Dr. Audun Løvlie

Audun Løvlie is a researcher at the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism, working as a Researcher on the Children’s Right to Participation project. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the Department of Government, University of Bergen.

Audun’s research interests include experts as premise providers in court decision, definitions of and sanctions against deviance, and government intervention into the private lives of citizens.

What are you working on right now?

I am finishing up my paper on justifications in decision-making in care order cases concerned with violence, comparing migrant and non-migrant families.

In the starting phase on a paper on the role of expert knowledge in judicial decision-making in care order cases concerning violence in the family.

Preparing lectures for next term.

What does a typical day for you look like?

Coffee. Then, depending on whether I am writing or reading that day, I either continue or pick an article or book chapter to read, or I load my draft and bring up the data I’m working with. Coffee.

Can you describe your office space?

I share office with two other colleagues. My desk is not so neatly covered in books and articles in various stages of being read. And coffee mugs.

Is there a book you’d recommend within your field?

Sure. Two books.

“Experts and the Will of the People: Society, Populism and Science” by Harry Collins, Robert  Evans, Darrin Durant, Martin Weinel.

“Inventing Our Selves: Psychology, Power, and Personhood” by Nikolas Rose.

What is your background?

I have a master’s in Sociology from the University of Bergen, a bachelor’s in Theater and Digital Arts Practice from Dartington College of Arts, and I have worked for 6 years in acute psychiatry and for over 3 years as an adviser for the Data Protection Services at NSD – Norwegian Centre for Research Data.

If you had to choose a different field, what would it be?

Astrophysics or perhaps some kind of engineering, or the medical field, like a nurse or something.

What do you like most about your job? And what do you like the least?

Few days are the exact same, albeit they can definitely seem similar; there are many different things to do and learn, all of them interesting and challenging. This is simultaneously what I like the most and the least. I like it the most because I learn a lot, and least because it can sometimes be overwhelming and therefore pacifying.

Is there a TV show you are binging?

Not any really binging, but I follow an assortment of comedy and science fiction shows.

What are you listening to these days?

My Spotify algorithm.

If you were prime minister for a day, what would you do?

Resign, as anyone not democratically elected and unqualified for the position of prime minister should. But if I had no choice, in a sort of prime-minister-at-gun-point situation, I’d implement basic income.

Your friend sets you up on a blind date with someone famous – who do you hope it is?

Alive or dead? Real or fictional? I do not like these kinds of hypotheticals, but to humour the unlikely reader of this page.

Fictional person date: Annie Blackburn.

Real person date: Carrie Fisher.

Place you’ve been where you never want to go back to?

I’m not sure there is such a place. Yet. If by “place” you mean a country or a city.

And a place you’ve been where you’d like to go back?

Anywhere I have already been. In my experience most places are worth visiting several times.

Updated Winter 2019-2020