Her current research examines why students in Norwegian higher education succeed or drop out, using Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to understand how basic psychological needs, causality orientations, aspirations, and behavioral regulations shape academic outcomes. She works with preregistered quantitative methods, including multidimensional scaling and factor analysis, analysed in R.

Shaparenko's path to SDT developed through a sustained focus on human motivation, values and needs. Her master's thesis investigated values, needs, and internet addiction among young people. She then completed a monograph-based doctoral dissertation (Candidate of Psychological Sciences) at Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University on ethnic self-awareness and value orientations among the Lemko minority in Ukraine, grounded in Schwartz's theory of basic values. Findings from the dissertation are disseminated in five peer-reviewed articles.

She currently teaches didactics in psychology in the Practical Pedagogical Education (PPU) programme and serves on the Faculty of Psychology's teaching committe.

PSYK109: Motivation Psychology

PSYK111: History of Psychology

DIDAPSYK1B: Subject Didactics in Psychology, first semester

DIDAPSYK2B: Subject Didactics in Psychology, second semester

See a complete overview of publications in NVA.

The role of the self-determination in academic achievement and drop-out of Norwegian students.