I research how norms around age, gender, and (dis)ability shape opportunities for social participation, and how solutions can be co-created with those who will use the knowledge in practice.
My primary research focus regards social participation among older adults, particularly in relation to loneliness, relationships, and equitable living conditions. My research is grounded in qualitative and participatory approaches and aims to develop concrete, practically applicable solutions within health and care contexts.
A central theme in my research is how social participation is shaped through the interplay between individuals, relationships, professional practices, and organisational conditions. I am particularly interested in how norms, power relations, and structural inequalities influence opportunities for older adults to live socially meaningful lives, and how more inclusive practices can be co-created together with those who will use the knowledge in practice.
Methodologically, I work primarily with experience-based and critical qualitative methodologies, often in combination with co-creative and participatory approaches. My research is conducted in close collaboration with practice and civil society, with the ambition of contributing both to scientific knowledge development and to tangible change in real-world settings.
I teach approximately 20% of my position, with a particular focus on research methodology, especially qualitative methods. I am the course coordinator for an undergraduate course in research methodology and am responsible for students’ very first teaching session in scientific methods as early as the second week of the programme. Thereafter, I meet students repeatedly across almost every term in teaching related to scientific reasoning and evidence.
A central aim of my teaching is to demystify research and science and to strengthen students’ confidence in their own capacity for knowledge production. By making the research process accessible and understandable, I seek to foster a critical approach in which students feel able to use their competence and, over time, take intellectual risks and participate in knowledge practices that challenge established perspectives and move our collective knowledge horizon forward.
I supervise students at both undergraduate and advanced levels, in bachelor’s and master’s theses, within my own research projects as well as in students’ independent work. I also teach research methodology at both undergraduate and advanced levels.
An important foundation of my pedagogical strategy is relational pedagogy, which also connects closely to my research focus on social and relational needs, rights, and equitable conditions. In addition to research methodology, I teach in areas such as sexual and relational rights and health, as well as social justice and intersectional perspectives.