- Established:
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2017
- Academic discipline:
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Health, sports and welfare
The research group Co-Creation in Research and Service Development. (Photo: Marte Veimo/INN)
Co-creation is about collaboration between the public, non-profit and private sectors, and between volunteers, relatives and users of services. It can also refer to co-creation in research, where representatives of the group being studied are included as co-researchers.
In today’s welfare sector, such forms of collaboration are increasingly emphasised in order to achieve better, more tailored and more effective solutions.
From a co-creation perspective, the competence of service users is ideally valued just as highly as that of the services, and users should have real influence over the services they receive.
The research group Co-creation in research and service development has been active since October 2017 and is organised under the Department of Social Sciences and Guidance. The participants come from various academic environments at the Faculty of Social and Health Sciences. In addition, researchers from the Inland School of Business and Social Sciences are involved. One of the members comes from Sagatun Recovery and represents user experience in the group.
The research group meets regularly, and the members are active in publishing, applying for research funding and disseminating knowledge.
What we research
We conduct research on various topics within co-creation in research and service development, such as equal and shared knowledge, power, user involvement, democratic participation, ethics and innovation.
Our empirical fields include, among others, mental health, physiotherapy, substance use, disability, work inclusion, welfare services and social work – mainly seen from the perspectives of relatives, parents and service users.
More about the research group
Projects in the research group:
The group organises an annual training programme in co-research, aimed at both experienced researchers and co-researchers with user experience. Participants have included representatives from, for example, Sykehuset Innlandet HF, NAV, Fontenehuset and Sagatun Recovery, as well as researchers employed at INN.
Master’s students and PhD candidates have also taken part and are welcome to attend together with their co-researchers.
The training programme has been thoroughly evaluated, and the results of the evaluation have led to a research article published in the Nordic Journal of Quality of Life and Sustainable Welfare Development (Pettersen et al., 2024).
In autumn 2025, the research group published the anthology “Alle skal med? Samskaping som svar på velferdsstatens utfordringer” (“Everyone on board? Co-creation as a response to the challenges of the welfare state”), to which most members of the group contributed chapters.
Ongoing projects:
In addition, the research group has been (or is currently) engaged in the following projects:
- "Making user participation work," funded by the Norwegian Research Council's program for health and care services (completed in 2019).
- "Rethinking work for people with IDD – employment inclusion of individuals with developmental disabilities" (2018-2020), funded by the Norwegian Research Council.
- Erasmus+ project "Peer and Team Support in Mental Health" (capacity building for peer support workers in mental health services). INN is a project partner, financed by EU funds for the period 2022-2025. MentalNET | TuTo3 - PAT
- User experiences with the digitization of services in NAV. Evaluation project funded by NAV and INN (2019-2021).
- Evaluation of the user panel in Bydel Gamle Oslo. Evaluation project funded by the Oslo municipality (2021).
- "How can participation in evaluation and research projects promote inclusion and citizenship in a marginalized group?" (Ann-Mari Lofthus' postdoc project 2021-2024).
- "Evaluation of self-empowerment courses." A collaboration between Sagatun Recovery and INN. Self-funded for the period 2021-2024.
- "Experiences with Recovery College." A research collaboration between Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm) and INN. Self-funded by the participating actors for the period 2022-2024.
Additionally, Ole Petter Askheim and Jan Andersen were featured in a "book talk" at the library, Campus Lillehammer, on March 22, 2023, during the launch of the book "Brukermedvirkningens mange ansikter" ("The Many Faces of User Involvement"). Ole Petter Askheim (and others) launched the book "Grønt sosialt arbeid" ("Green Social Work") at Litteraturhuset in Oslo on November 6, 2023.
Sigrid Myklebø and co-editors were featured in a "book talk" at the library, Campus Lillehammer, on November 10, 2023, during the launch of the book "Innovasjon. En innføring" ("Innovation. An Introduction").
Line Jenhaug, Ole Petter Askheim, and Sigrid Myklebø led a breakfast seminar at Lillehammer Library in connection with the promotion of the book "Co-creation of Welfare Services", a scientific anthology. Lillehammer, September 20, 2024. Can co-creation solve the welfare crisis? - Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.
Networks
Members of the group have affiliations with the following research networks:
Contact the research group
