Our team

Svenn-Erik Mamelund

Professor and Centre leader

Visit Svenn-Erik’s profile on oslomet.no

Jessica Dimka

Co-Centre leader and senior researcher

Visit Jessica’s profile on oslomet.no

Daniele Evelin Alves

Senior researcher at the Work Research Institute

Visit Daniele’s profile on oslomet.no

Ben Schneider

Post-doc at PANSOC

Visit Ben’s profile on oslomet.no

Read more about his Work and Wellbeing in History project.

Maria Bekker-Nielsen Dunbar

Researcher at PANSOC

Visit Maria’s profile on Oslomet.no

Read more about her project.

Vibeke Narverud Nyborg

Associated Professor 2 at PANSOC (research financed by University of South-Eastern Norway)

Visit Vibeke’s profile on USN.no

Read more about her project.

Lauren Steele

PhD-candidate at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia and guest researcher at PANSOC from September to December 2023. Centre leader Mamelund is Steele’s second adviser together with Kirsty Short. Steele’s thesis will submitted in September 2025.

Read more about her project.

Hampton Gaddy

PhD student at the London School of Economics and researcher at PANSOC for 2024.

Read more about his research.

Affiliated students

Shahadat Hossain

Master’s student in Nordic Social Policy and Global Sustainable Development at OsloMet.

Read more about his project.

Former Students

Uddhav Khakurel

Master’s student in International Social Welfare and Health Policy at OsloMet.

Read more about his project.

Amal Hassan – Master’s thesis (2025): Adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). A quantitative study of NPI adherence among immigrants and non-immigrants in Eastern Oslo, Norway, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

Uddhav Khakurel -Master’s thesis (2024): The Role of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions in the 1918-20 Influenza Pandemic in Alaska. A paper based on this thesis is published in Emerging Infectious Diseases: Early Release – Role of Nonpharmaceutical Interventions during 1918–1920 Influenza Pandemic, Alaska, USA – Volume 31, Number 7—July 2025 – Emerging Infectious Diseases journal – CDC.

Carla Louise Hughes – Master’s thesis (2022): The Association Between the 1918 Influenza Pandemic and Suicides in Norway.

Lara Maria Dora Steinmetz – Master’s thesis (2022): COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in eastern Oslo: Addressing sociodemographic determinants and main reasons for vaccine hesitancy. A paper based on this thesis is published in BMC Public Health: Sociodemographic predictors of and main reasons for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in eastern Oslo: a cross-sectional study (springer.com).

Christina Stylegar Torjussen – Master’s thesis (2022): «Døds seileren» – losjiskipet i Horten: En kvalitativ og kvantitativ analyse av årsakene til den høye dødeligheten på MS «Kong Sverre» under spanskesyken i 1918 [“The Death Ship” – the accommodation ship in Horten: A qualitative and quantitative analysis of the reasons for the high mortality on MS “Kong Sverre” during the Spanish flu in 1918].

Advisory Board

Preben Aavitsland, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Kevin Bardosh, University of Washington

Rebecca Jane Cox, University of Bergen

Tamara Giles-Vernick, Institut Pasteur  

Jon Henrik Laake, Oslo University Hospital  

Santiago Ripoll, Institute of Development Studies

Lone Simonsen, Roskilde University, Denmark

Former Research Assistants

Andreas Lillebråten (2022-2023) – Currently a PhD-student at the Work Research institute, OsloMet.

Uddhav Khakurel (Fall 2023) – part of a course in research training at Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Oslo Metropolitan University.

Ramila Acharya (Fall 2023) – part of a course in research training at Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Oslo Metropolitan University.

Lewhat Kifleyesus (Fall 2024) – part of a course in research training at Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy, Oslo Metropolitan University.