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Maria Gussgard Volckmar-Eeg

Researcher

Maria G. Volckmar-Eeg works with projects related to integration and welfare. She has a particular interest in how welfare services meet and accommodate an increasingly diverse population.

Her research interests include welfare policy, ethnic and cultural diversity, street-level discretion, labor market integration, and professional social work. In her doctoral thesis, Volckmar-Eeg explored how frontline workers in the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration (NAV) operationalize the category of ‘immigrant clients’, with a particular focus on how they emphasize culture in this work, and the implications of such categorization for further case proceedings.

Volckmar-Eeg has broad experience with qualitative and quantitative research methods, and has worked in particular with institutional ethnography, literature reviews, fieldwork methods and qualitative in-depth interviews. Volckmar-Eeg publish academic articles in Norwegian and International scientific journals, write op-eds, gives lectures and presentations.

Education

Master in Sociology, University of Oslo (UiO)

PhD, Social Sciences, University of Stavanger (UiS)

Area of work


Current projects

Nordic Street-Level Integration Work
Fafo coordinates a Nordic network of researchers within the field of Street-Level Integration Work. A focus on what happens at the street-level, in the operationalization of policy to practice and in interaction with concrete individuals, provides important contributions to the how and why of integration work and outcomes of integration efforts in the Nordic countries. The network organizes a workshop-series designed to promote, develop, and support collaborative research on integration work in street-level organizations in the Nordic countries.
Welfare benefits - security under the law for persons with combined income

In this project, we will investigate how NAV ensures predictability and equal treatment for service users in more marginal areas of the legal framework. We will do this by using decisions on sickness benefit, nursing benefits and parental benefits for people who combine income as workers, freelancers and self-employed. The purpose is to shed light on the challenges that arise for supervisors and case officers in NAV in the process from the user's first contact with NAV until a final decision is made.

Evaluation of the new standardized elements in Norwegian introductory programs for refugees
Fafo will, from 2021-2024, evaluate the introduction of new standardized elements in the introductory program for refugees and immigrants.

Completed projects