Ashley Thornton

Ashley joined the Institute as Project Manager in July 2025. She works on both the ATTENUATE project and the Climate Law & Governance programme, supporting project planning, budgeting, stakeholder engagement, and dissemination activities.

Background

Before joining the Institute, Ashley spent over nine years managing two Swiss National Science Foundation–funded projects based at the Geneva Graduate Institute. During this time, she also taught graduate-level courses in political psychology and qualitative research methods. She holds a PhD (2015) and an MA in Political Science from the Geneva Graduate Institute, and an BA in Psychology and French Studies (double major) from Smith College (2006). 

Research Interests

• Political psychology and framing
• Democratic oversight and national security institutions
• Multilateral institutions and policymaking
• AI training and ethical technology use
• Mixed methods research and unstructured data analysis
• Science–policy interfaces and research impact