Research areas

Primary research areas

Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen researches energy politics and planning in sub-Saharan Africa with a focus on energy transition dynamics. Currently, this involves work on the promotion of new renewable energy like solar and wind, the enduring role of oil and gas, the role of energy security, and geopolitics, development finance and donor relations.

Pedersen is PI on the research project ‘Energy struggles – renewable energy in Africa’, which aims to explain how renewable energy is prioritized in different countries. The project is carried out with partners in Tanzania, Ghana and Denmark. He has also been part of several policy and consultancy studies.

Furthermore, Pedersen has worked on, and maintains an interest in, several other research topics, for instance, petroleum sector governance and social investment standards, land rights and land reform, social protection and pension reform, and elections and democratization.

Selected projects

Energy struggles - renewable energy in Africa. A research project on the political economy of energy transitions in sub-Saharan Africa https://www.diis.dk/en/projects/energy-struggles-renewable-energy-in-africa (2021-2025)

The political economy of gas investments in Tanzania. Research as part of the larger research programme, 'Hierarchies of rights: land and natural resource investments in Africa' (2015-2020)

The politics of governing oil and gas in sub-Saharan Africa: Tanzania. A study that is part of a research programme under the Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID) Research Centre (2018-20).

Access, Decentralisation and Local Governance of Land in Africa. The Implementation of Tanzania’s New Wave Land Reform. PhD project and thesis (2009-13).