What has been your career path leading up to your current position?
I took the civil service exam and attained my PhD at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. One could say that I have "grown up" in a faculty that has held institutional criticism in high regard, which also has influenced my academic work to this day.
After I finished my civil service studies of 7 years, I initially intended to enter priesthood, but instead I got the opportunity to do research. I wrote my doctoral thesis on guilt and innocence. This was an interdisciplinary thesis within the fields of literature, philosophy, and theology. While completing my doctorate, I worked as an editor and secretary in the steering group for the Norwegian Values Commission.
After that, I was a schoolteacher for a short time, before coming to BI in the early 2000s. This was a period in which there was a need for education within ethics, and I was given primary responsibility for teaching ethics on a program that trained financial advisers and managers in the financial industry. As the years went by, I was given new roles, and I am today an associate professor.
What are your current research projects?
I do several things. Amongst them, I am in the national leadership group for the AFINO project (Responsible research and innovation in Norway). We are currently preparing a global bibliography on whistleblowing research. Joining us is 20-30 international partners from all over the world who all create national bibliographies. The plan is to publish this as an encyclopedia, which will lay the foundation for collaboration on publications across cultures and nations.
I am also working on several articles within the topics of ethics and whistleblowing. Some overarching themes are ethical investments and child labour, marginalized groups’ criticism of conditions in the business world, whistleblowing, and investigative journalism.
At the moment I am in Belgrade to conduct interviews for this research, where we conduct interviews with representatives from vulnerable and marginalized groups. Going forward, we will also conduct interviews in England, Norway and hopefully also in Asia.
What makes your research meaningful to you?
The conversations that I have with students are often very enriching. Adult executive students with a long career in professional life behind them have often been open about experiences that have been ethically challenging, which has contributed to intense and exciting discussions. To receive such trust has been a privilege to me.
It has also been great to be able to build brick by brick with research over the years. It is very inspiring to collaborate with colleagues nationally as well as internationally on something that can make a valuable contribution to society.