Academic Interests
- Christians in the Middle East
- Coptic Orthodox Church/Copts in Egypt, Sudan and in diaspora
- Migration-studies: Islam/ Muslim in the Middle East and in Europe
- Religious change in secular societies: Conversions and apostacy
- Minority-studies: Religious minorieties in contemporary Norway
- Childhood and socialisation within religious groups
Teaching and supervising
- "Introduction to world religions" REL 1003
- "Christianity" REL 2210
- "Judaisme" REL 2240
- "Islam in Europe" REL 3350
- "Bachelor studies" REL 3090
- "Gender and religion" REL 4040"
- "Supervised reading MA level" REL 4112
Supervising students at all levels.
2010/2011 Assesing PhD applications at IKOS
Ongoing research
The project "Missionary activity and Human Rights" analyses missionary activities carried out in a contemporary context, relating these activities to the complex field of Human Rights. The project wants to further a discussion on how a public debate on Human Rights reshapes missionary activites in multicultural societies and how the debate is influenced by activities carried out by missionary agents.
Higher education and employment history
- 2014 onwards- Associate professor at IKOS, UiO.
- 2005-2014 Senior lecturer at IKOS, UiO.
- 2005: PhD.
- 2004 Associate professor at Høgskolen in Oslo, HiO.
- Researching and teaching at all levels in different subjects at the institute of history of religion, IKOS.
- Part of Center for Islamic and Middleastern Studies at IKOS.
- Publishing nationally and internationally.
- Guest lecturer at different institutions, see overview in Cristin.
Reseach delegations and fieldwork – a selection
- Cairo, 31-4 till 6-4 2011. Visiting Al-Azhar and Egyptian intelectuals after the uprising in 2011. The visit was connected to a project financed by Norwegian Foreign Department with the aim of finding suitable teachers for intensive Islam classes at masterlevel at IKOS. Delegation: Lena Larsen, Nora Stene and Kari Vogt.
- Istanbul, 3-6 till 10-6 2006. Visiting different Christian orthodox churches, Church leaders and monastaries. Delegation: Vilde Reichelt, Nora Stene, Berit Thorbjørnsrud, Kari Vogt.
- Egypt, Great Britain, - fieldwork connected to MA and PhD theses.
Offices
- 2010 on- Member of the board at "Prismet" (Journal with referees).
- 2010 on - Member of "Resource group: Diversity of religions and life stances" at Oslo University.
- 2007 on - Observer at bilateral talks between Islamic Council of Norway (IRN) and Church of Norway (DnK).
- 2006 Member of network for the study of reform in the field of religious education within The Norwegian Church, organised by KIFO, Church Research Center.
Ongoing projects
- Christians in the Middle East. Co-operation project at IKOS led by Berit Thorbjørnsrud.
- Trends in developments in Coptic visual culture. Co-operation with Kari Vogt, Nelly van Doorn-Harder.