Research groups
Municipal and regional development
We research how Norwegian municipalities can function and develop in the best possible way.
This involves a particular focus on mapping, analyzing, understanding, and further developing the municipalities' role as community developers, service providers, and democratic arenas.
Since its establishment, Telemarksforsking has been a leading player in research on municipal and regional development.
Central to our research are questions related to municipal finances, governance, and the funding of the municipal sector. After working closely with Norwegian municipalities for nearly 40 years, we have developed an in-depth theoretical and historical understanding of municipal governance, which we combine with deep insights into practical applications.
We also have national expertise in analyzing and understanding the relationships between population development, business development, attractiveness, and place development. Such analyses are crucial for planning, facilitating, and developing municipal operations.
Our research also includes solutions for managing tasks and driving innovation and development work both within organizations and in collaboration with other municipalities and actors.
Our key clients include municipalities, inter-municipal collaborations, county municipalities, state administrators, KS (the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities), directorates, ministries, and the Norwegian Research Council.
Our team has also been represented in several national committees, including those on municipal structure, business development, and municipal finances.
Cultural Policy Research
For more than 30 years, the Research Group for Cultural Life and Cultural Policy at Telemark Research Institute (TRI) has been a leading community for cultural policy research and dissemination. The researchers work interdisciplinarily, with an empirical and practice-based orientation, and use both qualitative and quantitative approaches in their research. The research is mainly disseminated through reports, scientific articles, lectures and books.
Social and Ecological Sustainability
We research what it takes for each of us to experience quality of life and good living conditions, as well as how society can transition toward a sustainable future.
This includes both social aspects, by examining the factors that influence our upbringing, health, and welfare, and ecological aspects, by studying the interactions we have with our environment and how we can collectively create a greener society.
At the core of our work lies the concept of sustainability: To address the challenges we face as a society—such as demographic changes, increasing inequality, exclusion from education, work, and social life, pressures on municipal finances and public services, the need for professional competencies, overexploitation of natural resources, and climate change, to name a few—we need understanding and knowledge rooted in people's actual lives, activities, and everyday experiences.
Our overarching interdisciplinary perspective allows us to view societal challenges in context. For example, we see how health, the environment, and animal welfare are deeply interconnected. What affects one often has consequences for the others. The World Health Organization refers to this as "One Health"—a way of understanding health across humans, animals, and nature.
Our team has broad expertise that spans a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, pedagogy, special education, child welfare and social work, health sciences, social anthropology, urban and regional planning, economics, and agroecology.
The goal of the knowledge we produce is to make it applicable in practice, policy, and research, enabling us to prevent, improve, and transform.
Social and Ecological Sustainability
We research what it takes for each of us to experience quality of life and good living conditions, as well as how society can transition toward a sustainable future.
This includes both social aspects, by examining the factors that influence our upbringing, health, and welfare, and ecological aspects, by studying the interactions we have with our environment and how we can collectively create a greener society.
At the core of our work lies the concept of sustainability: To address the challenges we face as a society—such as demographic changes, increasing inequality, exclusion from education, work, and social life, pressures on municipal finances and public services, the need for professional competencies, overexploitation of natural resources, and climate change, to name a few—we need understanding and knowledge rooted in people's actual lives, activities, and everyday experiences.
Our overarching interdisciplinary perspective allows us to view societal challenges in context. For example, we see how health, the environment, and animal welfare are deeply interconnected. What affects one often has consequences for the others. The World Health Organization refers to this as "One Health"—a way of understanding health across humans, animals, and nature.
Our team has broad expertise that spans a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, pedagogy, special education, child welfare and social work, health sciences, social anthropology, urban and regional planning, economics, and agroecology.
The goal of the knowledge we produce is to make it applicable in practice, policy, and research, enabling us to prevent, improve, and transform.
Social and Ecological Sustainability
We research what it takes for each of us to experience quality of life and good living conditions, as well as how society can transition toward a sustainable future.
This includes both social aspects, by examining the factors that influence our upbringing, health, and welfare, and ecological aspects, by studying the interactions we have with our environment and how we can collectively create a greener society.
At the core of our work lies the concept of sustainability: To address the challenges we face as a society—such as demographic changes, increasing inequality, exclusion from education, work, and social life, pressures on municipal finances and public services, the need for professional competencies, overexploitation of natural resources, and climate change, to name a few—we need understanding and knowledge rooted in people's actual lives, activities, and everyday experiences.
Our overarching interdisciplinary perspective allows us to view societal challenges in context. For example, we see how health, the environment, and animal welfare are deeply interconnected. What affects one often has consequences for the others. The World Health Organization refers to this as "One Health"—a way of understanding health across humans, animals, and nature.
Our team has broad expertise that spans a wide range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, pedagogy, special education, child welfare and social work, health sciences, social anthropology, urban and regional planning, economics, and agroecology.
The goal of the knowledge we produce is to make it applicable in practice, policy, and research, enabling us to prevent, improve, and transform.