Employees

Renate Marie Butli Hårstad holds a PhD in political science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and has been a researcher at Ruralis since 2015. Her research interest lies at the intersection of agriculture, animal welfare, technology, sustainability issues, and policy.

She has led work packages in several projects funded by the Research Council of Norway and has solid experience in research on agricultural policy, advisory systems, sustainable food production, and structural change in agriculture, with a particular focus on changing attitudes and practices related to animal welfare across industry, society, and policy. Her work combines both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Hårstad has contributed to several research projects, including MatMakt, which examines power relations in the Norwegian food system and their implications for sustainability; WELFARM, on compliance with animal welfare regulations in pig and dairy production; AGRILAND+, which maps the potential of underutilised agricultural land in Norway; Karbonmat, developing business models for carbon sequestration in agriculture; GoodAnimal, a multidisciplinary project on animal welfare and sustainability; SmaT, focusing on the use of smart technologies in agriculture; and AGRILINK (Horizon 2020), which analyses how advisory systems and knowledge networks influence innovation in European agriculture.