���ϳԹ���Դ

My research focuses on the EU/EEA law on State aid and data protection/General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

State aid law is part of EU/EEA competition law. It plays a crucial role in safeguarding the proper functioning of the internal market. Rules on State aid provide for a level playing field for all market operators (enterprises) in the Internal Market. Norway is well integrated in the EU's Internal Market owing to the EEA Agreement of 1992. Rules on granting aid are very relevant in Norway where the public sector is entrusted with many tasks and public undertakings often compete with private ones. At the same time, Norway is known for using State aid law to grant "good aid" such as aid to protect environment, support regional development or finance research and innovation.

In 2016, my PhD thesis "The Applicability and Application of the Market Economy Investor Principle" won the Quarterly PhD Award for the best PhD thesis in the field of EU/EEA State aid law written in the period 2012-2016. It was published by .

In 2019, I arranged a workshop where a group of distinguished experts discussed different issues related on the application of State aid law to taxation. The workshop was financed by ���ϳԹ���Դ's SPIRE Programme. More on the 

In 2019, I was invited to take a position of , the first pan-European publication for State aid law, recognized as the leading journal in its field today. I have special responsibility for reviewing and proposing scientific articles and case notes, contributing to the development of the Journal and its strategy, publishing scientific articles, editorials and case notes.

Data privacy and the General Data Protection Regulation is one of the fields of law that has massively gained in importance during the last years. The questions concerning the legality of processing of our personal data are being stated on a daily basis due to digitalisation of almost every single aspect of our life. Currently, I am working with amongst others data protection issues raised by using Artificial Intelligence to processing of personal data.

Following the COVID-19 outbreak, I have been invited to join the as an expert in privacy/GDPR.

In 2021, I was a member of ���ϳԹ���Դ's Working Group - digital competence for ���ϳԹ���Դ's students. The Working group is led by prof. Barbara Wasson, Director for Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE) at ���ϳԹ���Դ. The Working group's task was to provide recommendations concerning both the form and contents of a course on Data literacy for all ���ϳԹ���Դ's students. The Working Group's report led to creating that are offered to all ���ϳԹ���Դ students. In this respect, I have developned and I am co-supervising .

I participated and contributed with my knowledge on data protection and GDPR in one of the four pioneer projects that were admitted to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority's (Datatilsynet) "Sandbox for responsible AI". As Datatilsynet explained: "The Data Protection Authority has established a project environment for artificial intelligence that makes use of personal data — a sandbox. This regulatory sandbox provides free guidance to a handful of carefully selected companies, of varying types and sizes, across different sectors. The goal is to promote the development of innovative artificial intelligence solutions that, from a data protection perspective, are both ethical and responsible. The sandbox helps individual organizations ensure compliance with relevant regulations and the development of solutions that take privacy into account. We use examples and insights arising from sandbox projects to develop guidelines relevant for organizations implementing artificial intelligence and to further develop our own competence in this area". For more information, see .  In the AVT the project designed by , I analysed data protection challenges raised by processing personal data of pupils in Norwegian schools for the purpose of providing individualised teaching, which is pupils' right under the Educational Act.

My work with learning analytics in the Sandbox was the reason why I was appointed a member of the Council Europe's expert group "Artificial Intelligence and Eucation" in October 2022. The group is currently working on a resolution that is to be adopted by the CoE members in 2023. The resolution will be a basis for binding legal guidelines concerning using Artificial Intelligence in education. 

As regards other projects involving AI, I participate in We are applying for funding from Horizon Europe to establish Centre for personalised systems medicine in edocrinology. Read more about the .

From September 2022, I have been Associate professor II at the Facultty of Law at the University of Oslo where I contribute to , which is financed by the Norwegian Research Council. The Clean Up projecst stands for "Machine Learning for the Anonymisation of Unstructured Personal Data".

Since Autumn 2019 I have been member of  (AYF), since Autumn 2020 deputy member of AYF's Board and .

Since Summer 2021 I have been leading an in t.

Selected contributions in newspapers and blog platforms:

Comment:  ("Smittestopp data have not been anonymised: A deception"), NRK Beta, 29. November 2022.

Analysis: , EULawLIVE, 24. November 2022

Interview: , ("Corona-list:How bergen municiplaity collected personal data of 120,000 citizens without telling abouit it"), Bergensavisen, 9. November 2022

Analysis: EULawLive, 20. September 2022.

Analysis , 27. June 2022, EULawLIVE

Lecture "GDPR and Artificial Intelligence", , 16. February 2022

TV programme (debate) NRK Dagsnytt 18: , ("Fast access to your personal data"), 5. January 2022

Dagens Næringsliv:, ("New technology can give teh policee and NAV access to "everything" the banks know about you with a few keystrokes"), 3. January 2022

Analysis: “Discharging the Burden of Proof in State Aid Cases: The Problem of Consecutive Measures by the State Acting as Public Creditor”, , 21. Deceember 2021

Interview: "Kan personvernet overleve koronakrisen?" (Can data protection survive the corona crisis?), , 21. June 2021.

Analysis: "When does ‘existing aid’ become ‘new aid’ and does it always have to be notified? Some clarifications in the preliminary ruling: Azienda Sanitaria Provinciale di Catania", , 24. May 2021.

Analysis: “Under Article 258 TFEU the burden of proof rests with the Commission, which may not rely on any presumption”, , 15. January 2021

Analysis of processing of personal data by a number of mobile applications in light of the requirements set out in GDPR - - NRK Beta, 3. December 2020

A comment on Bergen City Council's new rules on COVID-19 tracing: Reagerer på Bergens nye korona­forskrift: – , Bergens Tidende, 29. October 2020

Analysis: “Clarifications on the Member States’ freedom to determine public policy objectives under Article 107(3)(c) TFEU” at , 23. September 2020

A dystopian story about COVID-19, Artificial Intelligence setting grades and the GDPR, , 5. September 2020

Debate: IB-saken viser hvorfor vi trenger personvern. Automatiserte avgjørelser kan gjøre livet enklere, men kan også lede til diskriminerende og urettferdige resultater.  17. July 2020 (A comment on the IBO case and automated decisions under GDPR)

Invited guest in a podcast by PwC Bergen in which I discussed the recent State aid developments in light of the COVID-19 outbreak

Analysis  EULawLive, 4. April 2020

Book review

In my capacity as member of Researchers "Take the mental health of researchers seriously" - "Ta forskernes mentale helse på alvor", Forskerforum.no 24. April 2020

Interview concerning a controversial public-private project, Fagbladet, 1. April 2020

Sugar tax in Norway and State aid rules, Dagens Næringsliv, 20. June 2018

Amazon og Apples skatteregning i EU, Dagens Næringsliv, 8. November 2017

Innovasjon Norge må forklare seg Bergens Tidende, 11. October 2017

Like vilkår - men likere for noen Dagens Næringsliv, 25. April 2017

Kan være både tillatt og fornuftig Dagens Næringsliv, 15. August 2016

Hvor mye «kultur» i kulturaktivitet? Dagens Næringsliv, 1. July 2016

Supervision of master students: EU/EEA State aid law, Data protection law, GDPR (in English and Norwegian)

Responsibility for EU/EEA law master students

Teaching:

JUS3503 Privacy and Data protection GDPR -Master (course supervisor,  and )

JUS2303 Privacy and Data protection GDPR - Bachelor (course supervisor)

JUS3502 EU and EEA State Aid Law - Master (course supervisor)

JUS2302 EU and EEA State Aid Law - Bachelor (course supervisor)

 Rettsstaten

 GDPR og personvern (co-supervisor of the course)

Forvaltningsrett

Academic article

Conference lecture

Encyclopedia entry

Letter to the editor

Media feature article

Academic book chapter

Media interview

Lecture

Popular science article

Other presentation

Editorial/Leader article

Radio or TV participation

Podcast

Working paper

Academic monograph

Academic literature review

Journal review

Report

Doctoral thesis (PhD)

I am currently working with projects that concern both data protection/GDPR and EU/EEA State aid law.

In 2021/2022, I participated in hat is one of the first four projects that participated in the . The project concerned digital analysis of personal data of pupils in thee Norwegian schools. I contributed with my expertise on the GDPR and was given main responsibility for amongst others clarifying the legal basis for processing of pupils' personal data.

From October 2022, I have been a member of the Council of Europe's expert group "Artificial Intelligence and Education". The group works towards a resolution on using Ai in education taht is to be adopted by the member states in 2023. The resolution will be a basis for binding legal guidelines that will be adopted in 2025.

I have also been invited to join a team that applies for financing of a project concerning . The aim of the project is to bring endocrinology from traditional disease-oriented diagnostics and treatment into the era of P4 Systems Medicine, focusing on Prediction and Prevention of disease, Personalized treatment and Participation of the patient. The project amounts to processing loads of personal data of patients which creates enormous possibilities and interesting data privacy issues.

As part of creating brand-new special courses  and J, I coordinate cooperation with , an international knowledge and innovation cluster based in Bergen. Law students will have a unique possibility to apply their knowledge of data protection/GDPR and Artificial Intelligence in real projects that are being developed in Media City Bergen.

As regards EU/EEA State aid law, in 2019 I organised a workshop concerning the relation between the EU/EEA State aid law and Tax law of the Member States. The project was financed by the University of Bergen's SPIRE-fund (Strategisk program for internasjonalt forskningssamarbeid). The workshop gathered the following renowned experts: Georg Børresen, Assistand director general, Norwegian tax authorities: , Dr. Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, Director of the Competition Law Forum & Senior Research Fellow in Competition Law, British Institute of International and Comparative law: The "arms's length principle" in State aid cases - The latest from the Court of Justice of the European Union, Joana Christina Pedroso, Doctoral student in Tax Law, University of Gothenburg: , Dr. Malgorzata Cyndecka, Associate Professor at the University of Bergen: , The recent case law - (even) less clarity? , Leiden School of Law, Leiden University and Dr. , Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Bergen, Christian Jordal, Deputy Director, State Aid Unit, EFTA Surceillance Authority: Dr. Malgorzata Cyndecka, Associate Professor at University of Bergen . 

Postdoctoral project

In 2019, I completed my postdoctoral project », which was financed by the Norwegian Finansmarkedsfondet, (). The Finance Market Fund is intended to contribute to increasing public understanding concerning financial markets, with particular emphasis on the functioning of financial markets, and also ethical issues.

The project resulted in a number of peer-reviewed scientific articles that were published in the , (Lexxion), the first pan-European publication for State aid law, recognized as the leading journal in its field today (see Cristin for the full list pf publications). I have also contributed to the second edition of the highly appraised "Research Handbook on European State Aid Law" edited by L Hancher & JJ Piernas López with a chapter “State aid and the financial sector: the crisis and beyond”, which will be published by Edward Elgar in 2020. My project also included workshops with international experts in the field of State aid law, both academics and practitioners, as well as a concluding conference during which the invited experts discussed competition between the private and public sectors. The conference was also linked to my contribution as a member of the Norwegian government’s external working group, "Competition on a level playing field", that analysed amongst others implicit guarantees and tax exemptions in favour of public entities and undertakings that compete with private market operators. In 2018, the Working Group submitted its report: