Synnøve Jahnsen is a senior researcher at Fafo and has a PhD in sociology from the University of Bergen. Her research lies at the intersection of working life, migration and welfare, with a particular emphasis on how complex societal problems are defined, regulated and handled in politics, administration and services.

Jahnsen has published research on, among other things, prostitution policy, human trafficking, labour exploitation, work-related crime, organised crime, violence and neglect. She is particularly interested in the relationship between regulation, control and rights, and how new understandings of problems are developed and have consequences for prevention, enforcement and access to help. Her work combines qualitative studies, institutional analysis and policy research, and often focuses on issues of high relevance to authorities and fields of practice.

Jahnsen is leading the follow-up evaluation of the National Strategy against Human Trafficking 2025–2030, which Fafo is carrying out on behalf of the Ministry of Justice and Public Security together with VID Specialized University and Socio-Economic Analysis. The evaluation runs throughout the strategy period and examines how the eighteen measures are implemented, who they reach, and what the cross-sector coordination yields in terms of results for identification, assistance and prosecution. The grey area against serious work-related crime, exploitation of children and young people and digital recruitment patterns is central.

She also leads the Research Council-funded project Provision of Labour Rights to Migrant Workers (PROMI), funded through FRIPRO Young Research Talents, which examines how the rights of labour migrants are safeguarded in the face of increased efforts to combat social dumping, labour exploitation, human trafficking and work-related crime.

In addition, she is the project manager for a larger Bufdir-funded research portfolio on violence, violations, hatred and discrimination, including work that develops a knowledge base for more equal and effective services, and synthesis work on violence prevention and service development aimed at authorities and fields of practice. She has led the project on violence against older people with an immigrant background and is the sub-project manager for the qualitative sub-study on bisexuals in Living conditions among the diversity of queer people in Norway (2025–2027), a Bufdir-funded project led by Nordland Research Institute.