Employees

Pia Piroschka Otte is a research professor at Ruralis and was research manager between April 2021- May 2023. She has an interdisciplinary background with a PhD in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Development Studies from NTNU. Her research focuses on sustainable business models and alternative finance for climate measures in agriculture, with a strong emphasis on soil health. Furthermore, she works in the field of renewable energy with a particular focus on the social acceptance of novel solar technologies in the Global South and the design of inclusive business models.

She works internationally and transdisciplinary and has carried out fieldwork in Bhutan, Nepal, Greenland, India, Mozambique, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Botswana, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. She has a strong expertise in interdisciplinary research and a solid methodological background including participatory methods and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Besides her research, she has taught several courses at NTNU, Technische Universität Darmstadt and Lund University.