Public defence: Lise Ellingsen Langemyhr

Lise Ellingsen Langemyhr will defend her PhD degree in Person, Health and Society. The thesis explores the premises for citizenship for people with intellectual disabilities who have been granted a place at a day centre.

14 Sep

Practical information

  • Date: 14 September 2026
  • Time: 10.00 - 15.30
  • Location: Porsgrunn, Auditorium A-271 and Zoom
  • Download calendar file
  • Organizer: Faculty of Health and Social Sciences

    • Link to digital participation ( (Zoom)

    Meeting ID: 640 2243 6995
    Password: 169697


    Program 

    Kl 10.00. Trial lecture: (Topic will be published later)

    Kl 12.00. Public defence: «A place to belong. – Citizenship through participation in a working community at a day centre for people with learning disabilities.»

    Assessment committee

    • First opponent: Research Professor Kjetil Frøyland, Oslo Metropolitan University
    • Second opponent: Senior Lecturer Inge Storgaard Bonfils, University College Copenhagen
    • Administrator: Associate Professor Truls Juritzen, University of South-Eastern Norway 

    Supervisors

    • Principal supervisor:  Associate Professor Heidi Haukelien, University of South-Eastern Norway 

    Co-supervisors:

    • Head of Department Hans A. Hauge, University of South-Eastern Norway 
    • Professor Line Melbøe, UiT The Arctic Universitye of Norway

    Chair of defence 

Any questions?

Lise Ellingsen Langemyhr is defending her thesis for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences in the program Person, Health and Society.

  • Read the thesis here (link will be published later)

You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.

Summary

The dissertation contributes new knowledge about how participation in a work community at a day centre can both enable and limit citizenship for persons with intellectual disabilities.

The data material consists of logs and notes from participatory observation, as well as interviews with managers, employees, and workers with intellectual disabilities. The study was conducted at a large municipally run day centre.

Today, most persons with intellectual disabilities stand outside the regulPortrettbilde av Lise Ellingsen Langemyhrar labour market, but many have been granted a place at a day centre. However, day centres are often regarded primarily as social measures, and they are separated from the wider society.

Citizenship is about feeling like an equal and active member of society. It involves rights and responsibilities that apply to all citizens, but the concept itself can appear vague.

What citizenship looks like, how it is enacted in practice, and who is considered an equal citizen, is more complex. In the dissertation, work and citizenship are seen as closely connected, and taking part in work is understood as a key to citizenship.

Day centres are often the main places where people with intellectual disabilities get the chance to take part in work and activities. This makes them relevant for exploring how citizenship is expressed through participation in a work-community.

Day centres are arenas where physical and social barriers to participation are lower than in other places, and where norms for social interaction are more flexible. Recognition occurs on different terms than in ordinary working life.

The findings of the dissertation show that day centres can be an important, but also an ambivalent, arena for citizenship.

Day centres involve both work and care, and both aspects are equally significant. They represent a contrast to much of what workers with intellectual disabilities encounter elsewhere in society. At the day centre, they are valued for what they can do, and support is put in place so everyone can take part on equal terms.The arena is shaped by a social logic that differs from ordinary work.