Elsa Barron

Elsa Barron is a PhD student in Peace Studies and Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. Her research focuses on political resistance to climate injustice within Pacific island nations. Elsa explores how communities experiencing climate-induced loss and damage employ political agency and dignity in the face of local harms with globalized origins and the ways these everyday forms of resistance shape local, national, and international politics.

Elsa is also a co-director of the Christian Climate Observers Program, a joint initiative of over a dozen faith-based NGOs to bring around 40 climate advocates to the UN climate negotiations (COP) for the first time each year. Her faith and climate advocacy have been featured in CBS News, Rolling Stone, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. Elsa also collaborates on climate justice and positive peacebuilding efforts as a Program Associate with the Institute for Climate and Peace in Hawaii.

Elsa is a Richard and Peggy Notebaert Premier Fellow and the recipient of the 2025-2026 Steven Pepe Fellowship. She holds a Bachelor of Science in biology with a supplementary major in peace studies and a minor in sustainability from the University of Notre Dame.