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Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research
- Address :
- Borggata 2B
- 0608 Oslo
-
Norway
- Contact person :
- Research director Jon Erik Dølvik /Line Eldring
- Phone: +47 22088701 (Line) / +47 22088708 (Jon Erik)
- Fax: +47 22088700
- Email:jon.erik.dolvik@fafo.no
- Website:http://www.fafo.no/
Short description
NOT UPDATED
Fafo was founded by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) in 1982 and was reorganised as a foundation in 1993 with contributions from LO, Orkla ASA, Umoe AS, Elkem ASA, Coop Norge, Sparebank1 Gruppen, Fagforbundet, and Telenor AS. Fafo develops and disseminates knowledge about changes in living and working conditions, societal participation, democracy and development in a range of social and economic settings. Its ambition is to contribute to processes of social and economic development based on rigorous ethical and scientific standards. Fafo supplies decision makers and organisations, nationally as well as internationally, with critical and action-oriented research on working life and social policy. Its origins lie in the Norwegian trade union movement and Fafo today engages with policy makers in government, business, trade unions and international organisations in Norway, Europe and beyond. Fafo operates now independently from LO but still has close links to the trade unions: LO's Secretary General is chair of Fafo's board and still one of Fafo's goals is to produce research of high relevance for the trade union movement.
Fafo is organised in two institutes: the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research and the Fafo Institute for Applied International Studies. Anchored in a tradition of empirical research, Fafo has developed special expertise in the collection and analysis of quantitative data which it combines with qualitative research approaches. It cooperates with a broad range of academic networks and works in close contact and dialogue with clients and end-users of the research. Fafo gives great importance to creating meeting places and disseminating knowledge emanating from the projects. Fafo conducts mainly commissioned research for a wide range of actors, combined with publicly financed scientific research (national and international research grants). It carries out research for social partner organisations (or assists trade unions with certain processes, e.g. mergers etc), companies, public bodies (national and local government), NGOs, international organisations and funds, as well as the Research Council of Norway, the EU, and international research programmes. Currently Fafo has 90 employees, of whom 77 are scientific staff (50 of them working at the Institute for Labour and Social Research), most of the researchers being sociologists, political scientists and economists. In 2006 Fafo was engaged in approximately 200 projects with a total turnover of 92 million NOK (11.5 million Euro). In 2007, the basic grant from the Research Council of Norway amounted to 7.865 million NOK which is less than 10% of Fafo's total income. Fafo is the largest labour institute in Norway.
The Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research specialises in studies of working life, social organisations and social policies. Key issues are collective bargaining, labour market inclusion and exclusion, migration, distributional policies and social services, European integration and globalisation.
Areas of expertise and competencies
The research activities of the Fafo Institute for Labour and Social Research are concentrated in four main areas:
1) Industrial relations and labour market policy (Research Director: Sissel Trygstad);
2) Social policy and public services/welfare state (Research Director, Heidi Gautun);
3) Company development and workers' participation/ Enterprise development studies (Research Director: Leif E. Moland);
4) Social inclusion, training and skill formation/Work inclusion and competence (Research Director: Hanne C. Kavli)
(more information about the areas you can find on the following website in English: http://www.fafo.no/english/avf/index.htm ).
The Institute conducts applied, user-oriented research and is offering support and advice in processes of change in organisations, public services and private companies. Trade unions and employer federations are important customers. The focus areas of Fafo's trade union related research are the following:
1) Collective bargaining, trade union membership, trade union development, labour conflicts (Fafo is the research body with the most longstanding expertise in these classical fields of trade union research; contact persons are Jon Erik Dølvik, Kristine Nergaard, and Torgeir Aarvaag Stokke)
2) Labour migration, minimum wage mechanisms, regulation of service mobility (contact persons: Jon Erik Dølvik and Line Eldring);
3) Corporate governance, CSR (contact person: Sissel Trygstad);
4) Workers' participation (contact person: Inger Marie Hagen);
5) Occupational health and safety (contact person: Mona Bråten and Leif Moland);
6) Working time (contact person: Dag Olberg);
7) Pension schemes (contact person: Tove Midtsundstad).
Besides publishing research reports and scientific articles, the Institute often presents the results of its projects by organising seminars and holding lectures. Together with its customers, Fafo tries to find the best way to communicate the results to the users and the wider public. Many of the researchers are leading experts in their fields and are in great demand as lecturers both by public administration and private businesses, and at colleges and universities. The institute is currently conducting projects for Norwegian, Nordic and European actors.
Work programme, strategic plan, projects
Fafo does not have its own work programme. It works mainly on project base and thus carries out research required by its clients. There is some very limited basic funding coming from the Norwegian Research Council and another even more restricted funding by LO and some companies for the so called Fafo Council Work Programme 'Leadership, Cooperation and Corporate Government' which Fafo uses to explore the Norwegian model and to produce articles for publishing in scientific journals, to participate at conferences etc.
LO's Research Fund is almost completely aimed at financing research at Fafo. The biggest project currently that this fund is financing is on Working Hours in the Public sector. Some big projects financed currently by the Norwegian Research Council are on the influx of working migrants in Norway and the EEA in general. A forum has been set up as well on the Eastern Enlargement of the EU where social partner organisations, government agencies and many other actors participate. Fafo is also dealing with issues around wages and wage formation, the organisation of social partners and changes in their organisational structure etc. A government programme is financing a study on Inclusive Work Life which involves 3 of the 4 working groups at Fafo's Institute for Labour and Social Research.
You can find more information about the different projects of the Institute on its website: http://www.fafo.no/english/avf/index.htm .
Publications, language, newsletter
Fafo's principle is to always publish the results of completed research. Most of the publications are available online on the following website: http://www.fafo.no/english/pub/engrapp.htm . A paper copy can be obtained as well (if available) by contacting the person in charge.
Other networks the institute is participating in
Fafo is the national centre of EIRO in Norway. It also provides information from Norway to ERM. Fafo runs Norway's LabourStart (a net-based news service and database with continuous updating of national and international working life news) and participates in the Harvard Programme on Inequality and Social Policy. Other networks are BalticWelfare (cooperation with the University of Tartu, Estonia, and the University of Latvia concerning comparative studies of social policy and combat of poverty), Lifelong learning 2010 (a 5-year project under the EU 6th framework agreement for research coordinated by the Pedagogical university in Talinn), FORMULA, Variable Pay, FP7-application on 'Trade unions and Labour migrants' with 7 European institutes/universities etc.