Research news

Karen O'Brien, one of the lead authors of the IPCC's next report, is an optimist. For it is we as a society that holds the key to making the changes that are needed.

More than half of young adults in Norway regularly binge drink. Many of them copy their parents' drinking patterns , according to a new Norwegian study.

After the great floods in Gudbrandsdalen valley here in Norway and in Hungary - What new knowledge do we have about extreme weather and climate change? How can we reduce the risk of injury in the future? Such questions are the theme of the Extreme Dialogue Tuesday 18 June at 12-3pm, at the University of Oslo..

A conference where speed presentations and fishbowl dialogues replace tedious monologues? Where an artist gets as much time to talk as a researcher? Where the public have a platform to have their say? Yes, to change society we must also change academia, say the organizers.

World trade is increasingly dominated by the countries of the South. A recent study examines how the migration of people in the South enables the flow of goods.

Cohabitation, gay marriage and single parents, bonus children and bonus parents. These modern forms of cohabitation do not indicate that the family as an institution is about to disappear. The family lives on in the best of health, but in new ways, say the editors of a new book.

There is no difference in the leadership styles of men and women. In groups comprised of both genders, an androgynous leadership style was found to be the best for creating a climate for innovation, argues Anne Grethe Solberg in her doctoral thesis.

Read the article at KILDEN

Professor Karen O'Brien, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, has been awarded the prestigious Burtoni Award for her pioneering contributions in social science climate research.

The “Transformation in a  Changing  Climate” conference aims to fill significant research gaps on transformation by  bringing together diverse  perspectives on deliberate transformation in response to climate change. The conference  will serve as a creative, innovative and  inspirational gathering that  catalyzes new insights on transformation processes and the implications for research, policy and practice. Such insights will contribute to international transdisciplinary research initiatives, including Future Earth.

Karen O'Brien held the WALTER ORR ROBERTS PUBLIC LECTURE on the theme "Changing the script on climate change: Transformative views on humanity's role" 22 MAY 2012.

You can listen to the lecture online on the Aspen Global Change Institute website

If only ten percent of us are able to change our thinking and lifestyle, we could change our society so much that we can stop climate change. So says Professor Karen O'Brien, who helped write a new UN report.

The final conference of the EUMARGINS project on the ‘Inclusion and Exclusion of Young Adult Immigrants’ will be held on 14 September at the University of Oslo, Norway (Rådssalen, Lucy Smith Hus). The purpose of the conference is to present the findings from our three-year, multi-country study, and the second EUMARGINS book, “Young Migrants: Exclusion and Belonging in Europe,” shortly to be published by Palgrave Macmillan, will provide the structure for this conference.

Ida Kvittingen has written her master’s thesis as part of the EUMARGINS project. The title of her thesis is "Equal or unique employee? 'Visible minorities' job seeking experiences" and is about visible minorities’ transition from higher education to the labour market. Her qualitative study is based on ten in-depth interviews with visible minorities who have recently finished their master degree in either social or natural sciences and are entering the job market.

The future of democracy will be the subject when Anthony Giddens comes to UiO on 17 June

It is probably not a good idea to go out into the street and hold up signs displaying temperature statistics. Everyone now knows that scientistics agree that the situation is dramatic. So what do we need to do to make people appreciate the gravity of the situation? We need ideas!

The 25th Conference of the Nordic Sociological Association is to be held on 4–7 August 2011 at the University of Oslo, Norway, and is hosted by the Norwegian Sociological Association in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Human Geography. This years's theme is Power and Participation and marks a return to a topic that has always enjoyed a central position in Nordic sociology.

Fredrik Engelstad and Hans Erik Næss discussed their new books with Thomas Hylland Eriksen at Akademika bookshop on wednesday 1st December. Neither of them would agree with the suggestion that there is a generation conflict within sociology.

- Doctors have not understood why cannabis is so dangerous, says professor of sociology Willy Pedersen. In collaboration with postdoc. Sveinung Sandberg he has written the book Cannabiskultur

It must become easier for non-western immigrants to gain citizenship in European countries. This is the recommendation of the researchers in the EUMARGINS project which is led by Katrine Fangen.

If city planners are interested in creating attractive suburbs then they should listen to the histories of the inhabitants, says human geographer Per Gunnar Røe.