Helga Synnevåg Løvoll

Institutt for idrett og friluftsliv

Professor

I am concerned with what happens to us in the face of nature, both through free expression and through participation on organized tours through supervision/or guiding. Inspired by recent theories about quality of life (eudaimonic wellbeing), I am particularly concerned with what is experienced as meaningful and how outdoor life can contribute to a richer and nature friendly life, not just for a privileged middle class, but more generally. In my approach, I am concerned with addressing motivation for doing outdoor activities and identifying strengthening elements through what happens in the encounter with nature. From an emotion theory perspective, different experiences are explored and analyzed, both with quantitative and qualitative methods. I am particularly concerned with identifying experiences that bring us new perspectives and understandings of ourselves and the world we live in. This is explored, among other things, emotionally, aesthetically and spiritually. Central is the understanding of flow experiences, awe and transcendence. In this exploration I am concerned with the distinction between "doing" and "being". Understandings that help to promote sustainability actualize the value of outdoor life in everything from kindergartens and schools to higher education, healthcare and business.

Professor in friluftsliv with the following education:

Ph.D. from Department of Psychology, University of Bergen, 2016 . Title: Inside the outdoor experience. On the distinction between pleasure and interest and their implication in the motivational process (thesis available online: http://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/12675)
Master Degree in friluftsliv didactics (Cand scient), Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, 1998
Cand mag with 2-year study of friluftsliv-, nature og culture mediation, 1-year study of environmental education, 1-year study of philosophy + Ex phil, 1995

Teaching

Naturguiding as profession
Friluftsliv and quality of life
Health promotion

Research Groups

Future skills lab
View of nature, aesthetics and ethics
Sports, physical education and friluftsliv
Culture and health

Research interests

Positive emotions, flow experience, awe, eudaimonic well-being, motivation, values within friluftsliv

Windjammer - tallship experiences for youths at risk

Research project that explores what happens when youths at risk participate on a one-month tall ship expedition with Christian Radich.

Research collaborator: Gunvor Marie Dyrdal (NTNU)

Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. It is also conducted "sensory ethnography" as method

Publications:

Dyrdal, Gunvor Marie, and Helga Synnevåg Løvoll. 2023. "Windjammer: Finding Purpose and Meaning on a Tall Ship Adventure" Social Sciences 12, no. 8: 459. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12080459

Awe and spiritual wellbeing

Research project that explores aspects of encounters with nature as transforming experiences.

Collaboration partners: Knut-Willy Sæther, Mark Graves (USA) and the research group Views of nature, aesthetics and ethics

Publications:

Graves, M., Løvoll, H.S. & Sæther, K.-W. (2020). Friluftsliv: Aesthetic and psychological experience of wilderness adventure. In M. Fuller, D. Evers, A. Runehov, B. Souchard, and K.-W. Sæther (Eds.), Issues in Science and Theology: Nature and beyond. Springer. pp 207-220. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-31182-7

Løvoll, H.S. (2020). Naturen som rom: Filosofisk samtale gjennom erfaring i natur. I K.-W. Sæther og A. Askim (red). Rom og sted: Religionsfaglige og interdisiplinære bidrag (Kap 10, s. 189-206). Cappelen Damm Akademisk. https://doi.org/10.23865/noasp.110.ch10 .

Løvoll, H.S. & Sæther, K.-W. (2022). Awe experiences, the sublime, and spiritual wellbeing in Arctic wilderness. Frontiers in psychology. 13:973922. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.973922

Løvoll, H. S., Sæther, K.-W., & Graves, M. (2020). Feeling at home in the wilderness: environmental conditions, well-being & aesthetic experience. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00402 .

Creative wellbeing

Ongoing research project that explores both creativity and wellbeing as moral terms, which together adds new knowledge about wellbeing.

Collaboration partners: Wenche Torrissen and Future Skills Lab

Publications:

Torrissen, W. & Løvoll, H. S. (2022). Å skape noe nytt som har verdi: Betydningen av kreativitet for eudaimonisk livskvalitet, i G. Hjorthol, H.S. Løvoll, E. Oltudal & J.I. Sørbø, (Red.): Stemma og stilla i musikken: Festskrift til Magnar Åm. Cappelen Damm Akademisk.

Film: Naturnærvær (biography made by Eirik Strand and Ida Kippersund Bringslid)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BrKwJPp7_2pJpPIDzoHqhXAeSSEHf8lB/view