Theresa Rubhara

Theresa is an agricultural economist with research experience in food security, sustainability of food value chains and the bio economy. 

Currently at MTU Circular Bioeconomy Research Group, Theresa is part of a team working on the EPA-funded EnableBio project, developing a roadmap towards enabling regulatory environment for agri-food waste streams in innovative bio-based value chains.

Theresa has also worked on the Farm Zero C project. The project aims to develop a model farm which has neutral greenhouse gas emissions based on the Irish pasture-based livestock systems. Collaborating with researchers from TCD and UCD, Theresa forms part of a team developing the social innovation blueprint for farmers to mitigate climate change. The social innovation blueprint will provide information on the technical aspects, policy and economic analysis of the farm level climate change mitigation strategies which include: grassland management, use of grass biorefinery, use of protected urea, soil carbon management, increased biodiversity, use of anti-methanogenic additives, and use of slurry additives.

In the context of climate change, Theresa has been working on the CAPRI green sustainability project which involved validation of the CAPRI model with farm survey data for measuring agricultural sustainability in Ireland.