Grete Wennes, Research Scientist at SINTEF Technology and Society

She has studied the notes of journalist Eva Bratholm, typed out the discussions of soloists in the Norwegian Opera Company, and observed countless rehearsals of the Oslo Philharmonic. All in the name of research. But Grete Wennes is really an economist, something that she usually doesn’t like to admit.

At the moment, culture in Norwegian rural districts is the topic that engages this SINTEF researcher. Not because she grew up among corn and cows in the

County of Nord-Trøndelag, but because she is convinced that rural Norway has more to offer than fish and milk quotas, believing that at the interface between commerce and culture there exist niches that could be a way of earning a living in the future. In fact, the three local councils of Fjell, Sunde and Øygarden have asked SINTEF for research help, with the aim of mapping the competence and the potential for developing these coastal pearls just outside Bergen.

 

“SINTEF has a wide range of interdisciplinary expertise. For example, we have the knowledge needed to build a sound studio, a film workshop or a competence café. But first of all, we need to collaborate to identify the strong points of these local communities today.”

She finds it something of a responsibility that it is the taxpayers in these island communities who are paying for her ideas. What they need are good ideas and a solid research effort.

“A colleague has said that my strong points are creativity and thoroughness, and that is true enough. For me, research is a way of life – I cannot put my work to one side. It often happens that I get an idea in the middle of the night, and have to get up in order to make a note of it,” says Grete.

It was an interest in culture that brought her into research. As a student, she looked out for a place of study that could cover her varied background, which ranged from organisation to psychology, mathematics and music. She ended up at the Norwegian School of Management and Business Administration in Bergen, where she took an M.Sc. on the establishment of TV2, Norway’s second TV channel.

“That was what really hooked me on research,” says Grete, who went straight ahead and signed up for a doctorate on “The management of art institutions”, for which she studied the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Norwegian Opera Company. This original choice of topic helped her to find a job at SINTEF five years ago. But this restless lady prefers to ride several horses at a time: she loves to be on the stage, to give lectures and to teach. That side of her personality finds expression via her other job as a senior lecturer at Trondheim College of Economics.

“With two regular jobs, I am as close to being a freelance academic as it is possible to be, and that suits me very well. The worst thing I can think of is predictability.”