The Institute for Social Research (ISF) was established in 1950 as an independent foundation in Oslo, Norway. Multidisciplinary in its orientation, it comprises research within all the social sciences and history. ISF provides a rare social science forum outside the universities in Norway, which studies more than one specific sector of society, and its’ history and position bears witness to its aim of avoiding sharp distinctions between basic and applied research. The interplay between basic and applied research is reflected in the position of ISF as a contract research institute with high academic ambitions and in its’ close contact with the University of Oslo and the Research Council of Norway, as well as with ministries and private sector agencies.

The main objectives of the ISF are to study social and political change; to develop skills and methods for analysing social conditions as well as to inform and create understanding of social structures and change. Research at ISF addresses mainly employment and working conditions; gender and society; political institutions, voting and public opinion; international migration, integration and ethnic relations; and civil society in transition.

ISF has about 40 researchers and 100 active projects at any given time, moreover ISF researchers take part in international networks and project. The institute also promotes the recruitment and training of young researchers.  

Contact Details 

Address:

Institute for Social Research (ISF)

P.O. Box 3233

Munthesgt. 31

N-0208 Oslo

NORWAY

Tel.:

+ 47 23 08 61 00

Fax.:

+ 47 23 08 61 01

E-mail:

khs@socialresearch.no

Web-page:

http://www.samfunnsforskning.no/

About Karl Kenrik Sivesind,  National Co-ordinator, Norway

from the Institute for Social Research 

Karl Henrik Sivesind, Dr., holds doctoral and master degrees in Sociology from the University of Oslo (Norway) and has studied industrial sociology and comparative methods at the University of Göttingen (Germany). Currently Senior Researcher at the Institute for Social Research in Oslo, he has been Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Oslo (Norway). In recent years, his research has focused on civil society and he is presently working on a project on the modernization of voluntary children-and youth organizations and consequences for social participation.

He has been member of the Norwegian research group of the Johns Hopkins Comparative Non-Profit Sector Project. He has been involved in comparative studies of work and management and in a network organized at MIT studying changes in employment relations. Karl Henrik Sivesind has written about comparative methods and he has co-authored a report on the voluntary sector in Norway, contributed to publications about civil society and the voluntary sector, youth organizations, and labour market and employment issues.  

About Bernard Enjolras

Bernard Enjolras holds a Ph. D in Economics from the University of Paris I, Sorbonne (France). He is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Social Research (ISF) and a part-time Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Sport in Oslo (Norway) as well as associate researcher at MATISSE, University of Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne and at CNRS in Paris (France).

The main areas of research of Bernard Enjolras are the economic analysis of social policies and social services, the role of voluntary organizations in welfare provision and other services industries. In addition to editing publications, he has also published books and articles about welfare, economy of solidarity economy, plural economy and socio-economic regulation, commercialization of voluntary organisations.