Susana Vilhena

Susana Vilhena serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy within the Faculty of Social Sciences at Oslo Metropolitan University. Her office is located at Stensberggata 26, 0170 Oslo (Office X623) and she can be reached via email at susana.vilhena@oslomet.no or by phone at +47 672 35 054.

Dr. Vilhena's research focuses on the intersection of social policy and frontline implementation, particularly examining activation policies, benefit sanctions, and street-level bureaucracy within welfare systems. Her work employs qualitative methodologies to investigate how social workers implement mandatory activation requirements and sanctions in social assistance contexts. A significant portion of her research conducts comparative analysis between Norway and Portugal, exploring how different welfare regimes approach conditionality in social assistance.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals a consistent focus on understanding the practical implementation of welfare conditionality from multiple perspectives - examining frontline worker practices, client experiences (particularly youth welfare recipients), and institutional dynamics within NAV offices. Her work demonstrates how activation policies are not merely administrative procedures but involve complex relational dynamics, professional discretion, and sometimes maternalistic practices that shape welfare outcomes.

Dr. Vilhena is actively involved in the Globalisation and Social Sustainability research group and leads the research project 'Understanding benefit sanctions in social assistance in Norway,' which investigates the processes preceding sanction imposition in Norwegian social assistance. Her scholarly contributions span academic journals, research reports, and numerous conference presentations at international venues including the Street-Level Bureaucracy Conference and European Conference for Social Work Research.