Hilton is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research explores the comparative politics of environmental governance, economic policy, and sustainable development. His work examines how publics and their governing institutions navigate complex global challenges of climate change, environmental justice and sustainability across political cultures.
He earned his Ph.D. in Public Policy from Harvard University, where he specialized in Science, Technology, and Policy Studies, and Development Economics. He also holds an M.A. in Political Science from Yale University and an A.B. from Harvard College in Social Studies and Physics. Most recently, he served as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Research Institute for Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany.
His scholarship focuses on how societies imagine and govern environmental futures, with particular attention to knowledge politics and democratic contestation around inequality, energy transitions, and sustainable growth.