François-Valentin Clerc is a PhD candidate in Economic and Social History, and a teaching assistant at the Department of History, Economy and Society (DEHES) of the University of Geneva. He works under the supervision of Prof. Mary O’Sullivan and is also affiliated to the Paul Bairoch Institute of Economic History. In addition, he is a member of the editorial board of the French journal Regards croisés sur l'économie.

His doctoral thesis examines the global history of silk capitalism in the wave of globalisation of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when raw silk was one of the most internationally traded commodities. His research aims to explain the major shifts that occurred in the silk commodity chain, which connected raw silk producers in Japan to silk fabric producers in France and the United States, and the consequences for industrial development.