Academic interests
Lisbeth Thoresen is an associate professor in the Department for Interdisciplinary Health Science, Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo (UiO). Thoresen is a trained nurse and holds a PhD in professional ethics from the Faculty of Theology, UiO.
Thoresen's research interests are cultural and ethical perspectives on end-of-life care and dying and death, decision-making in end of life, mediated representations of dying and death, end of life policy making. Together with her colleagues, Thoresen has initiated a Nordic interdisciplinary network of researchers who share an interest in end-of-life studies; DERC which is an acronym for Death: Emotions, Relations and Culture (the English version of the DERC web page will be published in December 2021). Thoresen is co-editor of the anthology Alt som lever, må dø. Døden som tverrfaglig kunnskapsfelt (All that Lives Must Die. Death as an Interdisciplinary Research Field), which was published in 2019.
Thoresen is currently principle investigator for the research project The Role of Close Relations on Cancer Patients’ Decisions regarding Home Death: An Exploratory Study, supervising Margareta Møkleby. Thoresen is the main supervisor to Ellen Lykke Trier (VID) on the project Caring for the dying and their relatives in palliative care services in nursing homes. Thoresen is co-supervising Hirut Megersa on a SACCADE project: Experiences of Disrespect and Abuse during Childbirth in Southwest Ethiopia. Thoresen is co-supervising Heidi Marie Karlsen on a project on Establishing Clinical Ethics Committees in Primary Care, and co-supervising Siri Færden Westby on the project The Experiences of Relatives; Advance Care Planning for the Seriously Ill Elderly Living at Home. Thoresen is collaborating on research projects on Rethinking Cancer Survivorship, Advance Care Planning: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Study and The SAFE Study: Securing High-Quality Care For End-of-Life Cancer.
Thoresen is a qualitative researcher who is particularly interested in phenomenological approaches to the study of health and illness. She is one of the three authors of Fenomenologi i Helsefaglig Forskning (Phenomenology in the Health Sciences) (2020).
Courses taught
Thoresen teaches Ethics, Research Ethics, Qualitative Methods and Academic Writing and supervises master’s and PhD students.
Background
2013 - Associate Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, UiO
2013: Postdoctoral position, Center for Medical Ethics, UiO
2008: Graduated with a PhD in professional ethics from the Faculty of Theology, UiO
2011-2012: Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, Vestfold University College
2008–2013: Associate Professor, Vestfold University College
1984: Nurse, Diakonissehusets Sykepleierhøgskole
Awards
Best poster, National Conference on End-of-Life Care, Oslo, 2012