PRIO Board

Board Member Bios

Trine Skei Grande (Chair)

Trine Skei Grande has a background as a politician, representing the Liberal Party in Norwegian Parliament since 2001. She stepped down in 2020 after ten years as party chair and leader of the party parliamentary group, but will maintain her seat in parliament until the autumn 2021 election. She is currently a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, has previously been a member of the Committee on Education and Research, and has served as both Minister of Culture and Gender Equality and Minister of Education in the current Norwegian government.

Elisabeth Heggelund Tørstad (Deputy Chair)

Elisabeth Tørstad is CEO of Asplan Viak, coming from the role of CEO for DNV GL Digital Solutions. Elisabeth has held various international leadership positions in sectors such as maritime, oil and gas, renewable energy and the construction industry. She is a graduate of MSc in Physics at the University of Oslo and has also been educated as a construction engineer and business economist.

Tuomas Forsberg

Tuomas Forsberg is Director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, and Professor of International Relations at the University of Tampere. He has worked as the acting director and senior research fellow of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

Bernard Enjolras

Bernard Enjolras is Research Professor and Director of the Center for Research on Civil Society and Voluntary Sector at the Institute for Social Research. He was previously the coordinator of the EU-FP7 project Third Sector Impact, and Editor-in-Chief of  Voluntas.

Ragnhild Helene Hennum

Ragnhild Hennum is Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo. She holds a doctorate and an LLM from the University of Oslo. Before being elected Dean, Hennum was Director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights. She has also previously served as the University of Oslo’s acting Pro-Rector and Vice-Rector, and as President of the Norwegian Women’s Lobby.

Damian Laws

Damian Laws is employee representative on the PRIO Board, His position at PRIO is Department Manager and Management Adviser.

Georgina Berry

Georgina Berry is employee representative on the PRIO Board. Her position at PRIO is Publications Editor.

Kai Eide

Kai Eide is a retired diplomat and politician. He has been the United Nations Special Representative to Afghanistan and to Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has been a member of the Norwegian Foreign Service since 1975 and has served as Norway’s Ambassador to the OSCE, NATO and Sweden.

Stein Hernes

Stein Hernes is Vice President Political and Public Affairs in Equinor. He has experience from NATO, Statkraft, Ministry of Petroleum & Energy, Norwegian Parliament and the Office of the Prime Minister of Norway.

Magnus Öberg

Magnus Öberg is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University and Director of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.

Kari Steen-Johnsen

Kari Steen-Johnsen is Research Director for politics, democracy, civil society at the Institute for Social Research. She completed her master’s degree in sociology at the University of Oslo, and her PhD at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences.

Brynjar Lia

Brynjar Lia is Professor of Middle East Studies in the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo, and an adjunct research professor at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment. He holds a doctorate in history from the University of Oslo. Lia is a noted expert on terrorism, and a former Director of the University of Oslo’s Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies.

Kristoffer Lidén

Kristoffer Lidén is Senior Researcher at PRIO and the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies. He holds a PhD in Philosophy.

Øystein H. Rolandsen

Øystein H. Rolandsen is Research Professor and co-director of the PRIO Centre for Culture and Violent Conflict. He holds a PhD in History.