Senior Researcher

Mikkel Vindegg has completed a bachelor's degree, master's degree and a PhD in social anthropology, all of them at UiO, and is currently working with energy related issues as a Senior Researcher at CICERO.

How did you get your current job?

I got it through the old fashioned "applying to a job posting that showed up", I had no prior connections to CICERO really. The posting appeared not long after I had handed in my thesis, I had been on the lookout and considered CICERO to be a relevant place to get a job. It's kind of funny, the week the posting appeared I thought "Damn, this is too early, I probably won't even have a chance at getting a job there now". I applied all the same and I got the job, so I am really happy about that.  

What do you think were the most important reasons why you got the job?

Well, it's because, I believe, I ended up writing both a master¡¯s and PhD about a field that was relevant to them. I think that in most cases like this it is always some combination of luck and skill. I must of course have done something right to get a job and so on, but what they really needed was a qualitative energy researcher, and that is what I am. I have done one and a half years of fieldwork in Nepal throughout my master¡¯s and PhD and written about energy as a social phenomenon in a small town there, and I therefore had the kind of experience that CICERO was looking for.  

What are your main tasks in the workplace?

I think you can break it down into two main tasks: Writing applications to get funding for the institute through research projects, and actually doing those projects and delivering on the promises made in the applications. I think it can be summarized as simply as that.  

What are you working on right now?

For example, I¡¯m putting the final touches on a report on climate adaptation in Norway at a local and regional level, which was ordered by the Norwegian Environment Agency. It still needs final approval, but hopefully we¡¯ll get that soon.

Earlier this February I was in Tanzania in connection with a project concerning energy use and women¡¯s health. Specifically, about energy use for cooking and its relation to women¡¯s health. We're investigating what is needed for women in Tanzania to use less polluting energy sources, more specifically what is needed for them to for example transition from using wood to using gas.

What do you enjoy most, and what do you think is the best part of your job?

I think it is very exciting to work at a place like CICERO because there is a huge variety in both the kind of research they do and the kind of researchers they have. People have different backgrounds that span across disciplines, from one end of the scale to the other in the natural and social sciences. From the very technical, concrete, tiny, and particular focus, through the larger picture scientifically and politically and then all the way down to me, who is the most locally oriented, at least when it comes to academic background.

You get the opportunity to engage in a lot of different projects, and a lot of the exciting stuff requires collaboration. It is very rare to have one-person applications, so there is a lot of collaboration.

What is most challenging?

Typically, what is most exciting can also be what is most challenging. It takes quite a bit of coordination to make sure that you're all on the same page, and that you're not pulling in different directions when it comes to how you approach a topic. And although it is not something that I have experienced as very challenging yet, in the long run the biggest challenge is probably going to be to combine doing the projects you've gotten funding for already while having to apply for something new at the same time. I think of it more as a general challenge right now because I have been spared most of the application writing so far.

How do you use your education from UiO in your job?

Mainly through the fact that the themes and the methods in my PhD are very relevant for what I have been doing at CICERO, qualitative analysis of energy consumption in households, for example. You have to adjust though, as there isn't any specific focus on participant observation here, at least not yet. The ongoing research is mostly based on interviews which have mainly been a secondary method for anthropologists. This means that you get to use that part of your methods a lot more, as it is used a lot in these types of projects with a slightly faster turnover rate.

What kind of activities did you engage in during your studies that prepared you for working life?

I had a part time job that I also worked full time between my bachelor's and my master's. I worked at Rema 1000, a grocery store, and was responsible for fruits and vegetables, dry goods, and that sort of thing. It was a very important experience, even though it is very far from the kind of researcher life I have led afterwards. It gave me a taste of working life and I would actually say that it was really exciting.

Apart from that I was also active as a representative on the department board, and I think it is quite relevant to have experience from that sort of administrative work, you get more insight into how things work, which I think is important.  

What is your best tip for students who want to become attractive in the job market?

Well to be stereotypically anthropological I'll have to say that there is no easy answer to that. When I was a student, I was told that when figuring out what to study, where to do fieldwork and what to write about, you should choose something that interests you. I agree with that one hundred percent. To add to that, I would say that you can also, to a certain degree, keep in mind what topics are relevant at the time.

This does not mean that you should just find the hottest media issue right now and write about that. The worst thing you could do would be to write a master's or a PhD about something that doesn't really interest you. That is the last thing you should do, but try to look for topics or angles that might let your interests be combined with some contemporary relevance. I think that can be helpful.