Fay Farstad

Fay started in the department in October 2023, coming from a position as a Senior Researcher at CICERO Center for International Climate Research.

She has previously held positions as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Sheffield and Associate Lecturer at the University of York. Fay also has experience from government, having worked as a Senior Social Researcher in DEFRA in the UK and as a Senior Adviser for the Environment Agency in Norway. She has a PhD in Politics from the University of York (2017), MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge (2012) and a BA in Philosophy and Politics from the University of York (2011).

Fay’s research interests cover comparative environmental and climate politics and policy, also at the European Union level. A particular focus area is the role of political parties. From January 2024 she will be the Principal Investigator of a Researcher Project for Young Talents funded by the Norwegian Research Council called “Political Parties and Climate Change: Positions, Polarisation and Policy Relevance”. Fay is responsible for teaching the course “The Politics of the Environment” in the department.

Fay has published in a wide range of journals, such as Regulation and Governance, Party Politics, Global Environmental Change, Environmental Politics, Policy Studies, People and Nature and Political Quarterly (her article in the latter, co-authored with Neil Carter and Charlotte Burns, was the journal’s most read article in 2018). As well as authoring various book chapters, she is a co-author of the book “Norway’s EU Experience and Lessons for the UK” (Routledge). Her research has also been cited in the latest Working Group 3 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Fay regularly gives interviews to national and international media (online, print and radio) on climate politics, including the New York Times, Time Magazine, CNN, NRK, VG, Aftenposten, E24, Energi & Klima and Teknisk Ukeblad. She is also an editor and topic expert within the area of climate politics for The Great Norwegian Encyclopedia.