Eivind Andre Leister

• Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Leister, Eivind Andre; Valter, Per & Lynch, Matthew [Show all 7 contributors for this article] (2026). Fostering Resilience and Innovation in Island Communities – Identifying Systemic Challenges and Opportunities. THE JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES. ISSN 2720-8672. 6(1), p. 44–56. doi: 10.63410/jds2025/04. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper explores how stakeholders in island communities perceive and address systemic challenges to resilience and innovation in the context of the green transition and broader societal change. Drawing on insights from the Interreg FREIIA project – a multi-country, participatory initiative across six European islands—this study employs a design thinking framework and grounded theory methodology to explore how local stakeholders perceive and respond to development challenges, highlighting the voices and lived experiences of island residents and aiming to understand the realities on the ground and the multidimensional conditions shaping resilience and innovation in their communities. The findings highlight recurring development challenges, including youth outmigration, housing shortages, seasonal economic dependency, and limited institutional capacity. The paper argues that sustainable development in island contexts requires participatory governance, inclusive innovation ecosystems, and place-based strategies that reflect local realities. By situating island development within broader debates on peripheralization, productive capabilities, and participatory transformation, the study contributes to the literature on systemic development in island communities.

• Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle & Leister, Eivind Andre (2025). EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: LEARNING BY DOING IN THE FREIIA PROJECT. In Spain, Luis Gómez Chova, University of Valencia, (Eds.), ICERI2025 Proceedings. International Academy of Technology, Education and Development (IATED). ISSN 9788409787067. doi: https:/library.iated.org/publications/ICERI2025. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper presents key insights from the Interreg FREIIA project (2022–2025), an international collaboration involving 14 organizations across six European countries. It explores how experimental project-based learning (PjBL) can enhance higher education by engaging students directly in real-world challenges within small island communities. FREIIA combines project-based teaching, PjBL, and action learning to promote experiential, interdisciplinary, and community-oriented education. Within Work Package 4 (WP4), final-year students at Østfold University College took on leadership roles as project managers for the Norwegian part of the project, guiding first- and second-year students through research, analysis, and co-creative design processes with local stakeholders. This experimental setup provided a unique arena for students to balance academic learning with real managerial responsibility, applying theoretical concepts from project management, innovation, and organizational development in practice. Through interviews and reflective analyses, the study highlights how students developed key competencies such as leadership, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and adaptability. They reported personal growth through coping with uncertainty, cultural diversity, and the dual role of being both learner and leader. Key findings suggest that positioning students as project leaders in authentic, international collaborations strengthens both academic learning and personal development. The FREIIA project demonstrates how experimental PjBL can serve as a powerful pedagogical model—linking theory to practice, fostering sustainable entrepreneurship, and preparing students for complex, real-world challenges in line with principles of resilience and community-based innovation.

• Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Johansen, Frode Ramstad & Leister, Eivind Andre (2025). STUDENT SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR GOVERNANCE: EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION FROM THE INTERREG FREIIA PROJECT. In Spain, Luis Gómez Chova, University of Valencia, (Eds.), ICERI2025 Proceedings. International Academy of Technology, Education and Development (IATED). ISSN 9788409787067. doi: https:/library.iated.org/publications/ICERI2025. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper presents key insights from the Interreg FREIIA project (2022–2025). It explores how student-led innovation can strengthen sustainable governance in small island communities across Northern Europe. The project engaged university students in real-world innovation and project management, using a design thinking-based framework to address local development challenges. Work Package 4 (WP4) emphasized experiential learning and sustainable entrepreneurship, empowering students to co-create solutions with local stakeholders on six islands—Hvaler in Norway, Schiermonnikoog in The Netherlands, Bornholm in Denmark, Koster in Sweden, Groix and Ouessant in France. Through interviews, analysis, ideation, and prototyping, students tackled shared challenges such as youth outmigration, seasonal tourism dependency, housing shortages, and fragmented governance structures. The project’s educational model promoted interdisciplinary collaboration, international exchange, and place-based learning. Students together with local stakeholders developed context-sensitive ideas for solutions including mobile innovation hubs, and decentralized education facilities. These initiatives not only addressed local needs but also fostered entrepreneurial thinking aligned with principles of sustainability and inclusive governance. Key findings highlight the potential of student sustainable entrepreneurship as a driver for resilient local governance. The Interreg FREIIA project demonstrates how international education projects can integrate sustainability, circular economy principles, and student engagement to build capacity for long-term community development. It offers a replicable model for embedding governance-oriented entrepreneurship into higher education curricula.

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• Leister, Eivind Andre; Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Wu, Hong; Johansen, Frode Ramstad & Valter, Per (2025). How demography in an island community can be a force for development and innovation - the outcome from a training module for student entrepreneurship. doi: https:/www.neonnet.no/neon-2025. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Can an elderly population become a basis for innovation and rethinking? Grand societal challenges («SCG») require innovative approaches (Voegtlin et al., 2022). Demography and a growing elderly population is a major SCG concerning especially Western-Europe. To handle this, changes within both private and public sector are required. The importance of this topic has been underlined as “Good Health and well-being” and is defined as Sustainable Development Goal (“SDG”) Nr 3. of the UN. Islands characterized by their isolation can be useful as experimental spaces, where the gained knowledge can be transferred and used in larger societies on the mainland. Demography challenges in rural areas are a common trend (Anderson & Irava, 2017). The impact an ageing population has on the communities on islands has been examined in various studies. The geographical spread from Waiheke Island (Bates et al., 2019), via the Maldives (Moosa, 2020) and Portuguese islands (Sousa Gomes et al., 2024) to the Swedish islands Koster (Heyden, 1998) indicates that this is a global common feature. On the islands the demography covers a broad range of themes from concern how to attract younger generations to stay or move back as well as various views on development and environmental protection to health care. Thus, demography often described as a challenge, it can enable rethinking the organization of society, leading to market opportunities and opening for innovations within both governance and business. In a resilience context (Cecchini et al., 2019) demography contributes to stabilize the society in rapid changes. A further aspect related hereto is the connection between demography and cultural heritage (Tapia-Gómez & Lois González, 2025) . As demography was highlighted as an important topic in a study on Hvaler, where staff and on students from Østfold University College (“Hiof”) were involved, it triggered a further search to gain insight into how the society organize and handle elderly people and their needs. A case study at a local health care centre on Hvaler provided further information whereas demography can change the conduct of work and be seen as source for innovation opening interesting market possibilities attracting young entrepreneurs. This study examines the process to identify challenges in an island society (Douglas, 2006) and ways to solve it, especially related to a growing elderly population. Further innovative initiatives to handle this challenge will be discussed.

• Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle & Leister, Eivind Andre (2025). EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT-BASED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: LEARNING BY DOING IN THE FREIIA PROJECT. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper presents key insights from the Interreg FREIIA project (2022–2025), an international collaboration involving 14 organizations across six European countries. It explores how experimental project-based learning (PjBL) can enhance higher education by engaging students directly in real-world challenges within small island communities. FREIIA combines project-based teaching, PjBL, and action learning to promote experiential, interdisciplinary, and community-oriented education. Within Work Package 4 (WP4), final-year students at Østfold University College took on leadership roles as project managers for the Norwegian part of the project, guiding first- and second-year students through research, analysis, and co-creative design processes with local stakeholders. This experimental setup provided a unique arena for students to balance academic learning with real managerial responsibility, applying theoretical concepts from project management, innovation, and organizational development in practice. Through interviews and reflective analyses, the study highlights how students developed key competencies such as leadership, stakeholder management, problem-solving, and adaptability. They reported personal growth through coping with uncertainty, cultural diversity, and the dual role of being both learner and leader. Key findings suggest that positioning students as project leaders in authentic, international collaborations strengthens both academic learning and personal development. The FREIIA project demonstrates how experimental PjBL can serve as a powerful pedagogical model—linking theory to practice, fostering sustainable entrepreneurship, and preparing students for complex, real-world challenges in line with principles of resilience and community-based innovation.

• Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle; Johansen, Frode Ramstad & Leister, Eivind Andre (2025). STUDENT SUSTAINABLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP FOR GOVERNANCE: EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION FROM THE INTERREG FREIIA PROJECT. doi: https:/iated.org/concrete3/view_abstract.php?paper_id=121367. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper presents key insights from the Interreg FREIIA project (2022–2025). It explores how studentled innovation can strengthen sustainable governance in small island communities across Northern Europe. The project engaged university students in real-world innovation and project management, using a design thinking-based framework to address local development challenges. Work Package 4 (WP4) emphasized experiential learning and sustainable entrepreneurship, empowering students to co-create solutions with local stakeholders on six islands - Hvaler in Norway, Schiermonnikoog in The Netherlands, Bornholm in Denmark, Koster in Sweden, Groix and Ouessant in France. Through interviews, analysis, ideation, and prototyping, students tackled shared challenges such as youth outmigration, seasonal tourism dependency, housing shortages, and fragmented governance structures. The project’s educational model promoted interdisciplinary collaboration, international exchange, and place-based learning. Students together with local stakeholders developed context-sensitive ideas for solutions including mobile innovation hubs, and decentralized education facilities. These initiatives not only addressed local needs but also fostered entrepreneurial thinking aligned with principles of sustainability and inclusive governance. Key findings highlight the potential of student sustainable entrepreneurship as a driver for resilient local governance. The Interreg FREIIA project demonstrates how international education projects can integrate sustainability, circular economy principles, and student engagement to build capacity for long-term community development. It offers a replicable model for embedding governance-oriented entrepreneurship into higher education curricula.

• Leister, Eivind Andre (2024). Presnetasjon av HiØ og IPL på Mysen vgs. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre (2024). Utdanning er en investering i fremtiden. Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre (2024). Dommer i entreprenørskapskonkurranse på Greåker vgs. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre & Undahl, Anne (2024). Studentbyen Fredrikstad. Fredrikstad Blad. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre (2024). Østfold er mangfold. Fredrikstad Blad. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre & Linkjendal, Tobias (2024). Ledet design thinking workshop på Koster i forbindelse med interreg.-prosjektet FREIIA. Full text in Research Archive
• Johansen, Frode Ramstad & Leister, Eivind Andre (2024). Felles innovasjonsøkosystem for studenter ved HiØ og NMB. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre & Linkjendal, Tobias (2024). Ledet design thinking workshop på Bornholm i forbindelse med interreg.-prosjektet FREIIA. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre; Johansen, Frode Ramstad; Andersson, Gunnar & Hauge, Bjørn Gitle (2023). Fostering student entrepreneurship - studenter Europa rundt med prosjektene FREIIA og FETREC. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre (2023). Sustainability and project management. Full text in Research Archive
• Leister, Eivind Andre; Andersson, Gunnar; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle & Johansen, Frode Ramstad (2023). The FREIIA Project: Facilitating Resilience Embracing Islands Innovation. Full text in Research Archive
• Andersson, Gunnar; Leister, Eivind Andre; Nielsen, Maya; Hauge, Bjørn Gitle & Johansen, Frode Ramstad (2022). Høyskolen får fem millioner til øyforskning. [Journal]. Fredriksstad Blad. Full text in Research Archive

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