My main field of research is melancholy and related feelings, emotions, and moods. Currently my research interests are focussed on essays by women.
I have been Chair of the Board of the Research Programme “Assigning Cultural Values” (Research Council of Norway, 2008–2012).
In 2003 I took part in establishing the Programme for Aesthetic Studies at the University of Oslo, and I was head of the programme until 2005.
2009–2012 I was head of the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages at the University of Oslo.
I am editorial board member of the journals Agora, Kultur&Klasse, and Norsk Litteraturvitenskapelig Tidsskrift and elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and of the Coordinating Committee for the Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages Series (CHLEL), patronaged by the Union Académique Internationale and supported by the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA).
2015-2018 I was a member of the Research Council of Norway, Division of Science Board, of the HERA (Humanities in the European Research Area) Network Board and of the Languages, Art and Literature review panel of The Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences.