University of Stavanger (UiS)
The University of Stavanger is a public university established in Norway in 2005. It has recently established a bachelor program in psychology, a master’s program in psychology, and is now in the process of also establishing a program in Clinical Psychology.
Research in Cultural Psychology at UiS
The research group CULTIVÆRE: Sociocultural approaches to mental health and human values at the University of Stavanger is a transdisciplinary hub to promote mental health and well-being with cultural sensitivity and an inclusive vision. We currently have the following lines of research:
- Promotion of compassion & resilience in mental health & well-being
- Promotion of collective justice in mental health & well-being
- Promotion of trust, mattering, and belonging in mental health & well-being
- Promotion of creativity and imagination in mental health & well-being
For more information, please visit our website: https://www.uis.no/en/research/social-studies/cultivaere-sociocultural-approaches-to-mental-health-and-human-values
How to get involved?
If you are a bachelor student in Psychology and are interested in applying to Erasmut+ exchange, you can apply, among others, to enrol on a 10ECT course on Qualitative Methods, or a 15ECT course on cultural and community psychology.
PhD students can apply to our challenge-based learning course “Empathy, Compassion and Meaning: Theory and participatory approaches (PHD304)” https://www.uis.no/en/course/PHD304_1 – which is is free of charge. Check with your university for possibilities to apply for Erasmus+ funding for the course concerning potential travel fees and accomodation.
Representative
Olga Lehmann, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist, educator, researcher, and mental health activist. She currently works as an associate professor in Psychology at the University of Stavanger. Lehmann’s work stands in the crossroads of the poetic and the scientific explorations of everyday life, and the intersection between cultural and existential psychology in the study of affective processes and meaning-making. Her fields of expertise are, among others, silence-phenomena, qualitative research methods in psychology, emotions, existential meaning, grief, low-threshold interventions, therapeutic writing, meditation and contemplation. She is the main editor of Deep Experiencing, Dialogues within the Self (SpringerBriefs, 2017); A Poetic Language of Ageing (Bloomsbury, 2023).
University profile: https://www.uis.no/nb/profile/olga-vanessa-lehmann
Books/book chapters (selection):
Articles and paper presentations (selection):
- Lehmann, O. & Wagoner, B. (2025). Silence is a construction: An exploratory of people’s everyday understandings. Culture & Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067×241312245
- Lehmann, O. V. & Murakami, K. (2024). Silence as a magnifying glass for uncertainty and affect: The qualitative case studies of Karin and Dana’s journals. Culture & Psychology, 30(4), 1107–1129. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067×241253658
- Lehmann, O. V., Kalstad, T. G. & Neimeyer, R. A. (2023). Experiences of Fathers in Norway Attending an Online Course on Therapeutic Writing After the Death of a Child. Qualitative Health Research, 34(5), 458–472. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323231216099
- Lehmann, O. V. & Brinkmann, S. (2019). “Humbled by Life”: Poetic Representations of Existential Pathways and Personal Life Philosophies Among Older Adults in Norway. Qualitative Inquiry, 27(1), 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800419885414
