Eva-Lotta Päiviö Sjaunja

Eva-Lotta completed her PhD in 2008 with a dissertation on how biological and historical values in the agrarian landscape have been managed in relation to Swedish agricultural policy. Since then, her research has focused on the governance and organization of local resource use and provisioning, and how this interacts with rules, norms, and decision-making at other societal levels. In recent years, she has studied historical Sami land use and Sami institutions. She also has many years of experience working in public administration, with a focus on issues related to organizational governance and quality development.

Her research explores how households and local communities shaped rules and norms for subsistence through hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding. The starting point is that the relationship between humans and the environment is complex and must be understood in both economic, social and ecological terms. By highlighting local and Indigenous institutions of land use, she broadens a historical narrative often dominated by the state’s perspective. Her work focuses on the early modern period (1500–1800), a time of profound global and local transformation.

Since January 2025, she has been part of the five-year ERC-funded project TransRein at SLU, which investigates the transition from hunting and small-scale reindeer herding to pastoralism with large herds—one of the most transformative subsistence shifts in human history. The project emphasizes the role of local actors and everyday strategies, rather than solely external drivers, and draws on sources such as court records, tax registers, clerical reports, and travel accounts.

Partcipates as a lecturer in the summer course on agrarian history, LB0094.

Co-supervisor for PhD-candidates William Renström and Hanna Bendz.

Visiting researcher at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Mid Sweden University in Östersund. 

From March 1 to December 31, 2025, she is conducting a commissioned review at Mid Sweden University, focusing on the university’s strategic quality assurance work.

Visiting address: Kunskapens Väg 1, Building P, Östersund.

Office: P2615

• Master of Science in Agronomy (SLU, 2001) 
• Administrative officer and advisor at the County Administrative Board of Jönköping County (2001–2004) 
• PhD in Agrarian History (SLU, 2009)
• Postdoctoral fellowship at Stockholm University (2011–2015, including two periods of parental leave)
• Researcher and lecturer at SLU (part-time, 2016–)
• Senior policy analyst the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (part-time, 2018–2023)
• Quality officer at the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Mid Sweden University (full-time, 2024)

List of publications (SLUpub)