Austin Beacham
Postdoctoral Fellow, Sam Nunn School of International Affairs

Thanks for visiting my website! I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In Fall 2025, I will continue at the Nunn School as an Assistant Professor. I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California San Diego in 2024.

I primarily study international relations and global environmental politics,  focusing on international organization, sustainable development, and conservation policy. I use novel data sources and techniques to answer these questions, particularly using GIS, remote sensing, and nature language processing. My dissertation centered on the politics of biodiversity conservation and protected areas, with a particular interest on how domestic and international politics interplay in determining protected area policy outcomes. Other work explores how transnational actors perform governance functions within states' territories both independently and in cooperation with the state, and I have a secondary research interest in the current global trend toward democratic backsliding. My research has been supported by the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, among others.

A proud Georgian, I received BAs in Applied Language and Intercultural Studies and Business Administration from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2017. I then worked at The Coca-Cola Company for two years before turning to political science. In my free time, I enjoy playing music, skateboarding,  wildlife photography, snorkeling, and trying to keep the dream of being a professional soccer player alive.