Maria Appel Nissen

Maria Appel Nissen (born 1971) is a Danish professor of social work at Aalborg University. She has a degree in communication and sociological social analysis from Aalborg University from 2000. In 2005 she received her Ph.D. in sociology also from Aalborg University. Before she was employed by Aalborg University in 2001, she was independent consultant for six years within the area of social work. She was also employed by Aalborg Kommune for a year. In the last 20 years Maria Appel Nissen has contributed to development of bachelor-, master- and candidate programmes in social work at Aalborg University and since 2017 she has been chairman of the study board of Bachelor in Social Work. She is director of the research group: Shaping concepts, practices and advances in social work (SCOPAS). Maria Appel Nissen's research contributes to development of social work's forms of knowledge and practices in society through a combination of in-depth studies in practice and development of theories and concepts in dialogue with practitioners and decision-makers within the area. She has been a member of the board for European Social Work Research Association (2014-2016) and chief editor for Nordic Social Work Research (2016-2019).
Projects
Maria Appel Nissen has been principal investigator of a series of projects.
Selected are:
* Views on Human Being in Social Work: Welfare policies, Technologies and Knowledge about Human Being (2014-2019, funded by VELUX og WILLUM foundations)
* Does social work care? Exploring relational, emotional and embodied practices of social services for vulnerable children and their families (2018-2022, funded by Independent Research Fund Denmark)
Publications
Maria Appel Nissen has published a series of Danish books as well and Danish and English book chapters and articles. Selected publications:
* Bjerre, L. S. & Nissen, M. A. 2020. Does it feel right? Emotional and embodied processes as a ‘shadowy epistemology’ in difficult child protection cases. British Journal of Social Work
* Nissen, M. A. 2019. Time matters: Changes in the time horizon in social services for children and their families in Denmark in an era of productivity and competition. European Journal of Social Work.
* Nissen, M. A., 2018. We need to focus on resources. Struggling with Neoliberal Economic Rationales in Social Work with Children and Families. In Fallov, M. A. & Blad, C. (eds.) Social Welfare Responses in a Neoliberal Era. Leiden: Brill Publishers: 119-136
* Nissen, M. A., 2017. The impact of Neoliberalism through ideas of productivity - The case of child welfare in Denmark. In Høgsbro, K. & Shaw, I. (eds.) Social work and research in Advanced Welfare states. Abingdon-Oxon, New York: Routledge: 61-73
* Nissen, M. A., 2015. Social Workers and the Sociological Sense of Social Problems: Balancing Objectivism, Subjectivism, and Social Construction. Loseke, D. & Best, J. (eds.) Special Issue: Constructionist Futures: New Directions in Social Problems Theory. Qualitative Sociology Review. XI (2): 216-231
* Nissen, M. A., 2014. In search for a sociology of social problems for social work. Qualitative Social Work. 13(4): 555-570.

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