Hilde Bjørkhaug is Professor in sociology within the area of sociological theory.

Hilde Bjørkhaug has her specialization in sociology of agriculture and food. She has through her career been involved in research on different aspects of rural development, diffusion of innovations, agricultural restructuring and financialization, land use and land use conflicts, ethics, sustainable development, climate change challenges, policy analysis, food systems analysis, power relations and organizational change. Gender perspectives have been employed in many projects. She has followed Norwegian legislation on gender balance in boardrooms through research projects and public debate. She holds a particular interest in advancing sociological theory and methods.

Bjørkhaug is partner in many large international research projects and is an experienced research coordinator. She has authored more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, more than 20 scholarly book chapters and have edited several scholarly books and journal special issues. Recent booktitles are  Bjørkhaug, H. P. McMichael and B. Muirhead (eds.) (2020) Finance or Food? The Role of Cultures, Values and Ethics in Land Use Negotiations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press and Bjørkhaug, Hilde, André Magnan, Geoffrey A. Lawrence (eds) (2018) The Financialization of Agri-Food Systems: Contested Transformation. Oxon, Routledge. Bjørkhaug is also actively contributing to the public debate in newspaper columns.

Bjørkhaug is an active member of the European Society for Rural Sociology and act as Secretary/Treasurer for the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee 40 (the sociology of agriculture and food). She is member of the editorial board of Journal of Rural studies.

Bjørkhaug previously worked as a research professor at RURALIS, Institute for Rural and Regional Research in Trondheim, Norway and Researcher I at Nordland Research Insitute.