After many years in clinical practice as a nurse and leader, I have acquired research competencies through a Master’s degree and a PhD. I have a longstanding passion for qualitative research methodology, driven by a desire to contribute to high‑quality health research. Since 2005, I have been involved in qualitative studies of individuals confronted with health-related challenges. This work has had an existential focus, exploring these life situations from a first‑person perspective—a form of knowledge essential for healthcare professionals seeking to offer meaningful support.

My academic journey began with sociological perspectives, drawing on Foucault in my Master’s studies and later Bourdieu, before transitioning to the hermeneutic–phenomenological tradition, which has become my primary foundation due to its person‑centred orientation. Within this tradition, phenomenology provides a valuable framework for understanding people and their lifeworlds. My PhD study of Paul Ricoeur’s work led to further engagement with Husserl, Heidegger, Gadamer, Kierkegaard, and Kirkeby to deepen and refine my theoretical understanding.

To expand the potential of the qualitative approach, I also value mixed‑methods designs and collaborate with students and colleagues across a variety of methodologies, including RCTs, complex interventions, intervention studies, discourse analysis, and action research.

My research concerns people’s experiences of recovery and rehabilitation. The primary focus is on how individuals can be supported to live meaningful lives when challenged by illness or injury. The intention is to generate knowledge that may contribute to alleviating and promoting this process. Thus, my research is situated within nursing, rehabilitation, and the broader health‑professional effort.

A central finding in my work is the importance of the individual’s understanding of themselves and their situation in order to support healing and a meaningful life.

This knowledge has implications for mental balance more generally and has led to my interest in mental health as one of the greatest public health challenges today, regardless of whether the stressor is of physical or psychological origin. It is essential that health professionals listen to the patient’s narrative to strengthen the patient’s understanding of self, situation, and life. To support this aim, I work to consolidate and deepen the theoretical foundations underpinning this perspective.

I have teaching experience from the Bachelor’s Programme in Nursing, the Master in Clinical Nursing, the Master’s Programme in Nursing Science/Nursing, the Master’s Programme in Health Science, and the PhD programme at Health, Aarhus University. In addition, I have taught at the Master’s Programme in Molde and the PhD programme in Bergen.

My teaching topics span philosophy of science, research methodology—particularly within the phenomenological and hermeneutic traditions—nursing leadership and clinical expertise, evidence‑based nursing practice, organisational theory, clinical decision-making, patient participation, existential issues and meaning, self- and illness-understanding, the lived process of healing, self-care, rehabilitation, patient and nurse vulnerability, the professional’s role in the patient’s healing process, and the situation of relatives.

I have competencies in supervising academic writing, research projects, leadership development, career development, personal development, and processes of healing.