Helena Robling

Doktorand | PhD Student
Institutionen för ekonomi | Department of economics
helena.robling@slu.se

In the spirit of “what get measured, gets done”, I research sustainability indicators not only as practical monitoring tools but as having a normative meaning, reflecting what specific aspects of sustainability that are given attention, and considered important enough to measure quantitatively.    

The overall aim of my PhD project is to identify how sustainability indicators are used at different levels and by different actors to monitor progress towards a sustainable food system, and how such monitoring practices relates to both sustainability performance and economic performance.  My research spans farm level indicators, indicators used in ESG accounting within food industry and retail firms, and food system wide perceptions on responsibility to act when indicators move in the wrong direction.

I have a background in political science and experience from working in the public sector, developing sustainability criteria for food procurement in Sweden. I am interested in the interactions between sustainability, science and public policy in a broad sense and I enjoy letting the research question decide whether to take a qualitative, quantitative or mixed-methods approach.