Katrine Mayora Synnes

Katrine Mayora Synnes serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Work at the University of Agder (UiA). She holds significant leadership roles including program director for the master's program in social work and co-leader of the research group on Welfare and Welfare Services alongside Mette Fløystad Kvammen.

Her research focuses on critical aspects of contemporary welfare systems, with particular emphasis on welfare and welfare policy, social exclusion and inclusion, migration, and diversity work. Her doctoral dissertation completed in 2023 examined the experiences of unemployed Polish migrants living without income in Norway and their interactions with NAV (Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration).

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent research trajectory examining the intersection of migration, welfare access, and bureaucratic practices in the Norwegian context. Her work demonstrates methodological expertise in institutional ethnography while addressing pressing social policy questions about who gets included in welfare systems and under what conditions.

Katrine currently leads two active research projects: one investigating follow-up procedures for young people who are neither in education nor employment, and another examining diversity practices in Norwegian workplaces. She is an active member of multiple research communities including Childhood and society, Institutional Ethnography, Mobility culture and gender, and Welfare and welfare services groups.

As an educator, she is responsible for courses including Innovation Participation and Collaboration (SO-409), Power Marginalization and Inclusion (SO-204), and Guidance and Empowerment (BV-500), demonstrating her commitment to preparing future social work professionals to address complex societal challenges.