Explore HiOA

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04 New knowledge, new practices 08 Researching the welfare state 16 PhDs in health research

20 Innovation as teaching method 22 Fruitful collaboration 26 Living and researching in Oslo

Explore HiOA Magazine from oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

Ready to make a difference?

New knowledge and new practices for a changing world Rector Kari Toverud Jensen's vision for HiOA is ­ambitious, yet one that she is eager to achieve – ­possibly with your help. (p. 4–7)

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at the forefront of social welfare research

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Living and researching in oslo

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health research

HiOA is 足looking to recruit teachers and researchers with an 足international background. Meet three academics who have made the move to Oslo. See page 26


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“We want to help change society. That means ­educating people not only to perform a job, but to push their ­professions forward and ­create new types of careers.” Frode Eika Sandnes, prorector for research and development at HiOA

Innovation as teaching method

Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA) is Norway's largest state university college, with a student body of 16 000 students and 1 850 employees.

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HiOA offers a unique range of professional programmes that qualify students for professions that will contribute to future welfare and value creation. HiOA aims to educate practitioners with high levels of professional ability and high-impact skill sets, and to facilitate lifelong learning by providing continuing and ­further education.

Oslo and Akershus University College of ­Applied Sciences — Contact: NO-0130 Oslo, Norway

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Phone: +47 67 23 50 00 E-mail: postmottak@hioa.no www.hioa.no/eng — Visiting adress: Campus Pilestredet: Pilestredet 46 Oslo Campus Kjeller: Kunnskapsveien 55 Kjeller — Publisher: Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus Design and editing: Redink Print: Allkopi

high-tech Motion Analysis Lab

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Written by: Valeria Criscione

Photos: Benjamin A. Ward

Welcome to HiOA

ready to make a difference New knowledge and new practices for a changing world. The vision for Oslo and Akers­hus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA) is ambitious, yet still a vision that the rector, Kari Toverud Jensen, is more than eager to achieve – possibly with your help.

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“We offer teachers who are both researchers and educators, and I strongly believe that staff ­representing these combined skills – especially in practical fields – will strengthen education.” Kari Toverud Jensen, rector at HiOA

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iOA represents ­Norway’s l­ argest ­university college with 16 500 ­students and 1 850 faculty ­members and staff spread over four faculties and 21 institutes. “A considerable share of Norway’s educated workforce related to the welfare of society come from our college,” rector Kari Toverud Jensen points out. “We are giants in many ways.” Despite its considerable size, HiOA is still a young university college, established through several mergers, the latest in 2011. Goal: 90 PhD students by 2015. HiOA’s first rector explains that the rationale for the last merger was to strengthen the college’s ­educational profile and research ability. The merged schools were able to complement each other in several areas including health and education. Today the university college represents the largest nursing and teaching college in Norway, based on studies dating back to 1818, when the country’s first birth midwifery were ­educated in Oslo (then Christiania). “The new organisation gives us better ­possibilities to contribute to society and put more resources towards PhDs. By 2015, our goal is to have 15 PhD students in each of our six doctoral programmes,” says Dr Jensen. HiOA is looking beyond Norway’s borders to find the talents that will help HiOA achieve its ambition. “We can offer interesting opportunities for young academics who through teaching and researching want to make a difference for the better, for themselves – and for society.” Practical-oriented studies. HiOA’s focus is on practical studies oriented towards the needs of society, everything from journalism and library science to occupational therapy and ­information technology. “What makes us different is that we have bachelor programmes in practical areas where you can study up to doctorate level,” claims Dr Jensen. “We offer teachers who are both ­researchers and educators, and I have the strong belief that that staff representing these combined skills – especially in practical fields – will strengthen education”. 5


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the strategy for HiOA, 2020

New knowledge, new practice HiOA is the third largest highlevel educational institution in Norway, measured by number of students. The university college is unique in a national context due to its wide range of professional programmes, its close ties with the respective fields of ­practice, and the opportunities it offers to ­specialise at both master’s d ­ egree and PhD levels. Its strategy for 2020 is based on the vision of “New know­ledge, new practice”. HiOA will contribute to knowledge development in society as a whole, by educating ­practitioners with high levels of professional ability and high-impact skill sets. HiOA aims to serve as an important contributor to policy making.

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HiOA works to achieve university status. Such a status would afford the academic freedom and necessary leverage to meet the important research and educational needs of the society.

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HiOA’s additional values. Knowledge, critical reflection, source criticism, scientific method, and the exchange of ideas are core values in higher education and research. In addition to these, HiOA also has its own three values reflecting the organisation's culture and priorities. These values are: diversity, learning and innovation.

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Kari Toverud Jensen, rector at Oslo and Akers­hus University College of Applied Sciences (HiOA).

The rector herself is testimony to the possibilities that lie within the ­combined educational institutions. She ­started her nursing studies in the 80’s at Ullevål College, which later became part of HiOA. After working several years as a manager of a nursing home, Dr ­Jensen pursued an academic career at the University of Oslo. Under the ­current merged structure, she could have studied for her Master’s and Doctorate degrees at HiOA.. A doctorate in Health Sciences was established in 2013, the sixth PhD programme at the college. Close to everything. The main campus lies in the capital of Oslo, split between a historic brick brewery complex and the former National Hospital, and serves 6

the most populous and diverse region in Norway. The i­ nstitutes cooperate with a wide array of b ­ usinesses and institutions in their research and teaching ­efforts, ranging from Oslo University Hospital to the N ­ orwegian oil service com­pany Aker Solutions. “As a young college, we are committed to creating and maintaining close relationships with partners outside HiOA. You can do everything here and the college is close to everything,” states the rector. As part of its plans, the college is working towards achieving university status, a move that would give it more freedom to expand its educational ­offerings and attract even more research ­projects internationally.

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Educational goal: HiOA will be internationally recognised for its professional programmes.

Research and development goal: HiOA will be at the forefront of professionally relevant research and development.

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Goal for external­ ­relations and disse­ mination: HiOA will challenge and develop the professions in cooperation with business and society and will be an active agent and participant in the public debate.

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Goal for human and financial resources: HiOA will be a learning and ­innovative workplace that organises and develops activities and resources in a ­goal-oriented and effective manner.

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hioafacts 12 152

1711.6

ECTS-credits produced at HiOA in 2013

staff (average full-time equivalents)

scientific publications – HiOA 2013 Source: Statistics on Higher Education (DHB) and Current research information system in Norway (Cristin)

175 130 110

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Health sciences

Welfare Pedagogy Professional and labour studies studies research

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Technology

Journalism and media

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Art and design

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21

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Interna- Information tional studies studies

Business and administration

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Other

Moving towards university status As part of its plans, the ­college is working towards ­achieving formal status as a university. In Norway, ­research in ­higher education was traditionally conducted at one of the country’s four universities. Today most university colleges have ­research activities. Since 2005, four university colleges in N ­ orway have received the ­status of university from the educational authorities. Accreditation as a university in Norway is assessed by the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in E ­ ducation. The main criteria are the quality, extent and stability of scientific activities at the institution. The institution must also offer a minimum of four different PhD-programmes. The practical significance of the status as a university is foremost that universities are self-accrediting when establishing Master’s and PhD programmes. HiOA is planning to apply for university accreditation int 2015/2016.

TWO CENTURIES OF HISTORY

1818 …dating back to 1818 when Christiania ­Fødselsstiftelse (Christiania Childbirth ­Foundation) started a school for midwifery. Since then, through mergers of some 23 colleges, HiOA has grown into Norway’s largest school for professional studies in higher education.

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2011

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The most important merger came in 1994 following the university college reform in Norway, when small specialised colleges were organised into larger general ­university colleges.

The latest merger came in 2011 when Oslo University College and Akershus University College joined forces. The rationale for the merger was to strengthen the colleges’ educational profile and research ability. By merging the two schools were able to complement each other in several areas including health and education studies.

1 January 2014 the Work ­Research Institute (AFI) and ­Norwegian ­Social Research (NOVA) merged into HiOA, and the Centre for ­Welfare and Labour ­Research (SVA) was established.

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oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

Written by: Caroline Svendsen

Photos: Benjamin A. Ward

Illustrations: Lars Fiske

Norway's welfare state is the envy of many, but what does it 足actually take to build and sustain a well-functioning society in today's complex world, largely affected by a recent financial crisis?

At the forefront of

social welfare research

Read more about:

The new Centre for Welfare and Labour Research at HiOA: Emerging as one of the strongest 足social scientific environment in the Nordic countries.

Striking research in Oslo: Does the welfare state make disadvantaged citizens more or less likely to be a part of the labour force?

Poverty in a welfare state: Why is it shame足ful to receive social benefits? 9


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Room for everyone How is it that the Nordic welfare system is so popular, despite the high taxes and different reforms that people have to tolerate? According to Dr Kåre Hagen, director for the newly established Centre for Welfare and Labour Research, the answer is simple: Because the system includes everyone.

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he state and welfare of its citizens has been the research focus for Dr Hagen for nearly 30 years. He is now heading the Centre for Welfare and Labour Research (SVA) at HiOA, an umbrella body for the Work Research Institute (AFI) and Norwegian Social Research (NOVA) that were merged into HiOA in the beginning of 2014. A strong social scientific environment. “Through this merger we have established what probably is the strongest social scientific environment in the Nordic countries, thanks to the research and knowledge existing within AFI and NOVA. We will now be able to combine analysis and research of labour market institutions with redistributive social policies,” says Dr Hagen. We managed to catch up with the director ­despite his busy schedule to hear more about the newly created SVA and why this field of study is particularly important and relevant to our lives today. “The key component of the Nordic welfare state's success is the combination of good ­labour institutions combined with a centralised wage settlement and small differences within the population itself,” he remarks. Dr Hagen informs us that the research ­focus 10

for the new centre will be mostly on ­social ­policy and living conditions with special ­attention given to social exclusion. “We are especially interested in social ­inequalities, problems of inclusion as well as labour and housing issues,” he states.

Kåre Hagen is the director of the new Centre for Welfare and Labour Research at HiOA.

A sustainable society model. Many see the Nordic welfare model as a utopian idea and something that is virtually impossible to achieve for emerging nations. Unsurprisingly, Kåre Hagen doesn't agree. “The Nordic welfare states have historical roots, but the ability to carry out reforms in a peaceful manner is one of the main reasons that this has been a sustainable society model for so many years,” he points out. An example of one such reform is the recent pension reform in Norway. “This was quite a radical pension reform ­carried out by the authorities affecting the ­pension levels of many, and yet there was l­ ittle protest from the population,” Dr Hagen says, adding: “Norway is in the unique position that it can afford to experiment with huge ­social policy reforms.” The high level of taxation is effectively what helps finance the welfare state. But Norwegians aren't complaining. Norway also emerged relatively unscathed from the


oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

“Norway is in the unique position that it can afford to experiment with huge social policy reforms.” Dr Kåre Hagen

­ nancial crisis and did not need to make any fi unpopular welfare cuts. Not just due to wealth. In the director's opinion the reason that the Nordic welfare system still works and is widely accepted by the population is that the welfare state encompasses everybody, there are comparatively small wage differences, and a high level of social capital and trust. But what do you say to people who claim that ­Norway's welfare state is due largely to our oil wealth? “The reality is that we don't use a lot of our oil wealth as most of this income is put in an oil fund to benefit future generations. You also have to remember that Norway is one of the most expensive countries to fill up your car. Our politicians didn't give in to the temptation to ­replace taxes with oil income. The level of taxation is ttherefore comparatively high in Norway,” Dr Hagen explains. “You also need to have sound finances on a state level and a competent workforce to actually excavate the oil. Norway has all that,” he points out. Exciting times to come. As the director of the new SVA centre Kåre Hagen encourages anybody who is interested in social policies, economic development and how to deal with an ageing population to contact HiOA and

The Centre for Welfare and Labour Research (SVA) Established January 1st 2014 at HiOA Is an umbrella body for the two research institutes the Work ­Research Institute (AFI) and ­Norwegian Social ­Research (NOVA). AFI is a social science ­institute performing multidisciplinary, ­action-oriented research. Its aim is to produce s ­ ystematic know­ ledge on working life. NOVA is the leading national research institute on child welfare, youth, ageing and the elderly. Its aim is to develop know­ ledge and understanding of social conditions and processes of change. The two institutes will remain separate entities, organised as parts of the new centre Research assignments may be commissioned by both public and ­private sector clients

find out more. Candidates from abroad are ­particularly welcome. “Due to the merger of the two institutes AFI and NOVA, SVA can offer several new and exciting opportunities and solid research ­facilities for PhD candidates. They will be able to immerse themselves in cutting-edge research and can participate in projects that interest them personally as well as have ­academic value,” he says. The director already has some future ­research topics in mind: “I think the time has come now to pursue a research and training agenda which is more intimately linked to looking at the challenges that a future welfare system such as ours will face. Will it be ­sustainable in the long term,” he asks. In an attempt to answer that question NOVA is hosting the annual ESPAnet conference in September 2014. This year the conference is entitled “Beyond the Crisis in Europe” and it will look at new opportunities for reconciling sustainability, equality and economic robustness. The conference will be held at HiOA and social welfare researchers from around the world are expected to attend. “Exciting things will be happening at HiOA in the months and years to come, and I think it is going to be a very interesting place to be,” Dr Hagen concludes. 11


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Poverty, shame and social benefits Receiving social assistance from the state is shameful to many, as they feel stigmatised by society. Erika Gubrium, the director of the research centre Sosialforsk, wants to improve the situation for social benefit recipients.

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ow do various forms of welfare structures promote or prevent health, well-being and/or the social inclusion of individuals? This is one of the research questions that the Social Welfare Research Centre (Sosialforsk) at HiOA is concerned with. Given the well ­organised Norwegian welfare system, ­Norway is a good place to ­conduct this research. This is where Dr Erika Gubrium enters the stage – an American set out to find out more about the pros and cons with Norwegian welfare systems. The relationship between p ­ overty and shame has been the focus of Dr Gubrium’s research since 2010. Together with Professor Ivar ­Lødemel, she started by working on the project, “Tackling poverty, shame and social exclusion: a study in seven countries,” financed in the UK and directed by Robert Walker, University of Oxford. Dr Gubrium is now coordinating a new project; “Poverty and Shame: Perspectives and Practices Concerning Anti-Poverty Measures in a Global Context”. This project focuses on the structural role of shame in the pursuit and practice of anti-poverty policy in various study sites: Norway, 12

Dr Erika Gubrium is in charge of the research unit ­Sosialforsk.


oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

“There are many myths concerning the welfare state. It is our aim to debunk these myths.” Dr Erika Gubrium

­China, India, Uganda and the US. “Part of my work in ­connection with these projects has been to look at and analyse Norwegian policy documents. We want to investigate what happens to those who fall into the cracks in the Norwegian social welfare system,” Erika Gubrium explains. Despite Norway's well organised and ­generous welfare state, where the aim is to take care of everyone, there are still people who are not receiving the help they need. It is important to find out why. To this end, Gubrium and her colleagues have interviewed ­recipients of social assistance. In her conversations with ­Norwegian recipients of social assistance, many attached a sense of shame from having to seek last resort financial help from the authorities. "They described feeling both ashamed and being actively shamed by society,” she explains. Her newest research which has received funding from the ­Research Council of Norway aims to provide guidelines for how ­Norwegian social policy and ­practices can be improved. When she first arrived in Norway in 2008, Erika Gubrium held a PhD in Sociology and the History of Education from the ­University

of Florida, and she had left a ­career in the US. “After I moved to Norway it became very clear that it would be difficult to use the expertise that I had in a Norwegian context,” she says. A friend told her that HiOA had an international social and welfare programme that might be of interest to her. “I decided to do a Master’s degree at HiOA in International Social Welfare & Health Policy, mostly to have something to do when I first came here. But it turned out to be a really good way to build a potential job network,” she says. As a result of the Master’s she met interesting researchers and fellow academics and ended up doing a postdoc at HiOA. Needless to say she now reads and speaks Norwegian fluently. As part of her research she conducts interviews, arranges focus groups and analyses policy documents and news­ paper articles – all in Norwegian. “For people who speak English, it is not difficult to learn to read Norwegian. It is more difficult to write Norwegian well, however,” she remarks. Therefore, quite a lot of her academic writing is carried out in English. Gubrium points out that the ­college structure at HiOA is con-

Sosialforsk The Social Welfare Research Centre (­Sosialforsk) is a research unit within the Department of Social Work, Child W ­ elfare and Social Policy at HiOA. Sosialforsk is closely linked to the ­ PhD programme in Social Work and ­Social Policy. The centre focuses on research ­identifying and understanding the ­societal mechanisms at play in the ­processes of marginalisation, poverty and social participation, with welfare and health perspectives viewed in ­conjunction with this. Welfare and health services, professionals and service users are central subjects. Read more: www.hioa/sosialforsk

stantly evolving. “It means that we are now able to offer even more interesting projects at Sosialforsk and we have several postdocs. We are also involved in several international projects, for example dealing with health i­ nequalities and different welfare systems. There are many myths concerning the welfare state. It is our aim to debunk these myths through research and provide policy makers with a framework to provide better services to citizens receiving ­welfare benefits from the state.” 13


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Professor ­Espen Dahl at the Faculty of Social ­Sciences researches health and social inequalities, and he won the 2012 Research Award at HiOA.

Good news

for the welfare state Does the welfare state make disadvantaged citizens more or less likely to be a part of the labour force? Professor Espen Dahl at the Faculty of Social Sciences has found ­surprising results on this matter.

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Espen Dahl, a professor in health and social policies, has carried out extensive research in healthrelated social exclusion and its effects in Norway and other European welfare states. “You could say that a lot of my research is about looking at social policy through an equity lens,” the professor remarks. The results of his extensive research demonstrate that the likelihood of participating in the labour market among disadvantaged groups increased as welfare generosity increased. This is good news for the welfare state, and contrary to long-standing beliefs that the welfare state makes disadvantaged citizens less likely to be a part of the labour force. “In Norway’s case we have seen that disadvantaged groups have been better integrated in the labour force than is the case in many other countries. Part of the reason for this is that the gener14

ous Norwegian welfare state gives them enough incentives to work,” Dahl explains. Most of the benefits of the welfare state are only available to those who work, and this is known as the entitlement effect. In a recent report commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Health, Dahl found that an increasing number of high school drop-outs could threaten the economic basis of the welfare state in the future. “This report documents that there is a clear link between poor health, poverty, and the tendency to drop out of school early,” he explains. The report also shows that among those who smoke, educational levels tend to be lower, their health is poorer and they tend to have a decreased earning capacity. “However, it's not as simple as getting all smokers to quit, because that factor only explains around a quarter of the health inequality in Norway. It is important to qualify everybody for the labour market by giving them an

education. Education also ensures that people take better care of their health,” Dahl says. His research also shows that children with ­parents who have little or no education are significantly more likely to become school drop-outs than their peers who have educated parents. “In order to prevent a disadvantaged child from dropping out of school, appropriate measures need to be implemented while they are still at nursery school. We also have to be aware of reducing child poverty,” Dahl explains. His most recent research will be expanded to look at other countries in Europe, especially Spain and Greece, two countries that have been badly affected by the recent financial crisis and do not have well-functioning welfare states. “We have formed an international research network so that we can cooperate in looking at health inequalities in other European countries. This project is expected to run until well into 2016.”


oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

hioafacts 1 of 10 of all graduates Nine per cent of all bachelor degrees in Norway are awarded at HiOA, which makes HiOA the largest ­supplier of bachelor degree graduates in Norway. Source: Database for Statistics on Higher Education

41%

female professors at HiOA

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PHD PROGRAMMES: • Behaviour Analysis • Health Sciences • Educational Sciences for Teacher Education • Library and Information Sciences • Social Work and Social Policy • The Study of Professions

58% 58 per cent of the research is ­conducted by women

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most famous student:

Photo: The Granger Collection / NTB scanpix

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch, Norway’s most ­acclaimed painter, ­enrolled in Christiania ­Tekniske Skole (Christiania Technical School), in autumn 1879. By the following year, the then 18-year-old Munch had decided he wanted to become a painter. He never ­graduated from Christiania Tech­nical School, the precursor for what is today the Faculty of ­Technology, Art and Design at HiOA.

students

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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMMES

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POST-GRADUATE PROGRAMMES

English-taught Master’s Programmes Digital Library Learning Early Childhood Education and Care International Social Welfare and Health Policy Multicultural and International Education Network and System Administration Product Design Universal Design of ICT Vocational Pedagogy (quota applicants only) See more English-taught courses at www.hioa.no/eng/studies 15


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Unique possibilities within health research Looking to have an impact on clinical practice and ­policy, or contribute to a deeper understanding of ­people’s ­behaviour? Then one of the two health-related PhD ­programmes at HiOA may be right up your alley. Written by: Caroline Svendsen

Illustration: Berit Sømme

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he Faculty of Health Sciences at HiOA offers two PhD programmes, each of them unique in its own way: HiOA is the only educational institution in Europe to offer all levels of degrees in Behaviour Analysis; i.e. Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees. Whereas the new PhD programme in Health Sciences is special in its approach, emphasising health sciences as a research field in its own right. The PhD in Health Sciences, i­ntroduced in 2013, has an overall perspective taking into ­account that health is a complex and comprehensive phenomenon that involves interaction between physical, psychological, and social dimensions. The PhD programme has an inter- and multidisciplinary profile whereby health re16

searchers cooperate on developing integrated knowledge-based health care services at individual and systemic levels. Key elements in the programme are: evaluation, interventions in health promotion, preventive health care, epidemiology, treatment, rehabilitation, and care. “The term ‘health sciences’ is more comprehensive than ‘­medicine’, something our new PhD programme reflects,” says Astrid Bergland, the academic head of the new PhD programme in Health Sciences. “An important goal for us is to provide more research-based knowledge on assessment intervention, professional experience, and user involvement in health and social services. The result of the research should have an impact on clinical practice and ­policy,” Dr. Bergland underlines.


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“The term ‘health sciences’ is more ­comprehensive than ‘medicine’, something our new PhD programme reflects.” Astrid Bergland academic head of the PhD programme in Health Sciences.

Ingunn Sandaker, ­programme coordinator of the PhD programme in ­Behaviour Analysis.

Trine B. Haugen, ­Vice-Dean R&D and professor at the F­aculty of Health Sciences.

“Norway's health sector functions well, and there are good career paths for health professionals. The research we do at the faculty and in the PhD programme is highly relevant and promotes colla­boration in the sector,” Trine B. Haugen points out. She is the Vice-Dean R&D and a professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences. The target group for the programme comprises individuals with backgrounds in all the healthcare professions. Potential candidates may be admitted directly from studies or from work life in the case of professional practitioners with Master's degrees seeking to enhance their levels of competence and knowledge, or from research institutes involved in health science projects. Applicants from other professional backgrounds who wish to work in health science projects may also be admitted. “The PhD students will be affili-

Astrid Bergland, ­academic head for the PhD p ­ rogramme in Health ­Sciences.

Faculty of Health Sciences Consists of seven departments and offers study programmes on all levels, including two PhD programmes. The two PhD programmes are: Behaviour Analysis Health Sciences The faculty has about 5 300 students and nearly 530 staff members.

ated with research groups at the faculty. We are open to candidates doing research on a topic that they have a particular interest in within the health sciences and we can also offer projects related to ongoing research in the groups,” Dr. Haugen says. The PhD programme in Behaviour Analysis was established in 2010. Professor Ingunn S ­ andaker, the programme coordinator, points out that advanced level 17


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“We are open to candidates doing research on a topic that they have a particular interest in within the health sciences” Trine B. Haugen, Vice-Dean R&D and professor at the F ­ aculty of Health Sciences.

knowledge of behaviour analysis touches all areas of human activity. Organisations and ­cultures consist of people and their behaviour. “We cannot work efficiently with or within these systems without understanding how behaviour is affected, maintained or changed. This also applies to health and lifestyle issues; we know a lot about what is good for us, but this does not help unless we change our ­behaviour in ways that benefit our health,” she remarks. Behaviour analysis can be used in ­clinical treatment, ideally in conjunction with other health professions. However, insights from ­behaviour analysis can also be useful in ­addressing challenges facing society as a whole, such as overconsumption of natural resources or combating climate change. “One strength of our scientific community is the emphasis on documenting effects of inter­ ventions. Society’s demand for empirically supported interventions is increasing. We see a common interest between academia and society in developing robust communities that can operate at the frontier of research and development,” she adds. HiOA has an extensive international ­network. The researchers at the Faculty of Health Sciences often host conferences where their work can be discussed and presented to a ­wider audience. “We welcome international academics and lecturers, and we think that students from other countries would benefit from doing a PhD here,” Haugen says. “Furthermore, it will also be fruitful to us to have an international perspective.” Since both the research done at the faculty and the PhD programmes are internationally oriented, the teaching is given in English. The faculty has participated in several EU-­ funded projects and has extensive international ­collaboration with other researchers. 18

22 July 2011 Norway was struck by terrorist attacks. A new research project at HiOA will study the use of social media in this and two other emergency cases.

Twitter in an

emergency How useful are social media in a crisis? That is what Dr Harald Hornmoen and an international team of researchers are trying to find out. Written by: Caroline Svendsen

Photo: Luca Kleve-Ruud/Samfoto/NTB scanpix


oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

ost of us are familiar with social media and use it every day to stay ­connected with the world around us. Dr Harald H ­ ornmoen, an associate professor at HiOA, is now heading a team of international researchers going to ­investigate the public use of social media in crisis situations. “The aim of this research is to be able to suggest better ways of using social media in crisis and emergency situations,” states Dr Hornmoen, who has carried out extensive ­research as well as teaching in the field of media studies and ­journalism at HiOA.

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“A lot of our work is going to be about how key ­communicators can use social media messages in emergencies.” Dr Harald Hornmoen

The primary objective of the RESCUE project is to develop new knowledge of social media emergency communication, and on this basis develop recommendations and tools for using social media and methods for evaluating social media content during emergencies. The project will study the use of social media in three different emergency cases: the terrorist attacks in Norway in July 2011; the flooding in May and June 2013 in Central Europe; and the pandemic influenza (swine flu) during its “critical phases” in 2009. Apart from improving the understanding of how social media has been used by key crisis c­ ommunicators and what impact it has had in these emergencies, the RESCUE project will identify strengths and weaknesses in usage patterns and the assessment methods that have been applied. The second overarching objective of the project is to enable ­improved social media interaction in emergencies and use of social media tools in emergency communication. “A lot of our work is going to be about how key ­communicators can evaluate the credibility of and use social media messages in

Dr Harald Hornmoen

The RESCUE project International project, duration three years, starting autumn 2014. Project manager is Associate Professor Harald Hornmoen, Faculty of Social Sciences, HiOA Awarded a grant of NOK 7 million from the Research Council of Norway The research application was classed as exceptional Researchers from several international research institutions will ­participate, including: HiOA, FH Joanneum, ­Aberystwyth University, Åbo Akademi ­University and Bengler AS Key stakeholders will be represented in an advisory committee, providing input based on their knowledge needs. This includes actors such as: The P ­ andemic Flu Office of the Health Protection Agency (UK), the Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergency Planning (Norway), the Red Cross (Finland) and The Austrian Press Agency

emergencies, in order to optimise their awareness of the situation,” Harald Hornmoen explains. “Internationally there is already quite a lot of research being conducted on the use of social media in crisis situations. One of the things we want to do as a result of this project is to develop criteria and models for optimal and appropriate emergency communication tuned to the specificities of the emergency events chosen,” he concludes. 19


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Innovation as teaching method:

Creating value through new ideas By freeing students and researchers to indulge their creative powers, HiOA has become a global fount of new ideas, designs and systems. Written by: Ane Bamle Tjellaug and Walter Gibbs

Photos: Benjamin A. Ward

e want to help change society,” says Frode Eika Sandnes, the ­prorector for research and development at HiOA. “That means educating people not only to perform a job, but to push their professions forward and create new types of careers.” Crossing disciplines in pursuit of a goal, he says, is the essence of entrepreneurship. It’s also a key to recent student innovations in medicine, robotics, social policy and boat technology.

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Engineering the heart. Among the green-clad surgeons hustling between operations at Oslo University Hospital are four bachelor-level mechanical engineering students. They have found a less invasive way to repair heart valves. Their focus is the mitral valve, whose stringlike tendons stretch or rupture in some people, causing a partial reverse flow of blood. Along with cardiac surgeon Jacob Bergsland, the young engineers have developed a safer, cheaper method of affixing a new tendon, with access obtained through an artery in the groin. “Today this is a big operation,” says Bergsland. “You have to open the chest and stop the heart, an enormous procedure compared to what could be possible with the new method.” Nikolai Hiorth and three fellow students ­devoted a semester to the project. “We came up with a variety of ideas, then let people with surgical experience judge what might work,” he says. “When you don’t know something is ‘impossible’, you have an advantage.” He learned that cardiac medicine has something in common with oilfield technology, which preoccupies many engineering students in this country of vast energy resources. “Blood vessels are like a network of pipes, 20

where pushing, pulling and rotating are the simplest kinds of mechanical transfer,” he says. Serious play with Lego. Toy giant Lego gives real-world experience to the product design students at HiOA. Sigrid Hustad’s task was to bring the beloved Lego man to life, then test prototypes on a kindergarten class. “We were supposed to generate as many ideas as possible,” she recalls, adding that the experience boosted her career prospects. Lego creative director Erik Legernes is indeed on the lookout for design brilliance. “If we’re looking to hire new designers and we find very talented students, I can promise a job interview,” he says. Learning’s a game. As a veteran teacher, ­Steinar Aas knew that Norwegian schools have unused computer capacity. So while ­earning a Master’s degree, he created Enki. It’s a c­ omputer game that lets teachers observe as pupils solve math and English puzzles and develop ­creative avatars. The Research Council of ­Norway invested NOK 1.5 million in the project. Another example of student innovation is the 2013 winner of Young Enterprise Norway’s national championship for student businesses. Sjøsikker SB was founded by electrical engineering student Fredrik Eriksen and two friends. To improve safety on motorised boats they have developed a wireless kill switch that is now nearing production. Not all innovators are technology wonks. At an “entrepreneur camp” for first-year nursing students, a city health agency posed a challenge: How can nursing-home residents maintain their old social networks? Brainstorming students proposed 40 ways.


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“We want to help change society. That means educating people not only to ­perform a job, but to push their professions forward and create new types of careers.” Frode Eika Sandnes, prorector for research and development at HiOA

Nikolai Hiorth (in front) is one of four mechanical engineering students who have contributed to innovation in heart surgery, in close collaboration with cardiac surgeon Jacob Bergsland.

Ragnhild By

Think big – and outside the box Innovation comes naturally when instruction and research are oriented to the professions. Career counsellor Ragnhild By at HiOA even advises some students to start a business while studying, to better understand how the world works. The goal, she says, is to create value – new ­products, better services, sturdier infrastructure. For students unsure of how to proceed, she may caution against thinking small. “It could be that the thing you’ll end up working with hasn’t been discovered yet,” she says, in the hope they will then go out and discover it.

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explore HiOA

Innovative collaboration In HiOA’s high-tech Motion Analysis Lab the focus on ­interdisciplinary collaboration leads to important innovations. Written by: Valeria Criscione

Photos: Benjamin A. Ward

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magine monitoring critically ill patients through a wireless ­sensor network. Or mapping the cerebral activity of a stroke ­patient with the help of near infrared lights. Or even preventing ­pc-related shoulder aches. All this might be a reality in the near future, thanks to the new Motion Analysis Lab at HiOA.

neering” (CIB). Then Mirtaheri and Gjøvaag collaborated to create the Motion ­Analysis Lab, together with colleagues from four different ­institutes at HiOA. Gjøvaag leads the lab. “Collaboration between different professionals is needed to meet the challenges of current and future healthcare systems,” says Dr Mirtaheri, who is in charge of the complementary Optical Lab at the Faculty of Technology, Art & Design.

Working towards a common goal. The lab opened in March 2014, as the result of a chance encounter in 2008 between Terje Gjøvaag, an associate professor at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Peyman Mirtaheri, associate professor in Biomedical Engineering. Their first meeting was coincidental, but the two doctors have worked closely together ever since. “When we met, my first thought was: ‘Can we work together?’, says Gjøvaag, who holds a doctorate in exercise physiology. “At that time, I didn't know there was a biomedical engineering group at HiOA. In a way, we were looking for each other in parallel.” The two doctors’ common goal is to improve modern patient care. They shared the view that the best way to achieve that goal, would be to work together across disciplines. They established a cross-disciplinary research group called “Clinical Interventions and ­Biomedical Engi-

High-tech lab. The new Motion Analysis Lab is stocked with NOK 4.1 million in high-tech equipment. Here the CIB group runs nearly a dozen research projects seeking to make lives better for patients with prostheses or neurological diseases. Their most recent purchase, a functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), resembles a swimming cap with a lot of colourful buttons. However, the NOK 600 000 piece of equipment is a sophisticated optical device that can send near infrared lights through the skull into the brain to map the cerebral activities of, for example, stroke patients. Although the lab is equipped with the most advanced technological equipment, the lab is about a lot more than just equipment. “Motion analysis labs are found in most hospitals,” says Dr Gjøvaag. “What makes this lab unique are the people connected to it.” The lab facilitates collaboration between different

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Motion Analysis Lab Opened in March 2014 Situated in Katti Anker Møller’s ­building on campus A “playground” for ­testing new ideas Four institutes at HiOA took part in ­establishing the lab: Institute of Ergo­ therapy and Orthopaedic Engineering Studies – Faculty of Health Sciences Institute of Physio­ therapy – Faculty of Health Sciences Institute of ­Industrial Development – ­Faculty of Techno­ logy, Art and Design Institute of Product Design – Faculty of Technology, Art and Design


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“Collaboration between ­different professionals is needed to meet the ­challenges of current and future healthcare systems.” Dr Peyman Mirtaheri

Dr Terje Gjøvaag (left) and Dr Peyman Mirtaheri at the Motion Analysis Lab are ­demonstrating their functional Near Infrared ­Spectroscopy, a sophisticated optical device that can map cerebral activity.

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“Motion ­analysis labs are found in most hospitals. What makes this lab unique are the people connected to it.” Dr Terje Gjøvaag

The strength of the Motion Analysis Lab is its manpower, according to Dr Terje Gjøvaag. Here he explains some of the Lab’s many high-tech features.

professionals such as medical doctors; physiologists; chemists; ergo therapists; biomedical, mechanical, and orthopaedic engineers; and industrial designers – thus ­facilitating a unique type of research across disciplines. A recent case example is a PhD project on an optical probe that detects light in deeper layers of tissues. This probe could be used to monitor blood flow and oxygenation of critical care patients and neonates. In the future, it could even be used for blood pressure monitors without a cuff, a technology for which the two doctors recently won a research award at HiOA. “These ideas could not have been developed without the interdisciplinary collaboration of the healthcare professionals and engineers. We can develop and test concepts that are real problems met by healthcare professionals,” says Gjøvaag. Wireless future. One of the three main research areas that the CIB group touches is the development of optical and mechanical sensors that communicate wirelessly as 24

a sensor network. The other two areas involve application of rehabilitation and prevention such as the energy expenditure during prosthetic use or factors that lead to muscular and skeletal disease in patients with shoulder pain – a common problem in our modern PC-obsessed society. “Most of the future in healthcare will be dependent on sensors and wearable sensor technologies,” says Gjøvaag. “Wireless sensor networks could offload the burden of continuous monitoring of patients from the busy workday of health professionals.” The most recent project in the Motion Analysis Lab was carried out by a Brazilian PhD student, Ana Paula Cunha Loureiro, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná. Her study focused on monitoring the activity level of well-functioning post-stroke patients with an accelerometer and testing their oxygen uptake and muscle strength through an ­isokinetic dynamometer. International collaboration. The Brazilian collaboration is just

one of many projects the laboratory has had with international academia. Mirtaheri and Gjøvaag recently received visitors from the University of Lodz in Poland, and met with the universities in Southampton, UK; Jönköping, Sweden; Potsdam, Germany; and the Lab for Engineering Education & Development at Boston University, the US. The next step is to make the lab open to all academics and involve students at the four respective institutes. The laboratory has ­started with courses for select HiOA employees to establish a broader range of research professionals, who can later take their students into the lab as research assistants. The concept is to make the lab a “playground” for testing ideas, open for all ­disciplines involved. Currently, the lab is offering a course on ­optical gait analysis. “This is a strategic investment that gives enormous potential for research,” says Gjøvaag. “If you get qualified for this type of equipment, you can do anything you want.”


oslo and akershus university college of apPlied sciences

Research in brief To find out more about research and development at HiOA, visit www.hioa.no/eng

Digital communication ­improves cancer patient care Cancer care patients who receive home care may feel more reassured, ­normalised and calm if they have access to digital communication tools to contact their nurse. For some patients, h ­ owever, the electronic communication made them more concerned and vulnerable, and gave greater awareness of the disease than they wanted. Typically, the more the ­patient used the possibility to contact their nurse electronically, the more at ease the patient felt with using the tools, and the tools became a friend and support. These are some of the findings in Assistant Professor Dr Gro Hjelmeland ­Grimsbø's doctoral thesis ­presented in January 2014.

Malnourishment leads to overdose deaths Dr Birger Breivik, Department of Vocational Teacher Education.

Lego as an ­educational tool Recently, Assistant Professor Dr Birger Breivik at the Department of Vocational Teacher Education presented his thesis on how Lego is used in teaching activities in vocational training in upper secondary schools in Norway. As industrial technology is becoming increasingly complex, teachers face a challenge in transferring complexity to the classroom. Lego Mindshare, or similar toys, makes it pos­ sible to simulate technological solutions in the classroom in a cost-effective way.

Homeless drug addicts have an ­increased risk of overdosing, but better diet could potentially save many lives. In her doctoral thesis, Dr Mone Eli Sæland, showed that malnourishment is an important determinant of health for drug addicts. Many of the drug addicts interviewed by Sæland described how they could go days without eating. Pain, anxiety, i­ nfections and depression are common among drug addicts, and are likely to worsen with ­malnourishment. This in turn, leads to lack of appetite. Thus, malnourishment can ­contribute to a destructive spiral.

Kindergartens lack guidelines for cultural diversity Multiculturalism is encouraged in the formal framework of the Norwegian Kindergarten Act. The families’ cultural background should be reflected in the activities of the kindergarten. Some cultural differences, however, may be very problematic for the staff to handle, such as different attitudes towards physical punishment of children, or gender equality. Dr. Olav Hovdelien points out in an ar-

ticle in International Journal of Inclusive Education that the formal framework for Norwegian kindergartens does not give any guidelines as to how management and staff are to manage conflicts arising from cultural differences. In conclusion, Dr ‑Hovdelien argues that while N ­ orwegian early childhood education embraces cultural diversity, it remains unclear regarding the limits to the political implications. 25


explore HiOA

The fjord city project in Oslo has opened up the waterfront to the public.

Written by: Valeria Criscione

Photos: Benjamin A. Ward, John Hughes, Thinkstock and Svein Nordrum/NTB scanpix

Foreign academics living and researching in Oslo:

Global thinking, local living

They come from different countries and for different reasons: some for the family-friendly Nordic ­welfare model and Oslo’s beautiful nature, others for Norway’s attractive sound economy. But all who come to work at HiOA help fill the growing need for international academics within the applied sciences.

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“Oslo is so close to nature. You can take the train to ski, boats to the islands, and buses to the beach.” Weiqin Chen, China

Attracted by HiOA’s ambitions Despite her busy schedule as professor at HiOA, Weiqin Chen still finds the time to enjoy Oslo’s nature.

n the coming years, HiOA will need to recruit a large number of academics with a doctorate or equivalent. HiOA’s ambitious strategy, emphasising more research activities, is in part the reason for this. In addition many faculty members are set to retire in the years to come. Monica Knutsen Figueroa, Senior ­Advisor for international recruitment at HiOA is helping the faculties recruit academic staff members abroad. “We are a substantial supplier of professionals to the Norwegian workforce. Within sectors such as health, education and engineering, the need for the people we educate at HiOA is growing,” says de Figueroa. Thus, attracting academics from other countries is cruicial. Meet three members of HiOA’s academic staff who bring the world a bit closer to Oslo.

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Weiqin Chen has a busy schedule at HiOA as a professor in humancomputer interaction/universal design and academic coordinator of a new ­Master’s programme. But the young 40-something has found time to immerse herself in the Norwegian crime literature of Gunnar Staalesen and Jo Nesbø, swim off the Oslo fjord islands, ­volunteer to walk dogs at an animal sanctuary farm in Klemetsrud, and stroll the pocket parks with her Norwegian husband in their trendy urban neighbourhood of Torshov. “Oslo is so close to nature,” says Chen, a PhD graduate in computer science from the Chinese A ­ cademy of Sciences in Beijing. “You can take the train to ski, boats to the ­islands, and buses to the beach.”

Chen left her post as a research associate at Osaka University in Japan for a job at the University in Bergen more than a decade ago. She decided to move to Oslo in 2011 to work at HiOA partly because of love and partly because of the college’s lofty ambitions to achieve university status. She was further thrilled to find out that the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design had ambitions to have its own PhD programme. “In the department of ­computer science we have this exciting ­Master’s programme in universal design of ICT and a research group with nice people and many interesting projects,” says Chen. “Recently we were invited to be part of an EU Erasmus+ project proposal.” 27


explore HiOA

“It is good to be able to steer your day and find time to do things.” Alejandro Figueres, Spain

Alejandro Figueres (centre) works as lead engineer in the Department of Civil Engineering and Energy Technology. Here he helps ­Annum Iftikhar Akhtar and ­Babæk Abnar with their projects.

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Fascinated by the welfare model Alejandro Figueres set his sights on working in Norwegian academia because of his admiration for the Nordic welfare model and the ­country’s well-functioning economy. It added positively to the equation that his partner ­Teresa, a fellow civil engineer, had just landed a full-time position in the N ­ orwegian Public Roads Administration. The 27-year-old Spanish civil engineer moved from Valencia to HiOA as lead engineer in the Department of Civil Engineering and ­Energy Technology last year. He learned ­Norwegian in just one month at the Nordic Centre in ­Alicante, a Spanish resort town popular amongst Norwegians. Many of their friends had emigrated from the high unemployment situation in Spain to Chile or Brazil. But Figueres wanted a place that was closer to home and

could offer an attractive work-life balance. “If I had stayed in Spain and worked at an internship at a private building contractor, I would have worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” says Figueres. “This is something we really appreciate in Spain – to be able to steer your day and find time to do things.” At the college, Figueres spends an average 10-12 hours per week teaching lab courses. The rest of his workweek is spent helping students with their projects. In their free time, the ­couple likes to explore the nature around their home in Drammen, a popular town located a half-hour train ride from Oslo. Drammen has attracted many international residents. “We met many Spanish friends through a ­Face­book page in Drammen,” Figueres says. “The page had 40 members. Now it’s up to 100.”


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From USA with love American Lynell C ­ hvala came to Norway expecting to stay two years. It’s now been 17 for the assistant professor at the Faculty of Education and International Studies. Chvala left her home state of Iowa for Oslo in 1997 to be near her Norwegian husband and to gain experience abroad as an ­English language teacher. She quickly learned Norwegian and has been teaching in HiOA’s Department of Primary and Secondary Teacher Education since 2006. She enjoys the flexibility that her position ­offers with both on-campus and on-line teaching possibilities. “In the US, there is also much more individual pressure to publish. While in Norway, the culture is more about how we can work together to make it happen,” she says. Chvalla is currently working on her doctorate in English language policy in lower secondary education while she teaches two courses, both in English. She has been able to do this with a young daughter at home, thanks in part to the well-structured Norwegian day care system and short commute in the relatively compact city of Oslo. “One thing I really like about Norwegian society is that children are taken quite seriously here,” says Chvalla. “I see with my ­sister (in the US) that grandparents ­often take care of children because day care is so expensive and you never know what you’re going to get. It’s not part of the state system. Here it is, and there is quality assurance.” Another perk for her is Oslo’s proximity to nature. The capital is often referred to as the BlueGreen City because it lies nestled between the majestic Oslo fjord and Nordmarka forest. “What I love about this city is that it has been designed for so many needs,” says Chvala, an avid runner. “Within short distance, you’ll ­always find a forest or a river.”

“One thing I really like about ­Norwegian society is that children are taken quite seriously here.” Lynell Chvala, USA

Lynell Chvala is both a teacher and working on her doctorate in English language policy at HiOA. She appreciates the way children are regarded in Norwegian ­society, something her daughter Stella (10 years) benefits from.

What to know before you go

Language Foreign faculty members must learn Norwegian within two years after taking up employment at HiOA. However, an increasing number of courses at HiOA are being taught in English. Language courses for academics In cooperation with the University of Oslo, HiOA can offer language courses for academics: Semester courses in Norwegian for Academics: www.uio.no/nora Short courses in Norwegian for International Researchers: www.uio.no/norir

Settling in

Jobs

Practical help

Vacancies

Making the move to another country can be challenging. On behalf of HiOA, the International Network of Norway (INN), assists new foreign employees with everything from visas, tax cards, and bank accounts, to housing, etc inn.chamber.no/ relocation-services

Vacancies at HiOA are posted at HiOA LinkedIn company page and at HiOAs job portal: hioa.mynetworkglobal.com

For more info on making the move to HiOA, visit: www.hioa.no/eng

Norway for researchers EURAXESS.no is Norway`s portal for mobile researchers, with practical information on jobs, funding opportunities, recruitment and career d ­ evelopment: www.euraxess.no

Social networking Visit: facebook.com/HiOAeng There are also several Facebook groups for international students and employees at HiOA. 29


explore HiOA

Research in brief To find out more about research and development at HiOA, visit www.hioa.no/eng

Identifying as a pupil is better for learning Children who identify themselves with the role as pupils will accept boring tasks, and learn more from them than less motivated pupils. By actively engaging in school chores, over time the “good pupils” will develop better literacy and understanding of meaning. This in turn is a prerequisite for better learning. Pupils who have parents with higher ­levels of education will often have better pre-knowledge, and are therefore better able to take advantage of school activities. This research project shows, how­ever, that the pupils’ attitude towards their own role as pupils and the tasks they are given at school, can be more important for the learning outcome than the family background. The findings are based on analysis of classroom observation and interviews with pupils, and are part of the ongoing research project “The Didactic Challenge of New Literacies in School and Teacher Education”, funded by the Research ­Council of Norway. For more information, see blogg.hioa.no/literacy.

From left: Tobias Andersen, Jan Lysen Andersen, Kristen Ribu and Nina Bauge. Code by Velimir Jankovic.

Facebook for people without speech Informatics students at HiOA are helping people without speech to use ­Facebook. The students used open source code to make Blissymbolics, an ­ideographic writing system, accessible via a normal keyboard. This is part of a larger project at the Department of Computer Science that aims to reinvigorate the use of Blissymbolics, which was originally developed for international communication. In the Nordic countries it has been used to help persons without speech to communicate. Until now, however, it has not been possible to use the symbol language on speech machines, PCs or tablets.

People feel younger than they are People over 40 identify with age groups that are younger than themselves. And people with lower levels of education feel younger than people with higher education. These are some of the findings of the research unit “Aging, health and welfare”, led by prof. Astrid Bergland at HiOA. “The explanation may be that highly educated people simply are more at ease with their actual age. It may also be that people with lower education are more likely to work in more physically demanding professions where being young and having a good physique, is more important as the work demands it”, says prof. Berglan. These findings are based on data from The Norwegian Study on Life Course, Ageing and Generation (NorLAG), a multidisciplinary and longitudinal study following 2 500 individuals aged 40–80 years. 30

Energy-efficient cloud computing Cloud computing requires a lot of energy, as each server normally handles between 10 and 100 virtual computers. Now researchers at the Department of Computer Science at HiOA have shown through experiments that it is possible to minimise the size of the virtual computers. The researchers, Alfred Bratterud and Hårek Haugerud, found that it’s possible to have 10 000 virtual computers running on less than 2 per cent of the computer processor (CPU). They also found that 110 000 virtual computers could run on just one server, hence dramatically ­reducing the energy usage.

Emotional attachment as design methodology By analysing users’ emotional attachment to products, designers can increase the lifetime of products. Professor Tore Gulden at the Department of Product Design has developed a design methodology that examines how a product activates the user. The more the user is activated, the stronger the attachment to the product will be. This in turn will make the user take better care of the product, thus reducing waste. The development of the methodology was a transdisciplinary project involving design master students and a psychologist.


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HiOA’s Overseas Research Grant HiOA’s Research Committee awards PhD candidates and postdocs a total of NOK 700 000 in overseas research grants ­annually, with a maximum of NOK 100 000 per applicant (NOK 150 000 for those travelling with family). Grant recipients typically travel to prestigious academic institutions in the US, Canada and Europe, such as the London School of Economics, Yale ­University, and the University of ­Western Ontario, for a period of one month to one semester. HiOA recently simplified the programme to speed up the application processing time to just two weeks. The main criteria are a connection to an ­advisor abroad, along with the support of a HiOA advisor.

An internship abroad is a good way to exchange ideas. PhD fellow Lars Klintwall went to Yale on a grant from HiOA.

A visit to exchange ideas PhD fellow Lars Klintwall’s work on toddlers with autism earned him a research internship at the Yale School of Medicine – a visit sponsored by HiOAs Overseas Research Grant. Written by: Valeria Criscione

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Photo: Private

ars Klintwall, a Swedish clinical ­psychologist and PhD fellow in the Department of ­Behavioural Sciences at HiOA, did a research internship at the Yale School of Medicine. He is currently working on publishing a paper he co-authored on “Motivation as a ­Predictor of Outcome for Toddlers with Autism” in an American psycho­logy journal. The paper is based on his four months spent at the prestigious Ivy League university. It was made possible, in part, byHiOA’s Overseas Research

Grant. The grant was used to cover housing and airfare costs and it helped facilitate the unique international collaboration. “It is a very good publication and it looks good on your CV,” says ­Klintwall. “It was interesting on a personal level to go to one of those schools you hear about. If I want to do a post doc, it is now absolutely possible.” The journey started when ­Katarzyna Chawarska, ­Associate Professor at the Yale Child Study Centre, contacted Klintwall. She was interested in his ­research

methods in a paper he c­ o-authored with his advisor at HiOA, Svein Eikeseth. Klintwall took the chance to ask her about the ­possibility of a research internship at Yale. It only took three months from his application was submitted in January 2013 until he was in place at New Haven to start his research. During his time there, het ook advantage of the many conferences at Yale and attended talks by interesting researchers – something he would never have been able to do in Oslo on that level. He also visited prestigious neighbouring institutions, such as the universities of Pennsylvania, ­Harvard, and Columbia. “The big difference in going to one of the big universities is that it’s like an ongoing conference,” says Klintwall. “There is always something going on. You can go to talks with researchers such as Alan K ­ azdin, the director of the Yale Parenting Centre. He is the author of one of the books used in the course I am teaching at HiOA.” 31


Retur: Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences P.O. Box 4 St. Olavs plass, N-0130 OSLO, Norway

HiOA Oslo and Akershus University College of 足Applied Sciences www.hioa.no/eng Faculties Faculty of Health Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Education and International Studies Faculty of Technology, Art and Design Research centres Centre for the Study of Professions Centre for Welfare and Labour Research National Centre for Multicultural Education

Follow us at: tiny.cc/hioa_linkedin_company flickr.com/hioa #hioa facebook.com/HiOAeng youtube.com/hioafilm


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