Anja Gjærum
PhD candidate at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences
Gjærum is doing a public sector PhD at the Inland University of Applied Sciences, on digital transformation in rural and remote municipality organizations in Norway. She explores perceptions and prospects of digital transformation, collaborations between small municipalities, and relations to commercial vendors. Her academic background is a master (hovedfag) in economic geography from the University of Oslo (2004). She further hold master courses in management, strategy and digitalization from OsloMet (2018) and NTNU (2020-2021). She holds a position as head of analysis and evaluation in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, and have previous experience from the Research Council of Norway (2004-2017). The PhD-project provide relevant insights for policy development both nationally and locally.
Tell us about your project!
The topic of the PhD-project is digitalisation and digital transformation in the municipal services and organisations of small, rural and remote municipalities in Norway.
Digital and emerging technologies are relevant to all governance levels, though capacities and competences for deployment differ. National policies tend to be general and overarching, and provide limited guidance on how smaller municipalities with resource constraints can foster digital innovation and transformation, and face the challenges implied.
The study is designed as a multiple case study and includes studies of eight rural municipalities set in three different regions in Norway. The municipalities have between 850 and 5400 inhabitants. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews, combined with a document study of local and national government policies. The municipalities studied are located in the regions of Finnmark, Trøndelag and Agder.
“ National policies tend to be general and overarching, and provide limited guidance on how smaller municipalities with resource constraints can foster digital innovation and transformation, and face the challenges implied”
— Anja Gjærum on her research project “Digital transformation in rural and remote municipality organisations”
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