New collaborative project on critical infrastructure to NUPI

Last week, it was announced that a new project led by NUPI has received funding from the Research Council of Norway.

The INFRAPOL project is led by NUPI researcher John Karlsrud. On the team are NUPI colleagues Lars Gjesvik and Ole Martin Stormoen, along with experts from a range of partner institutions. Together, they will explore how critical infrastructure – such as ports, data centers, subsea cables, and oil and gas pipelines – should be governed. Critical infrastructure is subject to complex political and economic pressures, often involving cross-border ownership interests. Public and private actors may have diverging interests – yet they must also cooperate both before and during crises.

“This is an extremely relevant project that will generate new knowledge on how public and private actors can address a wide spectrum of challenges related to critical infrastructure,” says project leader John Karlsrud.

Critical infrastructure has long been a cornerstone of national security, but it is also increasingly central to geopolitical power struggles. This makes the project particularly timely.

“On behalf of NUPI, I am proud and pleased that John and his collaborators have succeeded in securing funding for this project. It is both an important and a unique initiative. Important because it will generate new insights and offer well-informed advice on how to improve the governance of critical infrastructure in a rapidly changing geopolitical context. Unique because it brings together a broad spectrum of actors – public, military, and private – who will jointly contribute to this new body of knowledge,” says NUPI Director Kari M. Osland.