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Researcher

Niels Nagelhus Schia

Research Professor, Head of the Research group on security and defense, Head of NUPI's Research Centere on New Technology
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Contactinfo and files

nns@nupi.no
(+47) 90 40 12 01
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Summary

Niels Nagelhus Schia is a research professor specializing in the intersection of new technology and international relations. He leads the Research group on security and defense at NUPI, and co-manages the institute’s Research Centre for New Technology. With a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Oslo and a fellowship from the New School for Social Research (NSSR), Schia combines deep academic insight with practical experience in global policymaking.

Schia has chaired prominent initiatives such as the Norwegian government's expert group on AI, democracy, and elections (2024–2025), he served as co-coordinator for the reference group on Norway's role in the UN Security Council (2021–2022), and he has been the project leader of several larger research projects. A former Fulbright scholar and board member of the Fulbright Association in Norway, he is also a longstanding contributor to international conferences, United Nations discussions, and working groups.

Beyond his research, Schia is deeply engaged in shaping the global academic and policy landscape. He was co-editor of Internasjonal Politikk, the leading Scandinavian journal on international relations, for nearly a decade (2017–2025). He serves as a member of the Holberg Debate working group, the advisory council of the United Nations Association of Norway, and other forums dedicated to advancing knowledge and dialogue in his field.

Expertise

  • Cyber
  • Development policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • International organizations
  • United Nations

Education

2015 PhD, Social Antropology, University of Oslo

2004 Cand.polit., Social anthropology, University of Oslo

Work Experience

2022- Head of NUPI's Research group on security and defence

2017- Co-editor of the leading Scandinavian-language International Relations-journal Internasjonal Politikk

2015- Head, NUPI's Cyber Security Centre. 2010 Advisor, Civil Affairs, Policy Best Practices Services (PBPS), UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, New York HQ

2009 Visiting scholar at The New School for Social Research, New York, Leiv Eiriksson mobility programme (The Research Council of Norway) and Fulbright Scholar

2003- Research Assistant / Research Fellow / Senior Research Fellow/Research Professor, NUPI

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2012-2016 Board member Fulbright Alumni Association of Norway

2013-2016 Head of Scientific Committee for Fulbright annual research award

Aktivitet

Research project
2016 - 2018 (Completed)

Cybersecurity Capacity Building 2.0 - Bridging the digital divide and strengthening sustainable development

This project will study cybersecurity capacity building (CCB) and the sustainability of development processes in developing countries. ...

  • Security policy
  • Cyber
  • Development policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
  • Security policy
  • Cyber
  • Development policy
  • Diplomacy
  • Foreign policy
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Report

Cyber Security as Development Assistance - Growth and Vulnerability

The importance of digital technology underpins most of the social, economic and political development goals of most donor countries and international organisations today. Cyber Security Capacity Building (CCB), an approach aimed at advancing, cultivating and encouraging growth and stability in developing countries through digitalization, seems set to play an increasingly important role in future foreign policy considerations and government programmes. In the NUPI project ‘Cyber Security Capacity Building (2015-2016) we have mapped out concrete risks and challenges, proposed recommendations for dealing with them, and provided suggestions for implementing the adequate tools effectively. This policy brief presents a summary of the final report, which draws on project reports produced by NUPI related to this project.

  • Security policy
  • Cyber
  • Economic growth
  • Development policy
  • United Nations
  • Security policy
  • Cyber
  • Economic growth
  • Development policy
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Report

Cybersikkerhet og utvikling

  • Security policy
  • Cyber
  • Economic growth
  • Development policy
  • United Nations
  • Security policy
  • Cyber
  • Economic growth
  • Development policy
  • United Nations
Four children at the Protection of Civilians (POC) site of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)
Research project
2012 - 2016 (Completed)

Protection of Civilians. From Principle to Practice (PoC)

Protection of Civilians: From Principle to Practice ...

  • Development policy
  • Foreign policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • South and Central America
  • Peace operations
  • Humanitarian issues
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
  • Development policy
  • Foreign policy
  • The Middle East and North Africa
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • South and Central America
  • Peace operations
  • Humanitarian issues
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Report

Teach a person how to surf: Cyber security as development assistance

Much policy literature on digitalization and development has focused on the importance of connecting developing countries to digital networks, and how such technology can expand access to information for billions of people in developing countries, stimulating economic activity, collaboration and organizations. Good connection to digital networks may have a fundamental impact on societies, changing not only how individuals and businesses navigate, operate and seek opportunities, but also as regards relations between government and the citizenry. Instead of adding to the substantial literature on the potential dividends, this report examines a less studied issue: the new societal vulnerabilities emerging from digitalization in developing countries. While there is wide agreement about the need to bridge the gap between the connected and the disconnected, the pitfalls are many, especially concerning cyber security, a topic often neglected, also in the recent World Bank report Digital Dividends (2016). The present report is an attempt at redressing this imbalance.

  • Cyber
  • Development policy
  • Cyber
  • Development policy
Publications
Publications
Report

Being Peacekept? The Implicit Assumptions that Hamper the Protection of Civilians

Protection of Civilians (PoC) has during the last decade evolved to become an important guideline for international actors in post-conflict and conflict affected societies. While much policy literature has been written on how to better implement the PoC framework, less has been written on the conceptual framework of the protection of civilians and how this fits with local contexts, networks and relationships. Drawing on recent research and empirical material from Afghanistan, Somalia, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda and Colombia this policy brief identifies five implicit assumptions underpinning the Protection of Civilians as conceptualized in the Aide Memoire and UN Security Council resolutions. Through these assumptions we analyze how a skewed conceptual platform for protection implementers paradoxically disconnects protection needs.

  • Peace operations
  • United Nations
  • Peace operations
  • United Nations
Event
12:00 - 14:00 Europe/Oslo
NUPI
Engelsk
Event
12:00 - 14:00 Europe/Oslo
NUPI
Engelsk
27. Jan 2016
Event
12:00 - 14:00 Europe/Oslo
NUPI
Engelsk

Launch of the World Bank Development Report 2016

The World Bank Group and the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD, invite you to a presentation of the World Bank Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends

Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Lær en mann å surfe

  • Cyber
  • Cyber
Publications
Publications
Chapter

Reforms, Customs and Resilience: Justice for Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Liberia

This book explores the burgeoning interest in alternative and innovative justice responses to sexual violence both within and outside the legal system. It explores the limits of criminal law for achieving 'rape justice' and highlights possibilities for expanding how we think about justice in the aftermath of sexual violence.

  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • United Nations
  • Africa
  • Peace operations
  • United Nations
Publications
Publications
Scientific article

Reforming informal membership and practice of the UN Security Council

  • Diplomacy
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
  • Diplomacy
  • International organizations
  • United Nations
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