I research how social interaction and togetherness shape health and living conditions, and co-create practices that can reduce loneliness and strengthen participation.
What I research
I study social participation and loneliness, with a particular focus on the living conditions of older adults. I am interested in how relationships, everyday activities, and organizational conditions shape the possibilities for living a socially meaningful life.
In my research, I also attend to groups whose social needs are often insufficiently recognized or addressed, such as older adults, people with stigmatized conditions, and students and doctoral candidates in academic settings. I also work with issues related to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), which are often overlooked in health and social care contexts.
An important aim of my work is to contribute to concrete and practically applicable solutions that can strengthen people’s opportunities for participation and reduce loneliness in its various forms, including social, emotional, and existential loneliness.
How I work
I primarily use qualitative and participatory methods, often in close collaboration with the people and practices concerned. Through co-creative approaches, knowledge and solutions are developed together, with the ambition that they should be both relevant and feasible in practice.
Methodologically, I have a particular focus on how research methods, ethics, and quality are interconnected. I view reflexivity as a central tool, not only for analysis but also for making the researcher’s role in knowledge production visible, thereby strengthening the trustworthiness of research.
My research is conducted in close dialogue with practice and civil society, with the aim of contributing to both scientific knowledge development and real-world change.
Conceptual foundation
My research and teaching are grounded in a social constructivist ontology and epistemology, where knowledge is understood as something that is created in relation between people, contexts, and language. This means that phenomena such as loneliness, health, and participation are not seen as purely individual states, but as shaped by social norms, power structures, and cultural assumptions.
I work from the premise that these norms, related to age, gender, functionality, and health, both enable and constrain people’s possibilities for action. My work therefore focuses on making visible how inequalities are produced and maintained, but also how they can be challenged and transformed.
This also entails a view of research as a relational and ethical practice, where questions of representation, voice, and responsibility are central. Reflexivity is therefore not an add-on, but a fundamental condition for knowledge production.
My research and teaching profile
The overarching thread in my work is the combination of critical analysis of norms and power with practical change-oriented work. I am interested in how social participation is shaped at the intersection of individuals, relationships, professional practices, and organizational conditions, and how these can be developed to become more inclusive.
In my teaching, this means that I focus on developing students’ and doctoral candidates’ ability to understand and use qualitative methodology as a coherent system where theory, method, and ethics are interconnected. I place particular emphasis on strengthening their critical thinking, reflexivity, and ability to identify and challenge norms in both research and professional practice.
In this way, my research and teaching are closely intertwined, both aiming to develop knowledge and practices that can contribute to greater equality, reduced loneliness, and strengthened social participation.
I teach approximately 20% of my position, with a particular focus on research methodology and scientific thinking, especially within qualitative methods. I am course coordinator for an undergraduate course in research methods and am responsible for students’ very first introduction to scientific methodology already in the second week of the program. I then meet students repeatedly across almost every semester in teaching related to scientific reasoning and evidence. I am also part of a broader collegial effort to establish scientific thinking as a continuous thread throughout the program, where we develop structures for progression and coherence between courses.
A central aim of my teaching is to strengthen students’ confidence in their own ability to understand research principles, make informed judgments, and navigate complex methodological decisions. By making the research process accessible and understandable, I aim to foster curiosity, engagement, and self-confidence in relation to evidence, and to support students in becoming competent and critical users of research. In the longer term, I also hope to inspire some of them to pursue research themselves.
I supervise students at both undergraduate and advanced levels, including bachelor’s and master’s theses, both within my own research projects and in students’ independent work. I am also involved in developing assessment criteria for qualitative master’s theses, with a focus on making quality visible across the entire research process, particularly in relation to reflexivity, methodological choices, and analytical depth.
My teaching is closely connected to my research interests. I teach on topics such as loneliness, social needs, and participation across different age groups, with a particular focus on older adults, and I also include elements of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). I integrate perspectives on norms, power, and social justice into my teaching, in line with my overall research focus.
An important foundation of my pedagogical approach is relational pedagogy. This means that I view learning as something that takes place in relation, and I actively work to create safe and engaging learning environments where students are encouraged to think, explore, and develop. This perspective also informs my work in educational development, where I am, for example, involved in developing a dialogue model for supervisors focusing on doctoral students’ health and well-being.