Sverre Urnes Johnson is Professor in Clinical Psychology and the leader of COPE research team at the University of Oslo. He received is Ph.D. from the University of Oslo in a dual position as a clinical psychologist at Modum Bad Psychiatric Center. Sverre is also the leader of the Norwegian branch of Metacognitive therapy institute, and is a certified clinical supervisor in CBT. Sverre's research seeks to investigate the outcome and mechanisms in psychotherapy and general mental health using a complex system approach and he is particularly interested in the treatment of anxiety disorders. When Sverre is not in the office, he is with his family, running, swimming, or bicycling.
Asle Hoffart is a senior researcher at Modum Bad and a Professor at the University of Oslo. Hoffart has published more then 130 scientific papers and has worked with research at Modum Bad since 1980. His research has centered around cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He has supervised over 10 Ph.D. candidates and has during his career always emphasized bridging the gap between clinical practice and research. Asle is an approved Schema-therapist and supervisor in Cognitive Therapy, in addition to cognitive therapy for PTSD in particular. In his spare time, he is an eager cross-country skier.
Marieke A. Helmich is a postdoctoral researcher with the COPE team at the University of Oslo. She conducted her doctoral studies at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, during which she examined the process of depressive symptom improvement in individuals receiving psychological treatment. Her research focused on testing hypotheses derived from dynamical systems theory – destabilization prior to symptom transitions in particular – by applying idiographic methods to intensive longitudinal data of symptoms and emotions, and this remains one of her keen interests. When not working, Marieke enjoys climbing, cooking (and eating!), spending time with friends, or getting caught up by one of her many creative endeavours.
Xinkai Du is a first-year PhD student at the Modum bad Psychiatric Hospital and University of Oslo. Before entering the field of clinical psychology, he studied social psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada, and completed his research master in psychological methods at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. He uses psychological networks (for cross-sectional, panel, and longitudinal data) to explore the complexity underlying psychopathology and its relations with personality, emotions, and attitudes. When not working, Xinkai enjoys cooking, playing guitar, reading novels, bouldering, swimming, and hiking.
Marianne Skogbrott Birkeland is Researcher I at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress (NKVTS) and Associate Professor II in Developmental Psychology at the University of Oslo. After taking a doctorate in self-esteem among adolescents at the University of Bergen, she continued her work as a researcher at NKVTS from 2013. She is particularly interested in mechanisms of change for psychopathology in connection with traumatic events, including how psychopathology develops, but also how improvement can take place, with or without psychotherapeutic treatment. Leisure time is spent with family, watching TV shows, and reading novels.
KariAnne Vrabel is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Oslo and a director at the Research Institute of Modum Bad. She received her Ph.D. from The University of Tromsø in 2010 and has been a part of the research and clinical group at Modum Bad for 20 years. Vrabel’s research seeks to improve psychotherapy by investigating treatment effects of different therapies, identify characteristics of non-completers and those non-response to therapy, in addition to investigations of the mechanisms of change associated with eating disorders.
Therese Snuggerud is a psychologist at the Department of Anxiety Disorders at Modum Bad and has previously been team leader for the team conducting Metacognitive Therapy at the Modum Bad Psychiatric Hospital. She is the leader of a research project that deals with the effects of metacognitive therapy in groups. Therese is particularly interested in the effects of attention training. She has completed MCT Masterclass level 1 and will start at level 2. She has a specific interest in anxiety disorders and is interested in research on metacognitive therapy. In her spare time, she enjoys exercising and going for walks.
Øyvind Halsøy is trained as a clinical psychologist. Øyvind is particularly interested in sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, and exposure therapy. He is especially interested in the mechanisms of change in psychotherapy. He is interested in statistical programming including R, and in quantitative methodologies, such as network analysis, time-series analysis, and machine learning. He is passionate about trying to bridge the gap from research to practice –particularly concerning the dissemination of research findings to make them useful for practitioners and ensure high quality of treatment. Another field of interest for Øyvind is creativity. Øyvind will rant non-stop about music and creative collaboration to anyone who will listen.
Kenneth Mani Pålerud is a student in the Professional Studies of Clinical Psychology program at the University of Oslo. He his currently on a junior research fellowship, taking a hiatus from his studies, and being a part of the first class of the novel Psychology Student Research Program ("Forskerlinjen") at the Department of Psychology, University of Oslo. During his junior research fellowship year, Kenneth is working to acquiring the necessary skills to become an independent researcher, where he is working with a project investigating the differential trajectories of anxiety during psychological treatment. When not at the COPE office, Kenneth enjoys being outside, engaged in sport activities, and spending time with his friends and family.
Anna Naterstad Harpviken is a doctoral research fellow at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS). She started her PhD in 2023 after working as a psychologist for both perpetrators and victims of violence in Denmark. She was educated at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, where she completed part of her studies at Columbia University in New York, and finished her education with a research master's degree. Anna's research focuses on individual change processes in PTSD treatment for adolescents, and she is interested in contributing to ways that enable individuals who have experienced trauma to process it in the most effective manner possible. In her free time, Anna enjoys spending time with family and friends, knitting, ice bathing, and cooking good food.