Ben Toscher

PhD Candidate

Ben Toscher started as a PhD candidate at Engage in August 2017. His research focuses on entrepreneurship education in higher music education. He is currently in the process of planning and teaching a course in entrepreneurship as part of the Music, Communication, and Technology degree at the NTNU the Department of Music. Previously, Ben has experience as a climate and energy consultant assisting large institutions and regulatory agencies in the U.S., in addition to founding several firms as an entrepreneur while working as a performing artist. He holds a MSc in Business and Economics from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland, and a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Bjørg Riibe Ramskjell

Project Leader

Bjørg Riibe Ramskjell is assistant professor at Nord University Business School, and is working as a project leader in Engage. She works with projects related to e.g. active learning forms in entrepreneurship education, training in teamwork skills, and student engagement. Areas of teaching includes teamwork and training in practical teamwork skills, communication and facilitation. Bjørg has a master in applied linguistics, with focus on institutional communication and conflict mediation. Her previous experience includes working with interdisciplinary collaboration and teamwork in both an engineering company and with master students at NTNU in Trondheim. She has also worked with organizational development.

Cecilie Haukland

PhD Candidate

Cecilie Haukland started as a PhD candidate at Engage in september 2017. She has a MSc Business from Nord University, with specialization in entrepreneurship and innovation management. She was graduated a nurse in 2007, and have worked at Nordlandssykehuset within the psychiatric sector, for the past 8 years. Her research focus is on entrepreneurship education and mental health and the purpose is to examine how entrepreneurship education can be designed and delivered in ways that embrace diversity in the form of mental disorders, as well as inclusion in the classroom.

Dag Håkon Haneberg

PhD Candidate

Dag Håkon Haneberg is a former NTNU School of Entrepreneurship student who graduated in 2015. In February 2016, he started his doctoral work and was from the beginning involved in Engage. The focus of Dag Håkon’s PhD is on outcomes of venture creation programs beyond new ventures. Dag Håkon is also involved in other entrepreneurship initiatives at NTNU such as Spark, FRAM and DRIV. Dag Håkon holds a MSc. (Sivilingeniør) in Nanotechnology from 2011.

Elli Verhulst

Researcher & Supervisor

Elli Verhulst is associate professor in Experts in teamwork (EiT) at the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management (IØT), NTNU. Prior to this, Elli worked at the University of Cambridge, UK and University of Antwerp, Belgium. Her research interests include design thinking, innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainability, circular economy, systems thinking and interdisciplinary teamwork. Experience includes research, teaching in higher education and consultancy work. Elli is involved in different international projects. Her international work focuses particularly on the integration of sustainability in industry and higher education.

Eirik Medbø

Innovation Manager

Eirik Medbø graduated with a MSc from the NTNU School of Entrepreneurship in 2013. He co-founded the company AssiTech in 2012, developing a “walker for the stairs”, a new way to help elderly and people with reduced mobility to stay independent in their homes. He has also experience with mentoring of entrepreneurs from initiatives like Spark and Take-Off. Eirik works with both Engage and the NTNU Energy Transition Initiative to foster innovation in the interface between students, researchers and external industry or public partners.​

Even Larsen

Coordinator & Teacher

Even Larsen is a teacher by profession with a Master of Science in entrepreneurship from NTNU School of Entrepreneurship. Even has worked 4 years as an entrepreneur as the founder of the Norwegian start-up Morpho Solar, and co-foundeder of the American start-up One Earth Designs. Both these start-ups worked with solar energy and solar thermal storage. Even is today an assitant professor at NTNU School of Entrepreneurship, where he teaches idea generation, business development, feasibility studies and negotiation.

Gunn-Berit Sæter

PhD Candidate

Gunn-Berit Sæter is a registered nurse with a Master of Science in entrepreneurship. After graduating from NTNU School of Entrepreneurship in 2015, she worked as a project manager in the Norwegian Cancer Society for two years, creating a new volunteer home aid service for cancer patients and their families. She began working on her PhD in August 2017 and will be researching entrepreneurship education for nursing students. She is also interested in VCP alumni research. Her research is supervised by Lise Aaboen (NTNU) and Diamanto Politis (Lund University).

Hanne Stokvik

Associate Professor

Hanne Stokvik holds a Msc in Management from HHB from 2010 and started a PhD in innovation in 2010. She is a graduated physioterapist and has a background from art and film. Her reaserch intrests are innovation processes, knowledge management and strategic entreprenurship. Hanne is a part of the Engage team at Nord, working on the new “engage course” and responsible for the crisis and change management course, and a course in strategy.

Heikki Sjöman

PhD Candidate

The research of Heikki Sjöman focuses on prototyping and design thinking in product development, especially in data-driven products and systems. He is also one the contact points for CERN collaboration and a member of TrollLABS early stage product development laboratory.

Inger Wassmo

PhD Candidate

Karolina Lesniak is a PhD candidate at Engage since August 2017. In her research she focuses on entrepreneurship education in engineering studies, with strongest interest on how the type of university influences the education delivered to students and learning processes among engineering students. Karolina has two Master degrees: from interdisciplinary cultural studies, and entrepreneurship and innovation. She also worked with market research, and with startups in Trondheim region.

Iselin Kristine Mauseth

PhD Candidate

Iselin K. Mauseth has a MSc Business from Nord University with a specialization within entrepreneurship and innovation management. She started as a PhD candidate at Engage, Nord University in August 2017. Her research focus on Venture Creation Programs, more specifically how the program influence the venture creation process, both the team and business development process.

Karin Wigger

Researcher

Karin Wigger is a researcher at Nord University Business School. Karin is in particular interested in Strategic Entrepreneurship, Rural Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Sustainability -with a focus on the following industries; tourism, fish farming and maritime industry and in the context of the Circumpolar North. In her PhD dissertation, she studied resource mobilization for entrepreneurship in Nordic peripheries. As part of the Engage team, Karin is mainly working on the following projects; ‘development of entrepreneurial mindset’, ‘Engage Sustainability’ and developing new and existing courses at Nord University.​

Karolina Lesniak

PhD Candidate

Karolina Lesniak is a PhD candidate at Engage since August 2017. In her research she focuses on entrepreneurship education in engineering studies, with strongest interest on how the type of university influences the education delivered to students and learning processes among engineering students. Karolina has two Master degrees: from interdisciplinary cultural studies, and entrepreneurship and innovation. She also worked with market research, and with startups in Trondheim region.

Kristoffer Slåttsveen

PhD Candidate

PhD candidate with TrollLABS researching education/training of creative confidence/self-efficacy. He has background from product-development as a mechanical engineer, and teaches mechatronics to mechanical engineering students. How can we teach a creative, constructive and reflective mindset?

Lisbeth Bjerva

Project Manager

Innovation, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, internationalization process, business development and network.

Lise Aaboen

Associate Professor

Lise Aaboen is associate professor of technology-based entrepreneurship at NTNU. Her research interests include incubators, new technology-based firms, entrepreneurship education and early customer relationships. She has published in a range of journals, including Technovation, Industrial Marketing Management and Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.

Marianne Arntzen

Assistant professor

Marianne Arntzen holds a MSc in business from Nord University Business School from 2011, and started as a Phd in Entrepreneurship in 2012. Her research topic in the thesis is the financing process of new technology based firms. Her research interests include entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurial passion, entrepreneurial cognition and behavior. She has also been involved in projects on business incubators and their firms. Today, Marianne works as an assistant professor and is part of the Engage team at Nord. She is responsible for a new “Engage course” at the Business school called Innovation and Change processes.

Matthew Lynch

PhD Candidate

Matthew Lynch is a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on entrepreneurial mindset, and what separates those entrepreneurs who are successful from those who get stuck in the process of planning. He teaches at the University College of Østfold and has had several start-ups.

Oleksandra Bieliei

PhD Candidate

Oleksandra Bieliei is a PhD candidate at Engage, NTNU from November 2017. Her research focuses on Venture Creation Programs, more specifically exploring how do skills acquired through VCP shape the commercialisation process of student business ideas/ventures. Previously, she was working with technology based  health tech startup for 5 years. She holds master in Business Creation and Entrepreneurship from the Arctic University of Norway, UiT.

Torgeir Aadland

PhD Candidate

Torgeir Aadland is a former NTNU School of Entrepreneurship student who graduated in 2015. In the fall the same year, he started his doctoral work and was from the beginning involved in Engage. The focus of Torgeir’s PhD is on assessment of entrepreneurship educations. Torgeir is also a member of Engage’s management board, as a representative for the PhD students.

Sigrid Westad Brandshaug

PhD Candidate

Sigrid W. Brandshaug started as a PhD candidate at Engage, NTNU in December 2017. Her research focuses on entrepreneurship eduction, and how student teams handle challenges in action learning. After graduating from a master in teaching and counselling in 2011, she worked 7 years as a lecturer and facilitator in the interdisciplinary course Experts in Teamwork at NTNU.

Synne M. Sollie

Student

Solvi Solvoll

Associate Professor

Sølvi Solvoll is associate professor at Nord University Business School. Her main research interest is the new venture creation process, as well as entrepreneurs’ decision making, learning and ecosystem. Her PhD explored new venture creation in the tourism industry through the theoretical lenses of effectuation and causation. She has started two companies and worked as a consultant before taking her PhD. She has also worked several years at Nordland Research Institute. She currently works on projects to promote industry-student collaborations at Engage.

Einar Rasmussen

Researcher & Supervisor

Einar Rasmussen is Professor of Technology Management and Head of the Division of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Nord University Business School, Norway. He has been visiting scholar at University of Nottingham, University of Strathclyde, University of Twente and University of Bologna. His main research interests are entrepreneurial processes, academic entrepreneurship and university-industry technology transfer. He has managed several research and development projects funded by research councils, ministries and government agencies. He publish regularly in international journals such as Journal of Management Studies, Academcy of Management Perspectives, Journal of Business Research, Research Policy, International Small Business Journal, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Regional Studies, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Technology Transfer and Technovation.

Øystein Widding

Center Leader

Øystein Widding is a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management and Adjunct Professor at Nord University Business School. His research field is within commercialization of technology, more specific entrepreneurs as knowledge managers, topics related to business angels, venture capital, growth and spin outs from universities. Professor Widding has a Dr.oecon and Cand.merc from Nord University, and a Cand.mag degree from Lillehammer University College. Widding is one of the founders and coordinator of the NTNU School of Entrepreneurship, and has several years of experience in leading positions, both as a military officer (Lt.) and CEO in private sector. He has founded several companies, has experience as a Business Angel, and has a broad experience from executive boards.

Roger Sørheim

Research Director

Roger Sørheim is Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, and Adjunct Professor at Nord University Business School. His main research interests include entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurship education. Roger is one of the founders of the NTNU School of Entrepreneurship.

Frode Halvorsen

Center Coordinator

Frode Halvorsen is the centre coordinator for Engage, and is mostly involved in the operational side of the centre, including project management for several projects and contact with external partners. He has a background as an entrepreneur from the creative industry sector, and has worked with the innovation and entrepreneurship community in mid-Norway for several years. His academic background is as a natural science teacher and a master of management degree in strategy and business development.

Ela Sjølie

Leader WP1

Ela Sjølie is associate professor in Experts in teamwork (EiT) in the Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management (IØT). Her research interests include student learning in higher education, organisational learning and practice theory. Experience includes research and project management, teaching in school and higher education, and software development. Ela is involved in several international projects and networks. Her international work focuses particularly on practice theory and action research.

Martin Steinert

Leader WP2

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Erlend Dehlin

Associate Professor

Erlend Dehlin is Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology/School of entrepreneurship. Erlend earned his PhD from studying the significance of improvisation in organizing, and has publications within organisation and management theory, educational leadership, knowledge management, innovation and project management. In both his consultancy and research practice Erlend works from the grounds of practice theory, and his current research is concerned with the role of co-determination, autonomy and organizational aesthetics with a particular interest in entrepreneurship and venture creation programs.

Gry Alsos

Leader WP4

Gry Alsos is professor of innovation and entrepreneurship at Nord University Business School. Her research interests include entrepreneurial behavior and new venture start-up processes, entrepreneurship policy, as well as family and gender perspectives to entrepreneurship. She teaches entrepreneurship and supervises at master and PhD levels. Gry is member of the management team of Engage, and coordinates Engage-related activities at Nord University.

Kari Djupdal

Leader WP5

Kari Djupdal, PhD, is an analyst, researcher and a member of the management team of Engage. She has broad experience with quantitative research methods and received her PhD from Nord University in 2013. Her research interest include sustainable entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, entrepreneurial mindset and small firm performance.