Dr. Mingyuan Zhang Betancourt is a socio-cultural anthropologist affiliated with the University of Oslo's Institute of Community Medicine and Global Health. Specializing in cross-cultural analysis between China and Africa, her work examines pharmaceutical supply chains and postcolonial development dynamics. PhD in Anthropology, University of Western Ontario (2018) Former Writing Fellow, University of Toronto Scarborough Her research spans multiple disciplines: Pharmaceutical Anthropology : Analyzing antibiotic shortages across India/China production networks China-Africa Relations : Investigating cultural identity formation through historic sugar plantations and Confucius Institute operations Political Ecology : Documenting resource conflicts in Malagasy agrarian systems Recent publications demonstrate: 2024 study on pharmaceutical production history 2023 comparative analysis of China-India trade disputes 2022 critique of cultural standardization in educational programs 2021 pandemic discourse analysis She actively explores: Global antibiotic accessibility Postcolonial development paradigms Transnational identity politics
Elisabeth Oxfeldt is a Professor of Scandinavian Literature at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Humanities, Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages. Specializing in Danish and Norwegian literature from the 19th to 21st centuries, she examines cultural narratives through postcolonial and orientalist frameworks with particular focus on guilt discourse in Nordic contexts. Her educational background includes a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Literature from U.C. Berkeley (2002), M.A. in Scandinavian Literature (1996), and B.A. in French Literature (1988). This interdisciplinary foundation informs her transnational approach to Nordic literary studies. Oxfeldt's research centers on Scandinavian narratives of guilt and privilege within globalization, exploring how Orientalism, postcolonialism, and (post)nationalism manifest in literature and visual media. Her work critically engages with Hans Christian Andersen adaptations, war literature, travelogues, and literary activism, revealing tensions between Nordic self-perception as egalitarian societies and historical complicity in colonial structures. She frequently analyzes word-image relationships and adaptation processes across media. Publication trends show sustained engagement with postcolonial critique since her 2005 monograph Nordic Orientalism , evolving toward contemporary analyses of activist voices and guilt narratives. Recent edited volumes address literary rights struggles (2024) and ecological perspectives in Nordic literature (2023), demonstrating expanding interdisciplinary scope while maintaining core focus on representation and power dynamics. Awards and honors: Member of Det Danske Akademi (The Danish Academy) Advising and grants information was not specified in source materials, though her leadership of major research projects suggests significant supervisory and funding acquisition activities. Teaching responsibilities include courses on Nordic literature after 1800, Norwegian world literature, and literary activism. Oxfeldt co-leads the DINO (Diversity in Nordic Literature) research group and previously participated in ECODISTURB. Her current projects include 'Scandinavian Narratives of Guilt and Privilege in an Age of Globalization' (ScanGuilt) and 'Norwegian Romantic Nationalisms' (NORN), examining historical and contemporary constructions of Scandinavian identity through literary lenses.
Lilja Øvrelid is a Professor at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, leading the Language Technology Research Group. Her research focuses on syntactic and semantic text processing using machine learning techniques such as dependency parsing, negation analysis, and sentiment analysis. She teaches courses including IN1140: Introduction to Language Technology , IN5550: Neural Methods in NLP , and INF5830: Natural Language Processing . Her academic interests span natural language processing, machine learning, and computational linguistics, with a particular emphasis on Norwegian language technology. Recent publications highlight work in sentiment analysis (including patient feedback), event extraction from Norwegian news, benchmarking language models, emotion analysis for under-resourced languages (Pashto, Farsi-Dari), and bias detection in multilingual models. She actively contributes to the development of Norwegian language resources such as NorBench, NorQuAD, and NoReC. Current projects include BigMed and SIRIUS , focusing on biomedical text mining and AI infrastructure. Collaborations with colleagues like Erik Velldal, David Samuel, and Vladislav Mikhailov are frequent in her work. Despite no explicit mention of scientific awards, her contributions to NLP and computational linguistics are substantial through publications, datasets, and tool development.
Anis Yazidi is a Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University, affiliated with the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design and the Department of Information Technology. His research focuses on Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Medical Technology, and IoT Security, with a particular emphasis on Applications of AI in Healthcare, EEG Signal Processing, and Digital Transformation. Active research projects include AI Mind (dementia diagnostics), Glycopathology in dry eyes, and Pain and mental distress analysis Completed projects: Digital hate speech analysis, AI in reproductive technology, Nano-antibiotics development His recent publications (2023-2025) demonstrate expertise in: Tsetlin Automaton algorithms for concept learning EEG classification using visibility graphs and vision transformers AI ethics frameworks for medical practice Deepfake detection methodologies Collaborative work spans institutions in Norway, Czech Republic, and international AI research communities.
Per-Arne Andersen is an Associate Professor at the Department of Information and Communication Technology within the University of Agder . His research focuses on artificial intelligence , reinforcement learning , Tsetlin machines , and deep learning , with applications in real-time strategy games , industrial environments , and IoT systems . Projects: RESTORE Research Groups: CAIR - Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, CIEM - Center for Integrated Crisis Management, Intelligent Mechatronics (iTron) His work explores safe and sustainable reinforcement learning , interpretable AI , and generative environment modeling . He has developed frameworks like CaiRL and CostNet for high-performance RL environments and goal-directed learning. Recent publications include advancements in Tsetlin automaton analysis , GNSS jamming classification , and road quality detection . Articles from 2025-2016 span machine learning , computer vision , and environmental modeling . He contributes to IEEE , Springer , and LNCS publications, with a focus on interdisciplinary AI applications in crisis management , cybersecurity , and industrial optimization .
Christian Unkelbach is Professor of Social Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cologne, where he leads the Unkelbach Group. His research spans multiple domains of social and cognitive psychology with significant contributions to understanding evaluative processes. His primary research interests include Social Cognition, Evaluative Judgments, Information Ecologies, Stereotypes and Prejudice, Evaluative Learning, Fluency Effects, and Sport Psychology. Unkelbach's work examines how humans process evaluative information in social contexts, with particular focus on the truth-by-repetition effect , evaluative conditioning , and cognitive ecological frameworks that explain why certain information patterns dominate social cognition. His research demonstrates how repetition increases belief in information , how attributes become associated through mere pairings , and why positive information is processed more efficiently than negative information. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a consistent trajectory examining the relativity of social cognition , truth effects across contexts , and metacognitive awareness of cognitive biases . His work increasingly integrates cross-linguistic perspectives and examines real-world applications in media consumption and social judgment. Honorary Doctorate from UCLouvain (2025) ISCON Best Paper Award 2020 Speaker of DFG Research Unit FOR2150 'Relativity in Social Cognition' (2017-2021) Emmy Noether Research Grant (DFG, 2009-2013) Feodor Lynen Research Scholarship (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) Fulbright Scholarship Unkelbach has advised numerous doctoral researchers including Andreas Miculka, Anne Irena Weitzel, Felix Speckmann, Lea Sperlich, and Tabea Zorn. His research group has secured multiple C-SEB grants for projects examining social cognition phenomena. The Unkelbach Group maintains active collaborations with international researchers across Europe and North America, with recent work funded through the DFG Research Unit on Relativity in Social Cognition. The Unkelbach Group laboratory at Richard-Strauss-Str. 2 in Cologne comprises postdoctoral researchers, doctoral candidates, and student assistants working on experimental paradigms examining evaluative learning, truth effects, and social judgment processes. Current projects investigate cross-linguistic truth effects, metacognitive monitoring of repetition effects, and ecological validity in social cognition frameworks.
Egor Kostylev serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Informatics within the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo. His research focuses on the theoretical foundations connecting symbolic and sub-symbolic artificial intelligence, particularly examining relationships between formal logic systems and machine learning approaches. His educational background includes an MSc (Specialist, 2005) and PhD (Candidate, 2009) from Lomonosov Moscow State University under Prof. Vladimir A. Zakharov. He subsequently held research positions at the University of Edinburgh (2010-2013) and the University of Oxford (2013-2020) before joining the University of Oslo in 2020. Kostylev's research interests center on bridging symbolic AI formalisms with sub-symbolic approaches. He investigates connections between various logics (Description Logics, Temporal Logics, Datalog), query languages (SPARQL, Regular Path Queries, OTTR), and machine learning formalisms (Graph Neural Networks, Markov Logic Networks). His work addresses critical challenges in Explainable, Trustworthy, and Green AI through theoretical foundations that connect different AI paradigms. His publication record demonstrates consistent high-impact contributions in theoretical computer science and AI, with numerous publications in top venues including AAAI, LICS, Journal of the ACM, and ICLR. His recent work shows a clear trajectory toward unifying logical reasoning with neural network approaches, particularly through graph neural networks and their connections to logical formalisms. The research spans theoretical foundations of knowledge representation, temporal reasoning in knowledge bases, and the logical expressiveness of modern neural architectures. As a research leader, Kostylev supervises multiple PhD students including Shuwen (Aurora) Liu, Maximilian Pflüger, Roxana Pop, Dongzhuoran Zhou, and Erik Snilsberg. He serves as a Research Theme Leader for the Integreat SFF: Norwegian Centre for Knowledge-driven Machine Learning. His teaching responsibilities include IN3020/4020 Database Systems courses. He leads the Data and Knowledge Management (DKM) research group at the University of Oslo, which focuses on foundational aspects of knowledge representation, database theory, and the intersection with modern machine learning techniques. The group actively collaborates with international researchers and contributes to advancing theoretical understanding of how symbolic and neural approaches to AI can complement each other.
Jason Nelson is a Professor of Digital Culture in the Department of Linguistic, Literary and Aesthetic Studies at the University of Bergen, Norway. He is a creator of digital poems and fictions, builder of surrealist and politically focused art games and digital creatures. His work is exhibited widely in galleries and journals around the globe at FILE, ACM, LEA, ISEA, SIGGRAPH, ELO and numerous other venues. Nelson serves on organizational boards including the Australia Council Literature Board and the Electronic Literature Organization. Nelson's research focuses on the intersection of digital technology, creative writing, and artistic expression. He explores how AI and machine learning can be harnessed for creative purposes, developing new forms of digital literature and interactive art. His work often involves building expansive visual worlds through collaborative AI processes, creating interactive digital poetry, and developing novel approaches to digital narrative. Nelson's research spans digital humanities, electronic literature, AI-generated art, and interactive media, with particular emphasis on how these technologies transform creative processes and experiences. Over the past decade, Nelson's work has increasingly focused on the creative potential of AI technologies, especially in the areas of text-to-image generation and multimodal authorship. His projects often blend game engines with poetic expression, creating immersive experiences that challenge traditional boundaries between human and machine creativity. Recent works explore themes of multispecies futures, time perception, and the transformation of physical spaces through augmented reality. Nelson has received numerous scientific awards and fellowships including: Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Bergen Moore Fellowship at the National University of Ireland Winner of the Digital Writing Prize, Queensland Literary Awards (15,000 AUD) Winner of the Woollahra Library Digital Poetry Prize (5,000 AUD) Runner-Up Prize at the Videomedeja digital art exhibition Finalist for the Turn-on Literature Prize Finalist for the Queensland Literary Awards, Digital Writing Category Multiple finalist nominations for the New Media Writing Prize Nelson actively participates in academic advising and has secured significant research funding, including a 125,000 AUD grant from the Australia Council of the Arts, Literature Board for his project "Cube Cryptext and Nomencluster," which was recognized as the world's largest interactive art-game. His work "Nine Billion Branches" received multiple awards including the Digital Writing Prize from the Queensland Literary Awards. He has also received a 75,000 NOK grant for the "Flood Mosaic Artwork" project featured in the Floodlines Exhibition at the State Library of Queensland. Nelson is affiliated with the Center for Digital Narrative at the University of Bergen, where he collaborates with researchers like Scott Robert Rettberg and Alinta Krauth. Together they form EphemerLab, exploring new creative processes that move beyond simple "ask and generate" AI methods. Their work involves stitching together hundreds of individual image fragments and components into cohesive visual and narrative concepts, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with current AI technologies.
Dr. Saeed Karimi Aghdam Ordaklou is an Associate Professor of English Language and Didactics at the Faculty of Education and Arts, Nord University, Norway. His academic career is rooted in applied linguistics, with a focus on second language acquisition, educational psychology, and dynamic systems theory. PhD in Applied Linguistics (Second Language Acquisition), University of Jyväskylä, Finland MA in English Language Teaching, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Iran B.A. in English Language & Literature, University of Tabriz, Iran Professional Teacher Education, JAMK University of Applied Sciences, Finland His research synthesizes Vygotsky’s cultural-historical psychology, dynamic systems theory, and dialectical frameworks to explore second language development in sociocultural contexts. Key themes include L2 writing, complexity-accuracy-fluency dynamics, and interdisciplinary theoretical integration. Recent publications emphasize dynamic systems theory applications, digital mediation in multilingual writing, and the sociocultural dimensions of language learning. He has also guest-edited special issues addressing theoretical dialogues in applied linguistics. Dr. Karimi Aghdam has taught in Iran, Finland, and Norway, and holds teaching qualifications from the UK, Finland, and Norway. He actively collaborates with international scholars and has held visiting researcher roles at UC San Diego, Penn State, and the University of Southern Denmark.
Alexander Refsum Jensenius is a Professor of Music Technology and Director of the RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion at the University of Oslo. He also leads the fourMs Lab and co-founded the MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity. His work bridges musicology, psychology, and technology, focusing on embodied music cognition, human motion analysis, and creative applications of AI. Notably, he pioneered research on air guitar motion and human micromotion through projects like the Oslo Standstill Database . Educated at the University of Oslo (BA in Music and Mathematics, MA in Musicology) and Chalmers University of Technology (MSc in Applied IT), Jensenius holds a PhD in Music Technology from UiO. He has held visiting researcher roles at UC Berkeley, McGill University, and KTH. Leadership roles include Department of Musicology Head (2013–2016) and Steering Committee Chair for the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME, 2011–2022). Research interests span music-related body motion, AI in creative contexts, and open research practices. Key contributions include the Music Moves and Motion Capture MOOCs, the Musical Gestures Toolbox software, and monographs like Sound Actions and Sonic Design . His work emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, with projects addressing ventilation systems' acoustic properties and cell culture vibrational effects. Awards include the European Open Data Champion recognition. He advocates for open science and maintains extensive digital archives of research materials, emphasizing institutional web pages as critical research infrastructure.
Professor Ole-Christoffer Granmo is a distinguished academic at the University of Agder, Norway, where he serves as Professor in the Department of Information and Communication Technology. He is the Founding Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research (CAIR) at the University of Agder, leading cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and machine learning. Dr. Granmo obtained his master's degree in 1999 and his PhD in 2004, both from the University of Oslo. His academic journey has been marked by significant contributions to the field of AI, most notably the creation of the Tsetlin machine in 2018, for which he received the AI research paper of the decade award from the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NORA) in 2022. Professor Granmo's research primarily focuses on logical and causal world modeling across multiple modalities including images, sound, and natural language. His work spans logical auto-encoding, convolution, regression, transformer architectures, and reinforcement learning, all with the overarching goal of creating ultra-low-power artificial general intelligence through transparent logical learning and reasoning. His publications reveal a strong emphasis on interpretable AI systems, hardware implementations, and applications across diverse domains including cybersecurity, healthcare, social media analysis, and bioinformatics. AI Research Paper of the Decade (2022) - Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NORA) Eight paper awards in machine learning Professor Granmo has coordinated over seven research projects and mentored 55+ master's students and nine PhD students. His leadership extends to co-founding the Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium (NORA) and establishing two companies: Anzyz Technologies AS and Tsense Intelligent Healthcare AS. As an advisor at Literal Labs, he actively bridges academic research with practical industry applications, demonstrating his commitment to translating theoretical innovations into real-world solutions that address complex challenges across multiple sectors.
Lenka Garshol is an Associate Professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation at the University of Agder. She serves as the subject coordinator for English in teacher education and is a member of the International Society for the Linguistics of English (ISLE) and the Learner Corpus Association (LCA) . Her research interests include: Language Acquisition Language Learning Multilingualism Code-switching and Code-mixing Game-based Learning She leads the Games and Active Learning Methods in Education (GAME) project, focusing on digital tools and games in language education. Garshol's publications emphasize English language teaching , error analysis in learner English, and the use of digital tools for pedagogy. Her collaborative work spans topics like artificial intelligence in language subjects , foreign language policy , and subject-verb agreement patterns . She contributes to editorial work for journals such as the Nordic Journal of Language Teaching and Learning (NJLTL) and has co-authored book chapters on teacher education reforms and digital competence development.
Ingvild Folkvord is a Professor at NTNU's Department of Language and Literature within the Faculty of Humanities. She leads the NTNU-based research group 'Literature as a Social Resource' and serves on the supervisory board of the International Research Training Group 'Baltic Peripeties'. Her research focuses on modern literary theory, intersections between literature and law, hermeneutical listening approaches, and translation studies. She has authored/co-edited influential works such as Stemmene etter 22. juli (2020) and Ernst Cassirer on Form and Technology (2012). Her work prominently engages with post-2011 Norwegian trauma narratives, analyzing how literature constructs collective memory around events like the July 22 attacks. She explores legal and literary symbolic forms in terrorism response, and has written extensively on authors like Ingeborg Bachmann, Bertolt Brecht, and Kamel Daoud. Her pedagogical research includes studies on academic writing processes and supervisory practices in PhD education. Recent publications analyze ambiguous temporalities in Kathrin Röggla's NSU-trial narratives, migration themes in Jenny Erpenbeck's fiction, and the power of voice in Cassirer/Brechtian theory. She regularly contributes essays to platforms like Prosa and Klassekampen , discussing contemporary literary responses to crises such as the Ukraine war. Folkvord's interdisciplinary approach connects literary analysis with legal discourse, cultural memory, and migration studies. Her research emphasizes how narrative forms mediate collective trauma and societal transformation, particularly through Germanic/Nordic literary traditions.
Özlem Özgöbek is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Technology and Informatics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Her research spans artificial intelligence, machine learning, and recommender systems with a focus on privacy, fake news detection, and educational technology. NTNU - Department of Computer Technology and Informatics Her work explores multimodal fake news detection, privacy implications in recommender systems, and technology-enhanced classroom interaction. Recent publications analyze digital education trends and classroom tools. Özgöbek collaborates with international researchers and contributes to news recommendation workshops. Her projects address ethical AI, environmental sustainability, and real-time information processing.
Vibeke Grøver is a Professor at the Department of Pedagogical Research, University of Oslo. Her work focuses on language and reading comprehension development for language minority children, with a emphasis on bilingual education, shared book reading interventions, and sociolinguistic factors influencing literacy. Education: Dr.polit., University of Oslo (1992) Master in Educational Psychology, University of Oslo (1982) Elementary School Teacher, University of Oslo (1977) Research Interests include second-language acquisition, early literacy for dual-language learners, home literacy environments, and teacher talk features in preschool settings. She leads projects like Teaching for text comprehension and has contributed to the DEAL (Development, Equality, and Literacy in Learning Contexts) research group. Article Trends show longitudinal studies on bilingual profiles, shared reading interventions, code-switching dynamics, and neighborhood demographic impacts on vocabulary. Key themes include scaffolding language minority students, cross-cultural comparisons (e.g., Chinese-Norwegian families), and teacher-student interaction patterns in multilingual preschools. Leadership Roles include Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences (2009–2012) and advisory positions for the Peder Sather Center at UC Berkeley (2012–2014). Research visits span Harvard, UC Berkeley, NYU, and East China Normal University.
