Other interests and personal background

My professional interests centre around languages, which have fascinated me since I was a child. Apart from that, I am interested in most things that have to do with the world around us and the physics and mechanics of the world and of the universe.

I think it's everybody's duty today to be concerned about the future of the earth and of the various forms of life on it, not least the future of mankind. I feel a strong affinity with movements that work for a more livable future for mankind, and a sustainable lifestyle.

I lived in Oxford, England, during much of the 1980's. While I was there I was engaged in the activities of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which seemed very relevant at a time when the Cold War was still blowing chill winds and a nuclear holocaust appeared to be a real possibility (after the development in various parts of the world in 1998, one wonders if the threat has really been removed ...). After reading The Future in Our Hands by Erik Dammann - Oxford, 1979: Pergamon Press Ltd, ISBN 0-08-024284-7 (Hardcover), 0-08-024283-9 (Flexicover) - I was touched by a sense of injustice on the part of the less privileged majority of the world's population and of the responsibility that rests with the privileged minority, and became involved in the Norwegian popular movement with the same name (Framtiden i våre hender, or FIVH for short (for an English version, go here), see also the Future in Our Hands International Network ). I then became engaged in the setting up of a British sister organization, The Future in Our Hands UK. We never managed to get the same momentum and interest going as had been the case when the movement started in Norway a decade earlier, and I lost touch after some years. But the organization is still active.
I grew up in Norway and have a deep-seated love for the Norwegian countryside and scenery.

Until recently I had a summer retreat in the countryside in western Sweden. This is what it looks like there:

Early morning below the house, with horses in the field

Upturned boat by Stora Lee


I have lived and worked in Stockholm, Sweden, since 1990. My work has been split between KTH (the Royal College of Technology), where I am part of the speech group at TMH (the Department of Speech, Music and Hearing) and Acapela Group where I work as a linguist, helping to develop languages and voices for our high quality speech synthesisers.

Places where I have lived and worked: