Academic interests
College lecturer and PhD student
Key academic interests:
Sociology, pedagogy, social innovation, social psychology and everyday life in a historical perspective.
Social innovation, working life, education and inequality
Digital communication, electronic games and identity development
Leisure, social inequality, networks and social inclusion
Violence, threats and self-preservation
Projects:
PhD project within Digitalization and Society; Project title: "Gamers, Nerds and Gaming Girls"
Debates of young people's screen time and social lives emerged as soon as most homes got a TV, and a few decades later computers. Based on existing research in this area, my focus will be how young people use games and "gaming" both as a leisure activity, social arena, and for some careers.
I write about gaming as a phenomenon, the emergence of e-sports, and focus on the social side, socializing, identity-creating and gender perspectives related to electronic games. Some of the topics that are often discussed in gaming research are social development, socialization and aggression, and I therefore want to look into this in more detail.
The project covers both global trends and specific, national and local challenges.
Inclusive leisure
Project 1: "E-sports for all" (E4A); inclusive gaming
E4A is a relatively new initiative, which initially involved getting broad groups for gaming started in local sports clubs. Some of them that are well underway are Begby and Lisleby, but several are in the starting group. The idea behind E4A is to be a resource organization for everyone involved in gaming. They have support from Riddle Esport, an elite club, which provides expertise and equipment. E4A's events are concerned with the social engagement around gaming and currently have four main areas of focus:
Developing gaming in existing sports teams, Gaming events for children during school holidays, Gaming events for students and Gaming as digital competence development
E4A collaborates with established players such as the E-sport Alliance, the Norwegian Media Authority and several others towards both competence development, social inclusion and broad-based efforts within e-sports
Project 2: Parasports and people with disabilities in ordinary sports teams (planned start spring 2026)
Sports against substance abuse as social innovation
Fredrikstad Football Club was the first in Norway to include a team for people with substance abuse-related challenges within ordinary operations, "Gatelaget". A challenge with many social innovations is that they are project-based and short-lived. "Gatelagene" have proven to work over time, and the concept has transfer value to other sports. Following this concept since its inception in 2011 I am starting to know something about why this seems effective for the players as well as its organizational survivability over time.
Farm-based child welfare work as a social innovation
In collaboration with two IPT farms, we are exploring farms as an arena for life-coping, social and psychological "foundation building" for young people who need stable support into adulthood. Today, there are often high expectations of independence for young people who have previously been or are in child welfare systems, often greater than what is expected of their peers without this experience. Where other young adults still rely on their parents both psychologically, socially and financially until they are well into their 20s, young people from the age of 18 are expected to manage on their own with minimal follow-up. In a transitional phase, access to stable adults in an environment that provides natural interaction through practical work tasks, contact with animals and at the same time the opportunity to withdraw to their own home can contribute to a safer transition for some. The project explores topics such as loneliness risk, identity building, practical-psychological support systems and animal-assisted interventions.
Violence in professional relationships
Violence and threats in the workplace are challenging within several professions, including social work and child welfare. This topic has concerned me for over 30 years, but has only now been made concrete in the form of an educational pilot project. Together with my colleague Karin Waleur, as well as Gry Elisabeth Juvelid and Anne-Marit Svenneby from the Joint Organization, we are developing a module with the intention of preparing for and preventing injuries related to work-related violence. Mental and physical stress can lead to both sick leave, work environment challenges and dropping out of the profession. These are complex and complicated challenges that have not been addressed to a sufficient extent in our education. We are now investigating how students experience being taught about these topics through a module that includes theory, practical examples and skills training. The plan is to further develop this based on the feedback from this year's pilot.
Affiliation:
https://www.hiof.no/studier/programmer/avf-bachelorstudium-i-arbeids-og-velferdsfag/index.html
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Background
Cand.sociol University of Oslo