Grace Ryba
she/her · Kaurna land (Adelaide, Australia)
I am Executive Director of BluePerch, a fund that makes grants to promising, high-impact animal advocacy projects around the world. Our work supports improvements in laws, policies, and industrial practices for the billions of chickens, fish, pigs, and other animals exploited by industrial and economic systems.
I previously went by the first name Ren, which is also fine. My surname “Ryba” is pronounced “REE-ber”, and means “fish” in Slovak. I am proud to be transgender 🏳️⚧️, and I live with the ongoing work of surviving major depression 💚.
| 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 |
My previous roles include Fund Manager at the EA Animal Welfare Fund and Research Scientist at Animal Ask. I’ve also worked directly on strategy, policy analysis, and project execution across several animal advocacy campaigns around the world.
Outside of work, I am the proud parent of two special needs rescue dogs, Max and Shiloh 🐶🐶, and I enjoy goalkeeping, reading, and getting tattoos.
Publications
My favorites!
- The economics of aquaculture and fish welfare in Europe: A systematic review, 2025.
- Shrimp and Prawn Welfare in the Wild-Caught Fishing Industry: A Global Review and Recommendations for Research and Policy, 2025, with Shannon M Davis, Tse Yip Fai, and Peter Singer.
- Tiered certification schemes for slower-growing chicken: Can a tiered animal welfare label help the Better Chicken Commitment?, 2025.
- Are slow-growing broiler chickens actually better for animal welfare? Shining light on a poultry welfare concern using a farm-scale economic model, British Poultry Science, 2024, with I. Khire.
- Party politics for animal advocacy: Part 1 – Animal-focused minor political parties, 2023.
- Reminding myself just how awful pain can get (plus, an experiment on myself), 2023. (While I wrote this post in my spare time, it is actually the post that people mention most frequently to me at conferences.)
- Subsidies: Which reforms can help animals?, 2022.
Animal advocacy reports
- The economics of aquaculture and fish welfare in Europe: A systematic review, 2025.
- Shrimp and Prawn Welfare in the Wild-Caught Fishing Industry: A Global Review and Recommendations for Research and Policy, 2025, with Shannon M Davis, Tse Yip Fai, and Peter Singer.
- Tiered certification schemes for slower-growing chicken: Can a tiered animal welfare label help the Better Chicken Commitment?, 2025.
- Salmon aquaculture in Chile: Top opportunities to improve fish welfare, 2025, with George Bridgwater.
- Animal advocacy in Canada, 2025, with George Bridgwater & Max Carpendale.
- Animal advocacy in Brazil: Top opportunities for impact, 2025, with George Bridgwater & Max Carpendale.
- Slower-growing broilers and greenhouse gas emissions: Briefing report for animal advocacy organisations, 2024.
- Alternative proteins: What are the best government policies to support the industry?, 2024, with Max Carpendale.
- Farm animal welfare in Ghana, 2024, with George Bridgwater & Max Carpendale.
- Animal welfare in the United States: Opportunities for impact, 2024.
- Global performance indicators: Could they help improve animal welfare policy?, 2024.
- Meat reduction: How much can digital media and mass media help?, 2024.
- Reforming the regulatory framework for animal welfare in Slovenia: An initial look, 2024.
- Modelling the outcomes of animal welfare interventions: One possible approach to the trade-offs between subjective experiences, 2024.
- Reminding myself just how awful pain can get (plus, an experiment on myself), 2023.
- Demodex mites: Large and neglected group of wild animals, 2023 (originally written under a pseudonym).
- Recommendations for optimising the European Chicken Commitment, 2023, with George Bridgwater & Max Carpendale.
- Party politics for animal advocacy: Part 2 – Establishing groups across or within major parties, 2023.
- Party politics for animal advocacy: Part 1 – Animal-focused minor political parties, 2023.
- Farmed animal advocacy in Zimbabwe: Top opportunities for improving animal welfare and community health, 2023, with Max Carpendale, Matthew Blyth & Nadine Grinberg.
- Can the trajectory of meat consumption and production in developing countries be influenced by policy? An agenda for animal advocacy researchers, 2023, with Matthew Blyth.
- Economic evaluation of the transition to cage-free housing on the EU egg and pigmeat industries: A systematic review, 2023.
- Animal welfare during transport: A first look, 2023.
- Farmed fish advocacy in Denmark: Top opportunities for improving the lives of fish, 2023, with George Bridgwater & Max Carpendale..
- Farmed animal advocacy in Uganda: Top opportunities for improving animal welfare and community health, 2022.
- Subsidies: Which reforms can help animals?, 2022.
- Independent Office of Animal Protection, 2022.
- CCTV cameras in slaughterhouses: Modest benefits for animal welfare, 2022.
- Meat tax: Why chickens pay the price, 2022.
- Imports to meet UK animal welfare standards, 2022.
- The challenges with measuring the impact of lobbying, 2022.
- Economic evaluation of humane slaughter methods for farmed fish in Italy; accompanying Greece report, 2022.
Academic publications
Animal welfare
- Breaking free from the trend: Outlier policies promote sustainable poultry practices, Frontiers in Animal Science, 2025, with I. Khire.
- Are slow-growing broiler chickens actually better for animal welfare? Shining light on a poultry welfare concern using a farm-scale economic model, British Poultry Science, 2024, with I. Khire.
- Evaluating the economic impacts of a cage-free animal welfare policy in Southeast Asian and Indian egg production: A systematic review, Evaluation Review, 2024.
- Humane slaughter in Mediterranean sea bass and bream aquaculture: farm characteristics, stakeholder views, and policy implications, Frontiers in Aquaculture, 2024, with K. van Pelt.
Insect farming
- Have the environmental benefits of insect farming been overstated? A critical review, under review, 2025, with C. Biteau et al.
- Beyond the buzz: A review of the prospects of replacing meat consumption with insect-based foods, npj Sustainable Agriculture, 2025, with C. Biteau et al.
- Bugs in the system: The logic of insect farming research is flawed by unfounded assumptions, npj Sustainable Agriculture, 2024, with C. Biteau et al.
- Offshoring insect farms may jeopardise Europe’s food sovereignty, Global Sustainability, 2024.
- Is turning food waste into insect feed an uphill climb? A review of persistent challenges, Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2024, with C. Biteau et al.
- Insect-based livestock feeds are unlikely to become economically viable in the near future, Food and Humanity, 2024, with C. Biteau et al.
Science writing
- Climate donations inspired by evidence-based fundraising, Frontiers in Psychology, 2022, with M. Dry & S. D. Connell.
- Better writing in scientific publications builds reader confidence and understanding, Frontiers in Psychology, 2021, with Z. Doubleday, M. Dry, C. Semmler & S. D. Connell.
- Sparking creativity in science education, The Journal of Creative Behavior, 2021, with J. T. Draper & S. D. Connell.
- How can we boost the impact of publications? Try better writing), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2019, with Z. Doubleday & S. D. Connell.
Science and philosophy
- The evolving circle of landscape design, Restoration Ecology, 2023, with M. McQuillan.
- Funding conservation through an emerging social movement, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 2021, with S. D. Connell.
- Animal minds, social change, and the future of fisheries science, Frontiers in Marine Science, 2021, with S. D. Connell.
- Advancing government legitimacy through the scientific study of sentience, World Futures, 2021, with S. D. Connell.
- How can ecologists thrive during the global environmental crisis? Lessons from the ancient world, Restoration Ecology, 2019, with T. Preston.
Just for fun
- Books are overwhelmingly supportive of transgender identities: Analysing queer literature using a Goodreads web scrape, 2025, with M. Freeling, preprint.
- On the relative contribution of sunlight and air temperature to soil solarisation: Observational evidence from Australia, Soil Science, 2024, with M. McQuillan & R. Smernik.
Datasets
@ finsight.fishData on the global cage-free egg market
@ cagefr.eeData visualizations on women's football
@ she.football
Blog (legacy)
This blog is no longer actively updated. Any views expressed here belong only to me, not my organisation.
- This blog is going on holiday!
- The upward spiral - the single most useful tool I've found for navigating depression
- Positive impact can be credited to communities, but not to individual people
- Bearing witness to 8.9 million individual animals killed in Chile
- Don't agonise, organise - executive function as mental healing
- The cosmic joke: Depression in an absurd universe
- Individual humans are profoundly limited — and community can set us free
- Doing the most good in a world with superb-quality AI
- Non-violence against insects part 4/5: Common sense prior, and exercising caution around hypothesized moral catastrophes
- Non-violence against insects part 3/5: Choosing a different sports club to kill fewer insects?
- Non-violence against insects part 2/5: Insects killed by driving
- Non-violence against insects part 1/5: Notes on artificial turf, with a focus on invertebrate animals
- Simple grace - You are always enough
- The Azbantium wall from Doctor Who and the central mission of animal advocacy
- The economics of taking the ball to the corner flag in soccer
- Tattoos, embodiment, and neoliberal 'professionalism' ideology
- Animal advocacy across borders
- Is the United States likely to collapse? Should social justice advocates respond?


