility for deploying new technologies like hydrogen thermal engines in the transportation sector across the Ile-de France region. 

Arnault obtained his Masters’ degree in European Affairs from Sciences Po Paris (2012-14), and received a BA degree in Modern History from Oxford University (2008-11). He was a Visiting Fellow at Harvard in 2018-19, affiliated with the Department of Government. Arnault defended his PhD thesis in Political Science at Sciences Po Paris in December 2022, within the Center for European Studies and Comparative Politics. His research interests are two-fold. His doctoral dissertation, under the supervision of Dr. Colin Hay, focused on the role of sub-national actors, such as cities, regions and states, within the global climate regime. This constitutes his first main axis of research, involving a comparative study of the articulation of multilevel governance and subnational climate initiatives in Europe and the United States. Arnault’s thesis was published as a book in June 2023 by Palgrave Macmillan in their Energy, Climate and the Environment series. 

Arnault’s interest in climate change is linked to his professional experience. He worked for UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Program, and also served as a Consultant for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) from 2015-16. Arnault has been invited to present his doctoral research at several workshops as part of an EU Jean-Monnet grant for George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs to facilitate transatlantic subnational climate initiatives (2022 and 2023). He was selected to be a member of the Sciences Po Paris delegation to the 26^th Conference of the Parties (COP) in Glasgow (2021), and also presented his research on these topics during the 22^nd Transatlantic Policy Symposium hosted by Georgetown University (2018), as well as the Clean Energy Law and Economics Conference organized by the University of Stavanger in Norway (2022). 

Each semester from 2020 to 2023, Arnault taught a class for the Collège universitaire at Sciences Po Paris entitled ‘Global Climate Politics: Comparative EU-US perspectives.’ The seminar covered the Paris Agreement and the new global climate regime, with a comparative analysis of climate politics in the EU and the US.  Since Fall 2023, Arnault teaches at the Graduate level for Sciences Po’s École d’affaires publiques an Étude de Cas entitled ‘The COP Negotiations in the Global Climate Change Regime: Perspectives, Approaches and Engagement of Different Actors’. This class combines both the acquisition of theoretical knowledge, followed by practical engagement whereby students are able to participate in three different COP simulations under different formats. Arnault also teaches these two classes at the University Paris-Dauphine since 2022, as well as at the University Paris-Saclay since 2024. 
 

Arnault’s second main axis of research focuses on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital technologies, especially in relation to critical infrastructure. This is linked to his experience as a research assistant for the French Senate’s Commission on Foreign Affairs and Defense. He was subsequently hired by the Jacques Delors Institute as an affiliated researcher to work on these issues.

Palgrave Macmillan selected Arnault to be editor-in-chief for the Palgrave Handbook of Cybersecurity, Technologies and Energy Transitions. The aim of the Handbook, the first of its kind dedicated to these topics, is to collect research, thinking and practice that captures the complex and subtle interconnections between two transitions that lie at the heart of current societal transformations: the dual digital and energy transitions. A broad range of contributing experts have been invited from leading academic institutions, as well as think tanks, NGOs, governments, international organizations and the private sector. Arnault has contributed two chapters within this Handbook, developing his research on links between the twin climate and digital transitions. 

Arnault has also been invited to participate in a number of conferences to present his research on cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and digital technologies. Highlights include ‘New geopolitical landscapes in the energy sector’ at the French War College (2017), as well as the EU Commission’s panel discussion on the Cybersecurity Package with the European Cyber Task Force (2018). More recently, he was invited to speak at the International Forum on Cybersecurity in Lille (2021), as well as the Enedis Forum on Innovation in March 2022. Other presentations on these topics include at the University of Oslo in 2022 and again in 2025; an EU sponsored online workshop hosted by Lviv Polytechnic National University in Ukraine (2025); the University of Rennes’ program on AI-driven Cybersecurity (2025); as well as the Cercle de France Business Session Mastercard 2025 in Cannes, sharing a session with the former French ambassador to Russia, China and the UK. Furthermore, Arnault has contributed a book chapter on ‘Cybersecurity and Data Protection in the Power Sector’ in A Research Agenda for Energy Politics (Considine J., Cook D. and Wood G. – eds.), which was published by Edward Elgar in April 2023.

The UN Climate Change regime and the articulation of multi-level governance. A case study of the global cities of Paris, Boston and New York, under the supervision of Dr. Colin Hay.