Hilde Refstie

Hilde Refstie is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography and Social Anthropology at NTNU, Norway. She specializes in forced migration, humanitarianism, and global sustainable development. Her research emphasizes participatory urban planning, the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, and policy mobility. As Programme Leader for NTNU's MSc in Globalisation and Sustainable Development, she leads interdisciplinary education initiatives.

Current research projects include EXPAND (RCN, 2024–2028), COSTCLIM (NORPART, 2019–2025), and co-producing smart sustainable cities with Hilde N. Rørtveit. She has contributed to policy briefs on humanitarian localization in Uganda and refugee economics. Her work bridges academic research with practical policy engagement, focusing on participatory methods and critical scholarship.

Key themes in her publications include civic humanitarianism, refugee integration, and university governance. She critiques neoliberal influences in academia while advocating for co-productive research approaches to address sustainability challenges. Recent writings address the role of ‘citizen’ subjectivity in urban planning and the ethical dimensions of participatory research with children.