Hege Stein Helland & Marit Skivenes are featured in Juristen, making the case for a searchable database of child welfare tribunal decisions. Read more here🔗: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/06/23/h...
Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism
@discretionuib.bsky.social
Research centre at the University of Bergen. We study government’s use of power towards its citizens, and justifications thereof. Focus on children's rights and child protection.
Last call!🎓 The application deadline for the PhD position at DIPA is June 30th. The position is part of the PROTECT project and will focus on Nordic population attitudes toward youth crime and delinquency. Apply here: www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...
Who should speak for the child in court? A new study by Frøydis L. Haarberg explores perceptions of child participation in legal proceedings, including 5,000+ respondents across the Nordic countries. 🔗 discretion.w.uib.no/2026/06/11/n... Photo by Lars Kastilan on Colourbox.
Bør Norge forby sosiale medier for barn under 16?🤳Regjeringen har lagt frem lovforslag, og Professor Marit Skivenes veier argumentene for beskyttelse mot algoritmisk design opp mot barns rettigheter og selvbestemmelse. Les mer her: blogg.forskning.no/blogg-stat-o... Illustrasjonsfoto: Colourbox
Researcher Hege Stein Helland recently visited Royal Holloway, University of London for a research stay, participating in two interdisciplinary conferences on home and wellbeing and family law reform. Read more on our website. 🔗 discretion.w.uib.no/2026/06/03/h...
Norway is proposing to ban social media for under-16s, joining Australia and others in a growing global trend. Professor Skivenes supports the ban as a first step, but stresses it cannot stand alone. Read more here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/29/n...
Marit Skivenes presented at the launch of Child-Centred Music Therapy on 22 May, offering perspectives on child rights. The book by Viggo Krüger and Kathleen Murphy uses the UNCRC as a framework for music therapy with children and adolescents. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/26/m...
New research in BMJ shows adopted children from high-risk families fared better in adulthood than their siblings. DIPA researcher Hege Stein Helland comments on what the findings mean for child welfare. More information here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/20/h... Photo by Melanie Burford, UiB.
A book review of the edited volume on child protection and the European Court of Human Rights has just been published in Child Abuse Review. It is described as an essential reading for those advancing children's rights. 👏 Read the full announcement here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/08/b...
DIPA director Prof. Marit Skivenes recently gave a keynote at VIA University College in Aarhus, Denmark.😊 Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/05/05/k...
What does autonomy really mean for young people on social media, and does Norway's proposed ban protect it or violate it?📱 In a new blog post, Professor Marit Skivenes argues that the answer depends on how you define autonomy. Read the full blog post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/04/30/t...
What shapes public support for children’s participation? A new study by Marit Skivenes and Katrin Križ explores how people across the Nordic countries justify children’s right to be heard. Read more here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/04/29/c...
We are hiring!🎉 Two PhD positions in political science at the Department of Government, UiB. 1. A 3-year position at DIPA, as part of the PROTECT project 2. An open 4-year position at the Department of Government. For more information, see here: discretion.w.uib.no/.../two-phd-... 😊
DIPA researchers recently participated in the European Conference for Social Work Research (ECSWR) in Aberdeen, Scotland. Marit Skivenes, Hege Stein Helland and Mathea Loen presented three papers from the ongoing CPS-World project. Read the full news post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/04/24/d...
Isabel Fidalgo (PhD candidate) will be visiting DIPA from 23–30 April. She is presenting "What matters to me: a focused ethnography of children's agency in adoption preparation" in our Law, Politics and Welfare group on 23 April at 14:15! Location: Styrerommet, Christies Gate 17 All are welcome!
What shapes adolescents’ trust in the child welfare system? In a new article, Hege Stein Helland examines how institutional contact and perceived performance influence young people’s trust in child welfare services. You can read about it here: discretion.w.uib.no/.../adolesce...
How should children’s rights be protected when age itself is uncertain? In this blog post, Ingi Iusmen examines age assessment practices in the UK asylum system and how unreliable methods can lead to unaccompanied children being wrongly classified as adults: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/02/23/w...
Join us at Christies gate 17 (2nd floor, Styrerommet/room 17.103) for #RDVSeminar this Thursday, 22 January (14:15-15:00 CET), as Professor Stefanie Schurer from the University of Sydney will present on “Youth who go missing from care: characteristics and risk profiles”.
Join us at Christies gate 17 (2nd floor, Styrerommet/room 17.103) for #RDVSeminar this Thursday, 22 January (14:15-15:00 CET), as Professor Stefanie Schurer from the University of Sydney will present on “Youth who go missing from care: characteristics and risk profiles”.
We are excited to announce the publication of our latest blog post, "When religion and a child’s stability in foster care clash: people choose stability," written by Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social). Read the full blog post here: discretion.w.uib.no/2026/01/12/w...
Professor Marit Skivenes (@mskivenes.bsky.social) has recently been invited to speak and participate in a research seminar titled "Children, Youth and Crime in the Welfare State" in Copenhagen, Denmark, organised by VIVE. Read more on our website: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/11/25/p...
Last month, DIPA hosted a book launch for Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights: Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights. More details on the book launch event: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/10/22/b... #ChildProtection #ECtHR #Norway
We are pleased to announce that Professor Skivenes, Berrick, and Predoctoral Fellow Pratama have recently participated in the European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents 2025 Conference in Zagreb. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/10/17/d...
We are glad to inform you that DIPA Researcher Hege Helland and Post-Doc Mathea Loen have recently participated in the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) General Conference 2025 at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/10/07/d...
[UPCOMING EVENT] Join us for the launch of "Child Protection and the European Court of Human Rights: Lessons from Norway in the Development and Contestation of Children’s Rights" and a conversation with the editors Hege Stein Helland, Marit Skivenes & Siri Gloppen
NEW ARTICLE: "What about their future? An analysis of child protection systems’ focus on the future of new-born children in care order decisions"
We are pleased to announce that researchers from DIPA, Prof. Skivenes, Prof. Berrick, Dr. Helland, & Dr. Loen, have recently participated in the 2025 International Political Science Association (@ipsa.org) World Congress of Political Science, in Seoul. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/08/01/d...
We are glad to share a new publication by our new Postdoctoral Fellow, Mathea Loen (@mathealo.bsky.social), in the journal "Governance". The study analyses European citizens’ attitudes toward public welfare institutions in terms of their compliance. Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/07/02/n...
Excited to share a new publication by Prof. Berrick, Prof. Gloppen, Dr. Margarido and Prof. Skivenes in the International Journal of Children’s Rights! The study analyses children’s constitutional visibility using constitutional texts (193 countries). Read more: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/06/25/a...
We are delighted to announce that our PhD Candidate, Mathea Loen (@mathealo.bsky.social), has successfully defended her dissertation, “Protecting Children, Preserving Trust,” and has therefore acquired a PhD from the University of Bergen! More on her defence: discretion.w.uib.no/2025/06/25/p...
