Sarah Perret

Sarah Perret joined ESPOL in 2023 as an Associate Professor of Political Science. She is also a research associate at the Chair of Geopolitics of Risk at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, at the ‘Laboratoire de Théorie politique’ of the CRESPPA-CNRS, at King’s College London, and a Management Committee member of the international and multidisciplinary network COST Action DATAMIG.

Her research focuses on the effects of security policies on issues of borders, identity, and mobility, through the collection and circulation of knowledge, particularly with the exponential use of digital technologies such as biometrics and artificial intelligence. She is the author of Géopolitique du risque. De la possibilité du danger à l’incertitude de la menace (2022, Éditions du Cavalier Bleu) with J. P Burgess, as well as numerous articles in journals such as Review of International Studies, European Journal of International Security, Big Data & Society and Études internationales.

Before joining ESPOL, she was a Researcher at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris (Department of Philosophy) and principal collaborator on the ANR-PrAIrie project entitled ‘Artificial Intelligence at the Border’ (2023). She has also completed two post-doctorates at the War Studies Department of King’s College London (2019-2023), and at ENS Paris in the Chair in Geopolitics of Risk and the Geography Department (2017-2019). She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Université Paris-Saclay (Legislating naturalisation: ‘Securitazing’ migration policies in France, Germany, and the US), during which she was a visiting scholar at Georgetown University. She has taught at various institutions, including Université Paris-Saclay, Université Paris 2 Assas, Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, Georgetown University, École normale supérieure, King’s College London or Sciences Po Paris.

Alongside her academic work, Sarah Perret has also been a Parliamentary Adviser to the French Assemblée Nationale, a Consultant at the World Bank, and a Ministerial Adviser.

Languages spoken: French, English, German

Classes taught at ESPOL:

• Introduction to international relations (L1)
• International Organisations (L2)
• Security, Risk, Uncertainty (L3)
• Critical Approaches to International Relations (M1)

Research fields:

• International Political sociology
• Critical studies of security and borders
• Security practices in the digital age
• Qualitative and digital methods in International Relations
• Political violence and identities
• Politics of risk

Recent publications:

• ‘Regimes of power/non-knowledge in global politics‘(with C. Aradau & L. Canzutti, forthcoming), in Bliesemann de Guevara Berit, Kaczmarska Katarzyna, Kurowska Xymena, Poopuu Birgit & Warnecke Andrea (Eds.), Handbook of Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics, Oxford University Press.
• ‘Drawing Data Together: Inscriptions, asylum, and scripts of security’ (with C. Aradau), Science, Technology, & Human Values, 2023.
• ‘Neither opaque nor transparent: A transdisciplinary methodology to investigate datafication at the EU borders,’ (with A. Valdivia, C. Aradau, T. Blanke), Big Data & Society, 9(2), 2022.
• Géopolitique du risque. De la possibilité du danger à l’incertitude de la menace(with J.P. Burgess), Paris, Le Cavalier Bleu, 2022.
• “The politics of (non-)knowledge at Europe’s borders: Errors, fakes, and subjectivity” (with C. Aradau), Review of International Studies, Vol. 48(3), 405-424, 2022.
• “Voit-on mieux de près ? Être chercheur embarqué au Parlement” (W. Beauvallet & J. Fragnon), Politix, Vol. 136, no. 4, 5-26, 2022.
• “Designs of borders: Security, critique, and the machines” (with M. Martin-Mazé), European Journal of International Security, Vol. 6 (3), 278-300, 2021.
• “L’action législative : Un outil de gestion du ‘risque terroriste’ ?” in A. Benchérif et F. Mérand, L’analyse du risque politique, Presses Universitaires de Montréal, 201-215, 2021.
• The effect of Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Radicalisation Policies on Muslim Populations in France: A Quantitative Study(with F. Ragazzi (Ed.), S. Davidshofer, A. Tawfik), CECLS – French Version, 2019.