Gunilla Avby Senior lecturer

I am a Ph.D. and associate professor in pedagogy at Stockholm University and an associate professor in quality improvement and leadership at Jönköping University. My theoretical expertise primarily revolves around knowledge utilization and workplace learning. I am particularly interested in the conditions for learning and the development of professional expertise in light of society's increasing reliance on evidence. The interplay between theory and practice plays a prominent role in my research, as well as other paradoxes present in the workplace, such as the relationship between new and old, structure and chaos, control and creativity, standardization and flexibility.

Ongoing Projects:

In 2022, my colleagues and I were awarded 12 million SEK from the KK Foundation for a four-year research project. Our aim is to investigate how organizations can establish sustainable systems for leadership development that promote goal achievement while managing continuous change. To achieve this goal, the project will collaborate with several companies and organizations with a strong interest in leadership development. The project builds on previous projects primarily conducted in healthcare, focusing on the conditions for learning and innovative work. Together with practice, we have developed, tested, and evaluated leadership support to systematically work with innovation processes in primary care.

In 2023, we initiated a collaborative project with R&D in Sörmland focusing on preventing falls among older adults. The aim is to develop a fall prevention program built around comprehensive knowledge support for use in municipalities, regions, and civil society. The project has been granted 2 million SEK from Forte Welfare Research, where we, together with relevant stakeholders, develop collaboration platforms and monitor how the work is being used in practice.

I have diverse work experience as a manager and HR strategist in public administration. Before starting my employment at Stockholm University, I served as department head and scientific leader at R&D Northwest in Stockholm.

I have also held national roles as an expert and researcher. My most recent expert assignment was for the Future Social Services investigation.

Thesis

Avby, G. (2015) Evidence in practice. On knowledge use and learning in social work. Linköping: Linköpings Universitet.

Peer Reviewed articles

Karlsson, H., Avby, G. & Svendsen, T. (2020) QUAL – A perfomance management system for the analytical stage of child-protection investigations. Child & Family Social Work.

Hasson, H., Gröndal, H., Hedberg Rundgren, Å., Avby, G., Uvhagen, H. & von Thiele Schwarz, U. (2020) How can evidence-based interventions give the best value for users in social services? Balance between adherence and adaptions: a study protocol. Implementation Science Communications, 1(15).

Avby, G. & Kjellström, S. (2019) LearnOvation: an intervention to foster exploration and exploitation behavior in health care management in daily practice. BMC Health Services Research, 19(319).

Avby, G., Kjellström, S. & Andersson Bäck, M. (2019) Tending to innovate in a Swedish primary health care context. BMC Health Services Research, 19(42).

Karlsson, H., Avby, G. & Svendsen, T. (2019) QUAT – A tool for evalutating the quality of core assessments in child protection investigations. British Journal of Social Work, 49(7), 1875-1892.

Areskoug Josefsson, K., Avby, G., Andersson Bäck, M. & Kjellström, S. (2018) Workers´ experiences f healthy work environment indicators at well-functioning primary care units in Sweden: a qualitative study. Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care, 36(4), 406-414.

Kjellström, S., Avby, G., Areskoug-Josefsson, K., Andersson Gäre, B. & Andersson Bäck, M. (2017) Work motivation among healthcare professionals: A study of well-functioning primary healthcare centers in Sweden. Journal of Health Organization and Management, 31(4), 487-502.

Avby, G., Nilsen, P. & Ellström, P-E. (2017) Knowledge use and learning in everyday social work practice: A study in child investigation work. Child & Family Social Work. 21(4), 51-61.

Avby, G. (2016) Att genom reflektion organisera för en medveten och kunskapsrik praktik. Pedagogisk forskning I Sverige, årg. 21(3-4), 261-282.

Avby, G. (2015) Professional practice as processes of muddling through: a study of learning and sense making in social work. Studies in Vocational and Professional Education, 8(1), 95-113.

Avby, G., Nilsen, P. & Abrant Dahlgren, M. (2013) Ways of understanding evidence-based practice in social work: a qualitative study British Journal of Social Work, 44(6), 1366-1383.

Nilsen, P., Nordström G. & Ellström, P-E. (2012) Integrating research-based and practice-based knowledge through workplace reflection. Journal of Workplace Learning, 24(6), 403-415.

Teaching Material and Popular Science Material

Kjellström, S. & Avby, G. (2021) Vardagsslit ger mer än dyra chefskurser. Dagens Samhälle, ledarskap 2021-05-27.

Avby, G. & Kjellström, S. (2021) Inga bevis för att chefer blir bättre av att gå på kurs. Dagens Nyheter, debattartikel 2021-04-22.

Avby, G. (2018) Att utveckla professionell expertis. En bok om kunskap och lärande. Lund: Studentlitteratur.

Avby, G. & Kjellström, S. (2020) Innovationskraft i vardagens processer. Chefer & Ledare i vården, nr 4, årgång 52, s. 24-27.

Kjellström, S. & Avby, G. (2020) Metoder i vårdens vardag för att skapa kreativitet och delaktighet. Chefer & Ledare i vården, nr 4, årgång 52, s. 28-30.

Kjellström, S. & Avby, G. (2020) Hälsa Vårdmagasinet, nr 3, s. 16-17.

Avby, G, Kjellström, S., Areskoug Josefsson, K., Andersson Gäre, B., Andersson Bäck, M. Sparf, A. & Siljehult, M. (2017) Samarbete bygger en stark primärvård. Dagens Nyheter 2017-08-17, ISSN 1101-2447.

Avby, G. & Arnsvik, A. (2017) Vem formar professionen? Socionomen, nr. 1, 2017, s. 74-75.

Nordström, G. (2004) Vuxnas lärande otydligt inslag i lärarutbildningar. Tidningen KOM, nr. 2 maj, 2004, årgång 30, s. 40-41.

Reports

Avby, G. (2018) En lärande socialtjänst. I SOU 2018:32 Ju förr desto bättre – vägar till en förebyggande socialtjänst. Delbetänkande för Framtidens socialtjänst. Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik.

Kjellström S., G. Avby, M. Andersson Bäck, K. Areskoug-Josefsson. B. Andersson Gäre (2017) PM till Tillitsdelegationen, Ledarskap och arbetssätt vid välfungerade vårdcentraler.

Nordström, G. & Bengtsson-Sandberg, K. (2004) Kunskapslyftet – Ett lyft för hela själen. Högskolan i Jönköping: Encell.

Book Chapters

Avby, G. (2016) Organizing for deliberate practice through workplace reflection. In S. Billett, D. Dymock & S. Choy (eds.) Supporting learning across working life: Models, processes and practices. Springer Publ. Netherlands.

Avby, G., Nilsen, P. & Ellström, P-E. (2015) Evidence-based practice in practice - the case of social work. In M. Elg, M. Klofsten, P-E. Ellström & M. Tillmar (eds.) Substainable development in organizations, Edward Elgar Publ., UK.

Nordström, G. (2009) Gränsöverskridande kunskapsbildning – praktik och teori i interaktion. In M. Elg & B. Andersson Gäre (eds.) Vägval och dilemman i interaktiv forskning. Högskolan i Jönköping.