Ren Grace Ryba

she/her | Kaurna land (South Australia)
Proudly transgender 🏳️‍⚧️ and autistic ♾️

I advocate for animal rights and welfare. I work to improve laws for the billions of chickens, fish, pigs, and other animals commodified by economic systems and tortured by routine industrial practices.

I am a researcher and an analyst, and I enjoy helping projects run smoothly through operations, administration, and automation. I’m currently a grant evaluator at the EA Animal Welfare Fund and an independent contractor on several animal welfare campaigns around the world.

From 2021 to 2025, I worked at Animal Ask, where I helped to maximize the impact of animal advocacy campaigns on every continent except Antarctica. I have run for parliament with the Animal Justice Party and worked in the fisheries department of state government.

I am the proud parent of two special needs rescue dogs, Max and Shiloh 🐶🐶. Outside of work, I enjoy playing soccer, getting tattoos, and reading about history and space exploration.

Scientific expertise 🏭 economics | 🌱 environmental science | 🐟 fish biology | 🏛️ political systems | 📈 statistics/data analysis
Qualifications PhD in environmental policy and marine biology | Grad Cert in economics | BSc (Advanced) in environmental science

“Ryba” is pronounced “REE-ber” and it means “fish” in Slovak. I use my middle name Grace in my everyday life, but I use my first name Ren professionally. Feel free to use either.

Years lived: 38 %

Books

Book cover for Shrimp and Prawn Welfare in the Wild-Caught Fishing Industry, showing an underwater close-up photograph of a red shrimp with white spots standing against grey-blue rocksBook cover for Trash Fish, a zine-style illustration of pink and blue fish with background images of a soccer ball, a rosary, and dog paws
Shrimp and Prawn Welfare in the Wild-Caught Fishing Industry: A Global Review and Recommendations for Research and Policy
An academic book with Shannon M Davis, Tse Yip Fai, and Peter Singer; buy from Routledge hereTrash Fish: Navigating the Shoals of Gender, Species, and Meaning in an Oppressive World
A book of autobiographical essays, free to read and download here


Data

An ASCII art image of a fishAn ASCII art image of a baby chickAn ASCII art image of a soccer ball
Data on the European fish farming industry
@ finsight.fishData on the global cage-free egg market
@ cagefr.eeData visualizations on women's football
@ she.football


Publications

My favorites!


Animal advocacy reports


Academic publications

Animal welfare

Insect farming

Science writing

Science and philosophy

Just for fun


Blog

To show my favorites (*), click here.

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These posts are hot takes and tidbits on topics that I find interesting, not systematic or rigorous examinations. “Notes on” posts summarise key academic sources on a given topic, rather than involving my own reasoning or views. I do not use generative AI to write.

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