Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

My starting point is humans. They are the core of my work. When I work – whether it be as a leader, project manager, consultant, strategical organisational developer, library developer or as a creator of informal learning settings, playful or cultural activities – my focus is people’s motivation, skills and lifeworld.

I work as a development consultant at Dokk1 in Aarhus in a department called ITK – Innovation Technology and Creativity. I develop new projects in the intersection between new technologies, innovation methods and data. I also work with strategical partnership development on a national and international level.

I am also a Coding Pirates, because I find it very important that our children learn to be IT-creative. I am a member of the national board in Coding Pirates Denmark and head of Coding Pirates Aarhus.

Besides that I have my own little company where I do some consultancy work in the areas of library development, making and organisational development.

Why do you think play is important?

I find play extremely important and I try to have a playful approach to everything I do. Playfulness makes me stronger, makes me resilient and I am sure it gives me a better life. When I get stuck in work situations or private settings where there is no room for playfulness, I am unable to thrive, unable to develop and be creative, unable to create good results.

I can see in my surroundings that playfulness also makes my kids, my friends and my colleagues thrive more. Having worked with teenagers for several years have shown me that working with a playful approach gives them a better way of coping with their problems. Having worked with library development for 10 years have shown me, that it is somehow easier to be a part of massive organisational changes if you have a playful mindset.

Play and playfulness is under pressure in our society. Everything is about reaching goals, competing, not losing track of time. I believe that we must address the need to give space to play and playfulness.

How do you want to contribute to and shape CounterPlay?

I find CounterPlay important, because it is a good and qualified way to address the need for play and playfulness. We combine hands on activities, with sharing of experiences and having interesting debates on the topic.

I think it is essential that CounterPlay is a lab, that it is activities and not just talk. Even though I have an academic background I am a practitioner and I work on creating a good connection between the concrete and the abstract.