One of Norway's foremost Russia researchers steps down
Jakub Godzimirski is retiring after a long career as a Russia researcher at NUPI.
Now the time has come for the media's go-to researcher to become a pensioner. Or is it, really? You'll find the answer further down in the story.
Jakub Godzimirski came to Norway from Poland in 1987, with his wife and first child, and a doctorate in social anthropology in the moving van. Since then he has built himself up as one of Norway's foremost researchers on Russian foreign and security policy.
"For several decades, Jakub has been one of NUPI's leading experts on Russia's foreign and security policy, and a pioneer on the connection between energy, power and geopolitics. With more than 200 publications, he has left deep professional marks. But what I want to thank him most for is the kind of colleague he has been: generous with his knowledge and always willing to share," says Kari M. Osland, director of NUPI.
Julie Wilhelmsen, head of the research group on Russia, Eurasia and the Arctic at NUPI, calls Jakub a walking bank of knowledge. "He always remembers the details and keeps his balance. He has served NUPI and Norwegian society for more than 30 years and delivered high professional quality. On top of that, he has a good relationship with every single colleague at NUPI. We are going to miss Jakub enormously," she says.
Many joined in celebrating Jakub's solid research career when NUPI held a farewell gathering for him.
Colleagues describe Jakub as a team player, even in an industry where there can be sharp elbows and intrigue. In his old office at C.J. Hambros Plass, where NUPI was based before moving to Rosenkrantz' gate, the bookshelves were filled to the brim. He even practiced "double bookkeeping": double rows of books on the shelves. And even then he knew exactly where each book stood, colleagues recall.
But how did the NUPI story begin for Jakub? Let's rewind almost 40 years.
Moved back and forth
When Jakub and his wife moved to Norway, the Norwegian economy was in one of the worst crises of recent times. In other words, finding a job became difficult.
"I quickly realized that demand for Polish social anthropologists with a doctorate from the Polish Academy of Sciences was not exactly high in the Norwegian labour market," recalls the "Norwegianized Pole," as he calls himself.
That led them to move back to Poland a few years later, after having their second child. As chance would have it, he got a job in a new civilian analytical unit in the Polish Ministry of Defence. Since he spoke five languages at that point, including the exotic language of Norwegian, he was in demand. But so was his wife, who got a job as a conservator at the Munch Museum. The family therefore moved back to Norway in 1995. Jakub then chose to complete a degree in information management at The Norwegian Business Academy in Oslo.
The following year, NUPI advertised three positions in its newly established Centre for Russian Studies. One of the tasks was to set up an internet-based database on Russian politics.
"During the interview, my knowledge of Russian was tested, and after a couple of weeks' wait I got the job offer from NUPI. I was to help design and build this database, and in addition I would work on studies of Russian foreign and security policy," he says.
Jakub had his first day at NUPI on 1 June 1995. "Given that I stayed at NUPI for more than 30 years, I assume it was the right choice," he says, adding:
"NUPI has been like a home to me. Considering that interest in Russian politics grew rather than shrank over these years, I often took my work home with me. The line between family life and work was erased. Not everyone was equally happy about this, but in the end we managed to find a balance."
Media favourite
In his long and varied working life as a Russia researcher, Jakub has been a favourite in the media. He is one of the most-interviewed researchers at NUPI. According to Wilhelmsen, Jakub has carried about a third of NUPI's communication on the war in Ukraine. Public education has been the goal. But when a researcher comments on ongoing security-policy situations, the analysis can miss the mark.
"Are there any analyses you got wrong that you'd like to highlight?"
"What I feel I got most wrong, which of course I wasn't alone in, had to do with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. I thought that Russia gathering thousands of soldiers at Ukraine's border was just a way to pressure the West into some strategic concessions. And here I was very wrong," he admits.
He has, on the other hand, been very right in his assumptions about Russia and Ukraine long before others in Norway.
"What I'm perhaps most proud of is that as early as 1997 I published what, until 2014 (when Russia invaded Crimea), was probably the longest text in Norwegian about the Crimean Peninsula, and which I concluded in the following way," says Jakub, referring to the conclusion of the article:
"The various political and economic instruments Russia can employ to make Ukraine show greater accommodation of Russian claims on Crimea mean that this area can be counted as one of the potentially, and unfortunately in fact, most dangerous conflict areas in the entire post-Soviet space. The combination of the identity conflict between the Ukrainian authorities and the local Russian majority and the strategic and geopolitical importance of Crimea may unfortunately still constitute an explosive mixture, despite declarations of good intentions."
Jakub Godzimirski is one of the NUPI researchers most quoted in the media.
A changed view of Russia?
Jakub's own relatives has a double-edged relationship with Russia.
"Russia and the former Soviet Union had many good sides," Jakub says. Among other things, he grew up surrounded by Russian music and literature. On the other hand, many of his Polish family members experienced terrible things in their encounter with the "Russian system." Some of them did not survive.
"With a family history like that, you perhaps become a bit more skeptical of Russia than many of my Norwegian colleagues," the researcher points out.
"Is there anything about Russia you still don't understand, after all these years?"
"When I talk to journalists, I often say that understanding Russian politics is as difficult as understanding love and radio waves. After trying to gain a better understanding of (not sympathy for) Russian politics, I have to admit that I am constantly surprised by what happens in and with this big neighbour to the east," the researcher says, adding: "I therefore feel the time is ripe for a new generation of Russia researchers to take over this 'understanding Russian politics' baton."
But has there been anything in particular he has been keen to pass on to newer generations?
"I have always tried to convey to others that a balanced approach is important, but that you should also be critical of what you see, hear or read."
Not a traditional retirement
And now that his field is more contentious than it has been in decades, the time has come to retire. But many researchers at Jakub's level never really "leave" in the ordinary sense. They become emeritus, work on pensioner terms and keep publishing and commenting. So what does retirement mean for Jakub?
"When you have work as a hobby and hobby as work, you never retire," he states.
Jakub will continue working part-time on the project NORPOLFACTOR2, which helps strengthen cooperation between Norway and Poland. But luckily for him, he will from now on be spared the research-institute sector's eternal headache, namely the earnings requirement: researchers are themselves responsible for bringing in funding for their research projects. On the other hand, it seems this has been overshadowed by the everyday encounters with people.
"What will be hardest to scale back on is the contact with people. I have very many good colleagues at NUPI and elsewhere whom I fear I'll see less of."
Both the person and the researcher Jakub Godzimirski received much praise from those attending his farewell celebration at NUPI.
"What are you going to spend your time on now?"
"The same as now: read, think, write and maybe take a bit better care of myself," he says.
According to colleagues, he has already scouted out which publisher he'll release his next book with. So he is clearly not quite ready to hang up his boots in working life for good. NUPI director Osland thinks that's a good thing.
"I am very grateful for everything he has contributed to NUPI, and I truly wish him the chance to enjoy quieter days. And I'm also glad that he'll stay connected to us as a pensioner," she says.