Meet our new PhD
“I will be looking at how technology can encourage activity and social inclusion among old people. Maintaining social networks and staying active is important as we grow older”, says Henriette Hovland.
Hovland is born in Egersund on the west coast of Norway, and have taken her master’s degree in public health science at the University of Agder (UiA). From the autumn semester she will be joining I2I as a PhD student.
Mapping the needs of the elderly
From Isolation to Inclusion (I2I) aims to help the public sector in the North Sea region innovate their social service delivery to improve social inclusion and counteract loneliness. The project is led by UiA, with twelve partners from seven countries participating.
Hovland will be doing a systematic literature review on preventing loneliness and isolation. She will also map the needs of the elderly when it comes to activity and social support.
Co-creation
The Norwegian activity calendar Friskus is used by Arendal municipality, and the company will be working with Hovland and I2I on mapping how the elderly use it. This can lead to improvements in the way Friskus works.
“We want to get a group of superusers to co-create an even better calendar together with Friskus, but this is still something we are working towards”, Hovland says.
Hovland will be supervised by professor Elin Thygesen and associate professor Cecilie Karlsen, who are both participating in the I2I project. Kristin Haraldstad will also be part of the supervisor team.
(Main photo shows Henriette Hovland (front) with Elin Thygesen (left) and Cecilie Karlsen.)