Location: Bergen, Vestland, Norway
Credit: Mimi E. Lam
Initiative: Research Council of Norway Research Programme on Marine Resources and the Environment (Research Council of Norway)
Project: Managing Ethical Norwegian Seascape Activities (MENSA)
Story: This image of a mother and her two sons is from a public event, Hva liker du med havet? (What do you like about the ocean?), organized by the Managing Ethical Norwegian Seascapes Activities (MENSA) project, hosted at the University of Bergen (UiB), as part of the Forskningsdagene i Bergen (Research Days in Bergen) 2025. Activities were designed for children aged 10 – 12 in partnership with UiB and schools in the municipalities of Bergen, Askøy, Sotra, and Øygarden. Two pulses of 1300 schoolchildren total literally ran to the Forskningstorget (Research Square) filled with 22 stations of researchers presenting their research, and in our case, conducting research, in child-friendly ways. It was both an exhausting and exhilarating experience, as the children enthusiastically shared with me and my colleague what they value about the ocean. This photo was taken on the public day after. These two boys were younger than the schoolchildren for which the interactive activities were designed and my Norwegian-speaking colleague was engaged, so the boys´ mother, a teacher, jumped in and asked her sons the research questions, adapting them for their age levels. As I watched and listened, I learned that to be truly inclusive, we need to be open and adapt our research methods and roles to the situation. Here, I became the observer as this woman demonstrated to me her experience as a teacher and mom, gifting to me her wisdom and her children´s perspectives for my research into Norwegians´ ocean values.