NUPI and EUI formalise long-standing research partnership
Professor Simone Tholens (EUI), Director Erik Jones (EUI), Director Kari Osland (NUPI), senior researcher Øyvind Svendsen (NUPI), research professor John Karlsrud (NUPI)
Two of Europe's leading research institutions have taken a significant step forward in their collaboration. The Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI) and the European University Institute (EUI) have signed a Partnership Agreement, formalising a relationship that has already produced many results and opening the door to more shared research and academic exchange.
The agreement was celebrated on 13 March 2026 with a high-level seminar in Oslo on diplomatic engagement in an era of geopolitical turbulence, bringing together researchers, diplomats, and senior policymakers. (LINK)
A partnership with deep roots
The two institutions are not starting from scratch. Their collaboration stretches back to 2017, with a series of major research projects funded by both the Research Council of Norway and the European Union. Together, they have worked on projects like HYRES, which examined hybrid pathways to resistance among Islamist groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Mali, and Libya; PREVEX, a Horizon 2020 project focused on preventing violent extremism in the Balkans and the MENA region; and STATEISLAM, which studied reactions to state regulation of Islam in the aftermath of Daesh. Most recently, the ADHOCISM project — running from 2021 to 2025 — investigated how ad hoc crisis responses affect international organisations. Across these projects, the two institutions have built genuine research relationships and a shared understanding of what rigorous, policy-relevant collaboration looks like.
Two institutions, complementary strengths
The partnership brings together two institutions with distinct but deeply complementary profiles.
NUPI, established by the Norwegian Parliament in 1959, is Norway's premier research institution on international politics. Operating independently under the Ministry of Education and Research, NUPI combines basic and applied research across a wide thematic and geographic scope — from Arctic security and Nordic foreign policy to conflict, global governance, climate, and the Middle East. Its researchers are regular contributors to policy debates in Norway and internationally.
The EUI, founded in 1972 by the original member states of the European Community and based in Fiesole outside Florence, operates with a three-pillar mandate: providing advanced doctoral and post-doctoral training; fostering research on European integration and global politics through its Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies; and delivering postgraduate and executive education on transnational governance through its Florence School of Transnational Governance. With 23 member states and a community of more than 1,200 students, researchers, and staff, the EUI also hosts the Historical Archives of the European Union — an unparalleled resource for understanding the EU integration process. In 2024, the EUI was ranked among the top six institutions in the world for political science.
What the partnership entails
The agreement establishes a broad framework for cooperation in social sciences and humanities, with a particular focus on international relations, peace and conflict studies, and international security. At a moment when the international order is under pressure from multiple directions — Russia's war in Ukraine, China's growing global role, and an uncertain transatlantic relationship — the knowledge produced by institutions like NUPI and EUI has never been more consequential. This partnership ensures that more of it will be produced together.