About
Erika Gubrium has a PhD in sociology and history of education from the University of Florida (2006), a masters in International Social Welfare and Health Policy (MIS) from OsloMet (2009) and is Professor of social work and social policy at the Department of Social Work, Child Welfare and Social Policy (SCSP). She teaches qualitative methods at MIS and Social Work in a Global Perspective at the bachelors level. Gubrium leads education-research collaboration projects with National Law School University, Bangalore and Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Her research expertise lies within the fields of international and comparative anti-poverty policy, with a focus on the social psychological aspects of poverty; temporality, space, policy and belonging processes experienced by immigrants; the intersection between social work and social policy in theory and practice. In addition, she focuses on welfare state reciprocity and sustainability; green transformations and social care systems; and sensory-based /embodied methods of qualitative research methodology.
For the time being, Gubrium is serving as work package leader in the ERC-project, Welfare Experiences, that studies experiences with receiving welfare benefits and services in Estonia, Hungary, Norway, Spain, and the UK. The project is led by Prof. Ben Baumberg Geiger at King's College, London. https://welfare-experiences.org.
Field of study
Globalization Migration Welfare state Qualitative methods Politics of Oil-resourses Comparative social policy Embodiment Social care
Research groups
Research projects
Ongoing research projects
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Sustainable wellbeing through investment in social services (SWINS)
The project aims to bridge knowledge gaps on how investments in social services influence macroeconomic stability and the EU’s sustainability transition.
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WelfareExperiences
The Welfare Experiences project is comparing the experience of receiving benefits in five different countries: Estonia, Hungary, Norway, Spain and the UK.
Completed research projects
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Critical perspectives on work integration of immigrants
The project focuses on how work inclusion may improve the social inclusion of migrants within comparative urban settings.
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Immigrant lives in Norway over time and place (SITUATE)
SITUATE aims to understand how immigrants draw on and actively refer to their integration experiences as they situationally understand time, place/space and changing identity with reference to their personal integration trajectories.
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Replay or renew? Learning from 20+ years of Norwegian-Russian collaboration on health and social welfare in the Barents region (RE:BARENTS)
RE:BARENTS will examine the impact of Norwegian–Russian collaboration on health and social welfare in the Barents region since 2000.
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Work Inclusion in North and South: Comparative Urban Contexts (WINS)
The WINS project focuses on how work inclusion may improve the social inclusion of migrants within comparative urban settings.
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Nieto, Alejandro Miranda
;
Gubrium, Erika
(2025).
Somatic agency and the sensory construction of familiarity among Ecuadorian migrants in the Netherlands.
Ethnic and Racial Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2025.2562656
Borgen-Eide, Gøril
;
Gubrium, Erika
(2025).
Climate change in Norway: Destabilized social imaginaries of welfare, growth, and nature in a rich oil state.
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space.
https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486251329824
Gubrium, Erika
; Colomer, Laia
(2025).
Belonging on the Move: A Multi-Method Exploration of Embodied Affect, Place Attachment, and Transnational Mobility in Migrant Lives in Norway.
Nordic Journal of Migration Research.
Vol. 15.
https://doi.org/10.33134/njmr.939
Gubrium, Erika
; Khakurel, Uddhav; Nalwamba, Lukundo
(2025).
Immigrant belonging: Meaning-making in three interview modalities.
ISBN: 9781032583006.
Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781032639208
Gubrium, Erika
;
Aasland, Aadne
;
Lindskog, Benedikte V
;
Arteaga, Erika Gabriela Lopez
; Mikheev, Igor
(2024).
“It Seemed Like Forever!” Shrinking Spaces of Conviviality at the Border of Norway and Russia.
Journal of Borderlands Studies.
https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2024.2307608
Gubrium, Erika
(2024).
Shifting the gaze on welfare-state sustainability in Norway: a proposal for a relational global view.
Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy.
Vol. 20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2024.2412355
Gubrium, Erika
(2024).
Anti-Poverty Interventions across "Most Different" Settings: Considering Change over Time in Comparisons of Emotional Impact.
Biswas, Sattwick Dey; Sambo, Cleopas Gabriel; Pellissery, Sony (Ed.).
The Politics of Welfare in the Global South.
Oxford University Press.
https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197698716.003.0005
Minas, Renate; Pötzsch, Tobias; Blomberg-Kroll, Helena;
Gubrium, Erika
;
Rugkåsa, Marianne
;
Skotte, Pernille Stornæss
(2024).
Virtual exchange in a Nordic context New pedagogical strategies for improving digital interaction between Nordic Social Work students.
ISBN: 9781032655536.
Routledge.
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3368950
Hansen, Helle Cathrine
;
Gubrium, Erika
(2023).
Norwegian labour activation: Building or limiting social citizenship for service users far from the labour market?.
Takle, Marianne; Vedeler, Janikke Solstad; Schoyen, Mi Ah; Bøhler, Kjetil Klette; Falch-Eriksen, Asgeir (Ed.).
Citizenship and Social Exclusion at the Margins of the Welfare State. p. 134-147.
Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003347279-12
Hansen, Helle Cathrine
;
Gubrium, Erika
(2022).
Moving forward, waiting or standing still? Service users’ experiences from a Norwegian labour activation programme.
European Journal of Social Work.
https://doi.org/10.1080/13691457.2022.2077316
