Ethics event chaired at Wonderful World festival; attended by 100+

Today, during the first day of Wonderful World – den nordiske festivalen for filosofi og vitenskap, held for the fourth year in Stavanger, Norway, I chaired the event «Når butikken trumfer etikken», with Mathea Slåttholm Sagdahl (University of Oslo), Peder Skjelbred (University of Oslo) og Espen Gamlund (University of Bergen) in the panel on stage. Some 113 people attended.

To chair panel on deep time during Wonderful World festival

I´ve agreed to chair the panel event "Å begripe dyp tid" (Comprehending deep time) during Wonderful World - Den nordiske festivalen for filosofi & vitenskap (taking place in Stavanger May 27-30th), with the panel featuring Bjørn Lindberg, Helge Jordheim and Dagmar Hagen. The event takes place Thursday May 28th at 8 pm.

Panel discussion chaired at Animal Ethics Conference 2025 on animals´ death

Today I have attended Norway´s Animal Ethics Conference (Dyreetikkonferansen) 2025, which had the theme "Når dyr dør. Perspektiver på livets slutt" (When animals die. Perspectives on the end of life) and was held at Litteraturhuset in Oslo. I chaired the panel discussion which took place at the end of the day. The panel included all the presenters, namely Espen Gamlund (UIB), Elisiv Tolo (Animalia), Helen Øvregaard (Vet-Talk), Steffen Tretvoll (Norsk Vegansamfunn), Jon M. Arnemo (Universitetet i Innlandet), Åsa Maria O. Espmark. More than 150 people were registered for the conference, which is organised by Norway´s Council for animal ethics.

Session chaired at GiB25, Rotterdam

Today I chaired a session with two papers at the 25th Annual Gathering in Biosemiotics, which is held at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands, August 25-29th.

Session chaired, ecosemiotics presentation given at NASS XIV in Tallinn

Today I chaired the session «Complexity in Ecological Thought» at the 14th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies along with the 15th Annual Lotman Days, “Creativity – Complexity – Intelligence“ (NASS XIV), which is currently being held at Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia (June 11–13, 2025). As part of the session, I presented my paper «Ecological semiotics, lifeworld perspectives, and sustainability». About 25-30 people attended.

Consultative statement on Norway´s oil fund´s investments in food production; working group headed by me

In October last Autumn, Norway´s Council for animal ethics, of which I am a member, published the consultative statement "Uttalelse vedrørende oljefondets investeringer i internasjonal matproduksjon" (Statement regarding the Norwegian Petroleum Fund's investments in international food production), a 27 pp. document written by me, Espen Gamlund, Eli Berge Ness and Rudi Ripman Seim, and discussed and approved by the council. I led the working group that was tasked with drafting the statement. The formal name of the Norwegian "oil fund" is Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). The fund is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.

90% seminar of Joakim Jiri Haaland conducted

Today I chaired and facilitated the 90% seminar of Joakim Jiri Haaland, at the University of Stavanger´s Department of social studies. Some 5-6 people attended, including Terje Jostein Halvorsen, the external commentator,  and Ulrich Dettweiler, the internal commentator.

Greenhouse Research talk by Lenart Skof moderated; Erasmus exchange

Yesterday, on Wednesday December 13th, I moderated Lenart Skof´s The Greenhouse Research talk “From Forgetting of Air to (post-)Anthropocene: Sketches for Respiratory Paradigm Shift in Environmental Humanities» at the University of Stavanger. Around 10 people attended.

I am hosting an Erasmus exchange by Lenart Skof this week.

Two sessions chaired at NASS XIII in Helsinki

On Thursday June 8th I chaired two sessions at the 13th conference of the Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), which was held at UniArts Helsinki and had the theme "Feeling - Skill - Knowledge", namely "Interdynamics, interactions" (4 papers) and "Medicine" (2 papers including my own).

Official opening of Cognitive lab chaired; well attended

Yesterday, Tuesday 30th of May, I chaired the official opening of Cognitive and behavioural neuroscience lab (Cognitive lab) at University of Stavanger. The event was well attended, with some 70-80 people turning up. The event featured two external guests, professor emeritus Kenneth Hugdahl, and Jonathan Whitlock, director of the Norwegian Research School in Neuroscience (NRSN).

Last Council for animal ethics meeting in this round attended

Last Friday, May 5th, I attended the last in-person meeting of Norway´s Council for animal ethics in this round. A new Council is soon to be appointed. The last meeting was devoted to discussing the council´s proposals to the ministries of agriculture and fisheries related to the government´s forthcoming animal welfare parliamentary notice (stortingsmelding). I chaired the discussion.

Official opening of Cognitive lab (UIS) scheduled for May 30th

I have been involved in the planning of the official opening of Cognitive lab at University of Stavanger, which will take place May 30th (4 hour programme). The program for the opening is now online. I will be chairing the seminar.

Cognitive lab: Constitutive steering group meeting chaired; not part of new steering group after all

Today I chaired the constitutive steering group meeting for Cognitive and behavioral neuroscience lab (Cognitive lab) at University of Stavanger. The meeting decided to downscale the steering group, from 21 members including deputy representatives to 10, with 7 permanent members and 3 deputy representatives, for 2023-2025. I am not among the members, after all. Kolbjørn Kallesten Brønnick, the former Managing Director, is the new Steering group leader, with Helge Bøvik Larsen re-elected as Deputy leader. Ulrich Dettweiler is the new Managing Director.

I chaired a ad hoc working group coordinating the establishment of the lab (2020-2021), and chaired the Steering group for the first 2 years (2021-2023). Initially, I suggested to establish a cross-faculty Cognitive lab in Spring 2020, which then got the support of Vice-rector for research Merete Vadla Madland.

NASS board meeting held, chaired

Today I have chaired a meeting in the board of Nordic Association for Semiotic Studies (NASS), in Zoom. Among other things we discussed issues related to the organizing of NASS XIII, which will take place in Helsinki in early June.

Steering group meeting of Cognitive Lab chaired; appointed member of steering group anew

Today I have chaired a meeting in the steering group at Cognitive Lab at UIS. Among other things we revised the action plan for 2023.

I have recently been appointed as Department of social studies´ representative in the steering group, after filling the role earlier as Head of department.

Dyreetikkonferansen 2022 held; panel chaired; recordings available online

Wednesday this week I attended Dyreetikkonferansen 2022 in Oslo (at Litteraturhuset), which had the theme "Noen dyr er likere enn andre. Hvorfor behandler vi dyr forskjellig?". I have been in the organizing committee. I also chaired the panel discussion, which lasted for 2 hours. Some 100 people attended physically while at least 70 attended online. 

The event was streamed. The recordings are available at YouTube.

The Norwegian Animal Ethics conference 2022 to take place in Oslo November 16th; links

Dyreetikkonferansen 2022, The annual Norwegian Animal Ethics conference, will take place November 16th in Oslo, with the theme "Noen dyr er likere enn andre. Hvorfor behandler vi dyr forskjellig?" (Some animals are more equal than others. Why do we treat animals differently?). I will be chairing the panel discussion, and take part in the organizing committee.

More info: 

Conference homepage

Facebook event page

5 meetings including 1 employee appraisal (total to date 72)

Today I have attended 4 meetings including an employee appraisal (total to date: 72, of which 9 in the Autumn). This also included chairing a seminar on "Research impact in an international perspective", which was attended by close to 20 people.

Paper presented; 2 sessions chaired at ISQOLS 2022

Today I have given my presentation "The true value of „doing well“ economically" in session 4.1, "Promoting Well-Being: Public Policy and Development", at the 2022 ISQOLS conference. Around 20 people attended physically or online.

I also chaired the session, which included 2 in-person and 3 virtual presentations. After this I was impromptu asked to chair the next session as well, session 5.1, "Social Relations and Well-Being", including another 2 in-person and 3 virtual presentations. Altogether this means I chaired 10 presentations.

2+1 meetings

Today I have attended 2 scheduled and 1 impromptu meetings. This included the third steering group meeting of Cognitive lab, which I am chairing.