Ulf Sverdrup continues as Director of NUPI

'I and NUPI’s Board are very pleased to announce that Ulf Sverdrup has accepted to renew his fixed term at NUPI. NUPI has had an excellent development under Ulf’s leadership and we look forward to continued progress in the years to come,' says Chair of NUPI’s Board Kate Hansen Bundt.

The next term of six years begins on January 1st, 2018.

NUPI has had a good last few years with a healthy economy and operation. NUPI’s researchers perform well, placing the institute among the most-publishing institutions in Norway and securing a high success rate in the competition about funding from the Research Council of Norway (RCN), the EU, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other sources. NUPI’s visibility is high, both nationally and internationally, and the RCN’s recent evaluations of Norwegian research institutes emphasize NUPI as a strong and important institution in Norwegian society.

'We want NUPI to be academically strong, and at the same time relevant and visible, and that our research has an impact on society. This is something Ulf can contribute to,' says Bundt.

'A privilege'

The position as Director of NUPI for the period from 2018 to 2024 was publicly announced at the beginning of the year. Sverdrup was one of the applicants.

'I am grateful for this show of confidence and strongly motivated for a new term. This job entails long hours, but it is a privilege to work in such a solid knowledge-oriented organization. Together with our excellent staff we have achieved a lot, but research is not static and new challenges emerge continuously. When we look around us, we see that Norway’s surroundings are characterized by rapid change. Increased geopolitical risk affect politics, markets and society. The demand and need for knowledge, sound analysis and research about international politics and relations are therefore increasing. It is NUPI’s societal responsibility to meet this need,' says Sverdrup.

'Have to be flexible'

'To succeed we must continue to attract talented people, create strong groups, and have good international networks. We have to continuously strive to improve ourselves. Around 80 % of NUPI’s revenues come from project funding. Because of this we have to be sufficiently flexible in the way we operate in order to meet the different demands that our employers and funders have,' Sverdrup says, continuing:

'Our ability to compete and win in the competition with other actors in the field will decide our prospects to a large degree. But ultimately, our future depends on the willingness of authorities, private sector and the society at large to invest in knowledge about international affairs and Norwegian foreign policy. I will therefore work to make the financial foundations for NUPI’s activities more comprehensive, broader and more long term.'

Sverdrup has been NUPI’s Director since 2012. He has a doctorate in political science from the University of Oslo. Before he started at NUPI, he was a Professor at the Norwegian Business School (BI), and at the ARENA Centre for European Studies and the University of Oslo. Sverdrup has published extensively on a range of topics within international politics, and especially on European politics, European integration and Norwegian foreign policy. He also headed the secretariat of the Comprehensive Review of the EEA (Official Norwegian Report (NOU) 2012-2).