Thank You, Hanne, for Years of Dedicated Service – and Welcome to Our New Colleagues

February 23rd, 2026 | Dsolve administration

SFI Dsolve has been fortunate to have our dear Hanne Risan Johnsen as administrator since the Centre was established in 2020. In autumn 2025, she received another job offer that she “could not refuse.”

Hanne Risan in the middle, Sunniva Katharina Thode to the left, and Kseniia Maltceva to the right.

Hanne Risan Johnsen received her PhD (2014) from the Department of Arctic and Marine Biology (AMB) at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. In addition to being a highly efficient administrator and a valued support for SFI Dsolve, she has held administrative responsibilities for several other major projects at UiT – including, together with Professor Michaela Aschan, responsibility for the research school Changing Arctic.

Hanne’s ability to create a calm working environment, organize, and lead projects involving many participants from diverse backgrounds was undoubtedly one of the key reasons why, in autumn 2025, she was invited to return “home” as Head of Department at AMB. As the saying goes, all things must come to an end, and it is now time to thank Hanne for her positive spirit and outstanding contributions to our SFI. The entire group of work package leaders, students, researchers, and industry partners nationally and internationally, together with the SFI Dsolve management represented by the Chair of the Board and the Centre Director, wish Hanne Risan Johnsen all the best in her new role. Those who have the pleasure of working under her leadership are truly fortunate.

SFI Dsolve has now entered its sixth year out of a total of eight, and we welcome new administrative leadership to guide the Centre forward.

Once again, we are fortunate to bring in experienced advisers from our own faculty. It is reassuring to know that our new administrators are well acquainted with our Centre and are taking on their responsibilities with full commitment. Senior Adviser Sunniva Katharina Thode has taken over the baton from Hanne and will be joined by Senior Adviser and Project Controller Kseniia Maltceva in steering SFI Dsolve forward (while Ingvill Korneliussen is on parental leave).

Sunniva holds a Master of Science in Molecular Biotechnology from UiT (2010) and a PhD in Molecular Biosystems from the Department of Chemistry at UiT (2017). Since then, she has worked as a researcher, project coordinator, and team leader, and for the past seven years she has served as Communications and Research Adviser at our faculty. In addition, she is the coordinator of the national research school Photosyntech.

Kseniia is one of the most experienced project controllers at our faculty and has worked in the administration at BFE since 2021. She holds both a BSc in Business Administration (2015) and an MSc in Accounting and Auditing (2024) from UiT. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Kseniia worked first at NAV Collection and then at NAV Nordre Follo before joining our faculty in 2021.