The conference is free and open to everyone — students, staff, PhD candidates and researchers across all faculties and academic communities.
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What does it mean for OsloMet to take responsibility in the face of the crises of unsustainability shaping our time?
Across OsloMet, researchers, educators, students and professional communities are already responding in many different ways. OsloMet Green Transitions Day 2026 brings these responses together, with around 40 contributions from across the university, participation from students and university leadership, and perspectives from connected research environments and the wider higher-education sector.
The day moves from different understandings of green transition to concrete work in research and innovation, education, societal engagement and research capacity. It then widens the conversation to the higher education sector and asks what universities — and OsloMet itself — can and should do.
Programme
08:30–09:00 Registration and mingling
09:00–09:15 — Welcome
Stefan Erbs (Green Energy Lab, OsloMet) and Christen Krogh set out the day’s question and the importance of connecting OsloMet's different fields, missions and communities in responding to green transition challenges.
9:15-09:55 — Opening Dialogue: What are we responding to when we speak about green transition?
The day opens with Manjana Milkoreit (Oslo Business School, OsloMet), Gavin McCrory (NIBR, OsloMet) and Cecilie Sachs Olsen (Department of Art, Design and Drama, OsloMet).
Their different perspectives ask how our understanding of green transition shapes the problems we see, the priorities we set and the responses we consider possible. The conversation establishes questions that will travel through the rest of the day.
09:55–10:00 — Reset and refill
Refill your coffee and prepare for the first session.
10:00–10:55 — Research, Transition Practices & Innovation: What responses are already taking shape across OsloMet?
Chaired by Cecilie Sachs Olsen, (Department of Art, Design and Drama, OsloMet), this session moves from the university as an organisation to concrete examples of research, innovation and action.
Siri Brorstad Borlaug (Oslo Business School, OsloMet) considers the university’s capacity to respond; Sarra Drissi (Built Environment, OsloMet) makes the emissions challenge of concrete tangible through a live demonstration; and Mahdi Kioumarsi (Built Environment, OsloMet) follows with Net-Zero Future and international research and education partnerships for lower-carbon construction.
Marikken Sundnes (Life Sciences and Health, OsloMet) explores how AI may make pharmaceutical development greener, while Yasha Parvini (Green Energy Lab, OsloMet) presents interdisciplinary platform-building.
The session then turns to Notto Thelle (Makerspace, OsloMet) and Tools4Ocean, Parisa Gazerani (Life Sciences and Health, OsloMet) and a One Health perspective, and Yosef Sium Ihdego (Student Parliament, OsloMet) and student-led sustainability infrastructure.
Taken together, the contributions show how OsloMet is responding at several levels: by changing how the university works, developing lower-carbon technologies, building interdisciplinary research platforms, connecting environmental change to health, and supporting student-led action.
10:55–11:10 — Break
Coffee, conversation and exhibition.
11:10–12:10 — Education, Professional Formation & Citizenship: How do we equip people to understand, participate in and shape transitions?
Chaired by Håkon Endresen Normann (nifu.no), this session asks how education and professional formation can help make green transitions possible.
Annelie Ott, Annika Wetlesen and Kari Anne Jørgensen-Vittersø (Faculty of Education and International Studies, OsloMet) open with the transformative role of education.
Hanne Cecilie Geirbo (Department of Information Technology, OsloMet) addresses transdisciplinary researcher formation; Ali Muhtaroglu (Department of Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering, OsloMet) presents the Energy-Aware Learning Lab and future Green Robotics; and Jo Cramer (Department of Art, Design and Drama, OsloMet) shows how fashion-design education can be redeveloped for sustainability transitions.
Marianne Auke presents a student project using the Oslofjord to connect science teaching with environmental challenges, life skills and pupils’ future educational and career choices.
Mari Sandbakken (Department of Early Childhood Education, OsloMet) shares lessons from collective professional development in the Pioner Kindergartens, and Synnøve Smebye Botnen (Department of Early Childhood Education, OsloMet), together with Unni Vik (Department of Early Childhood Education, OsloMet) and the project group, presents a developing project on nature connection and inclusive outdoor play.
Together, the contributions ask how changes in curricula, teaching and professional practice can help people critically assess existing ways of working and develop more sustainable alternatives.
12:10–13:10 — Lunch + Exhibition: Green transition beyond the stage
Lunch and mingling, with time to explore TRANSITS, an exhibition curated for the conference, featuring video, sculpture and other art works as well as research posters and systemic design exploring environmental change, consumer trust and participation in sustainability transitions.
Contributors include Neil Gordon Davey and Rosalie Gwen Portman Mathie (NMBU), Anna Schytte Sigaard (SIFO, OsloMet), Aleksandra Stasiak (Department of Product Design, OsloMet), Shanice Marie Otersen (Department of Product Design, OsloMet), Hildegunn Solbø (Department of Art, Design and Drama), Kristin Bergaust (Department of Art, Design and Drama, OsloMet), Sofia Rafaella Greaves, (Department of Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical engineering, OsloMet) and Anneke von der Fehr (Department of Early Childhood Education, OsloMet)
Curated by Kristin Bergaust and organised in collaboration with Visningsarena OsloMet, the exhibition will remain on display in Studenthallen for one week after the conference.
The exhibition will be officially opened and presented at 12:40.
13:10–14:00 — Societal Engagement and Transformation: How does change happen in society?
Chaired by Andreas Ytterstad (Department of Journalism and Media Studies, OsloMet), this session explores how societies understand, organise and negotiate change.
Mimesis Heidi Dahlsveen (Department of Art, Design and Drama, OsloMet) brings oral storytelling about food, from folk belief to future visions.
Fenella Carpena (Oslo Business School, OsloMet) examines catalytic divestment and global emissions.
Kristin Reichborn-Kjennerud (AFI, OsloMet) considers alternative utopias and pathways to sustainability; Chris Andre Rønningstad (Oslo Business School, OsloMet) explores regenerative organisational and leadership practices in Norwegian municipalities; Fabian Nøst Harang (SURE-AI and BI) connects AI research with sustainability, infrastructure and resource use; and Marco Tagliabue (Department of Behavioural Sciences, OsloMet) looks at how everyday choices can help reduce restaurant food waste.
Together, the contributions move from stories and imaginaries to finance, organisations, research ecosystems and behaviour.
14:00–14:05 — Reset and refill
Refill your coffee and stretch your legs.
14:05–15:10 — Building Research Capacity for Green Transition: How can OsloMet strengthen its capacity to contribute?
This session presents projects supported through OsloMet’s Strategic Research Area for Green Transition.
Tanja Storsul (Pro-Rector for Research and Development, OsloMet) provides the strategic framing, while Arvind Keprate (Strategic Research Area for Green Transition, OsloMet) and Gro Sandkjær Hanssen (NIBR, OsloMet) lead the session.
Throughout, short project pitches alternate with questions and discussion, drawing out connections within and across three thematic clusters.
A first cluster explores industrial transformation and offshore energy systems, with contributions from Emrah Erduran (Built Environment, OsloMet), Behrouz Arash (Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering, OsloMet) and Chuangxin Lyu (Built Environment, OsloMet).
A second turns to environmental forensics, resources and bio-economies, with Fabrizio Palumbo (Department of Journalism and Media Studies, OsloMet), Astrid Maria Heimer (Product Design, OsloMet), Marthe Indset (NIBR, OsloMet) and Tiina Komulainen (Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering, OsloMet).
A third brings societal governance, digital work and generational equity into focus, with Tine Ustad Figenschou (Department of Journalism and Media Studies, OsloMet), Therese Dokken (NOVA, OsloMet), Celine Maria Møyen Motzfeldt Loades (NIBR, OsloMet) and Vidar Bakkeli (AFI, OsloMet).
The closing discussion asks what the projects can learn from one another, where collaboration could strengthen their work, and how these initiatives can help build lasting research capacity at OsloMet.
15:10–15:30 — Break
Coffee, conversation and exhibition.
15:30–15:45 — Higher Education Sector Perspective: How are universities responding to green transition?
Linn Dybdahl (nmbu.no, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) brings the wider higher-education perspective. Her contribution, From Good Initiatives to Greater Momentum, considers how universities and university colleges are learning from existing initiatives, organising their responses and building momentum for institutional change.
15:45–16:15 — Institutional Panel: What can and should universities — and OsloMet specifically — do?
Moderated by Carl Christian Thodesen (OsloMet), the final panel brings together Helge Jordheim (Centre for Global Sustainability, University of Oslo), Arvind Keprate (Strategic Research Area for Green Transition, OsloMet), Yosef Sium Ihdego (Student Parliament, OsloMet) and Linn Dybdahl (Norwegian University of Life Sciences).
Drawing on the day’s examples and the wider sector perspective, the panel asks what universities can learn from one another, where institutional barriers remain, and what students and other university communities need from their institutions. How can universities enable meaningful participation in shaping green transitions, and turn promising initiatives into lasting institutional capacity?
16:15–16:30 — Closing Reflections: What have we learned — and what happens next?
The day closes with Arvind Keprate (Strategic Research Area for Green Transition, OsloMet) and Gro Sandkjær Hanssen (NIBR, OsloMet), drawing together questions, connections and priorities for continued work across OsloMet.
Practical information
Participation is free, but registration is required. Please register using the registration button at the top of the page.
The working language for the day will be English.
The conference is organised by Green Energy Lab and OsloMet’s Strategic Research Area for Green Transition.
Contact: For questions about the event, please contact Stefan Erbs or Arvind Keprate.
