Social Complexity and Asymmetric Warfare
Head Researcher
Dr. Ingrid Vik
Dr. Ingrid Vik is an historian of religion with more than 20 years of experience in international affairs and security politics in several contexts and through a variety of platforms; as a researcher at the University of Oslo, a diplomat at the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs, as a senior partner in consultancy and as a director and head of departments in Norwegian organizations. Academically she is specialized in the nexus of religion and politics/conflicts with a specific focus on societal trust, security, and democratic developments. Currently she is engaged in projects relating to soft security, non-military threats to democracy and internationally agreed norms and rights and memory diplomacy/warfare in the European context.
Geographically, she has had a focus on the Nordic context, Eastern Europe/ Southeast Europe, Western Africa/ Sahel, and the Middle East. She has written articles and books on anti-liberal states and actors in international affairs (2013, 2019), on religion and diplomacy (2019), on trust and cleavages in Norwegian politics (2022, 2015), and on security and politics in the Western Balkans.
Researcher - Professional Contributor
Dr. Cecilie Hellestveit is a legal scholar and social scientist with a PhD in International Law from the University of Oslo. She has been associated with several research institutions both domestically and internationally, focusing on international law and armed conflicts. Hellestveit is particularly interested in the international legal regulation of new forms of warfare and weaponry, the protection of civilians, and the relationship between international law and geopolitics. She has co-authored the book “Krigens folkerett – Norge og vår tids kriger” (The Law of Armed Conflict – Norway and Our Time’s Wars) with Gro Nystuen (2020). Hellestveit has worked on armed conflicts in the Middle East for several decades. In Norwegian, she has previously published a book on the war in Syria (2017). In the fall of 2020, Hellestveit published the book “Omen – krig i Jemen og en verden i endring” (Omen – War in Yemen and a Changing World). She has been a council member of the Ethics Council for the Government Pension Fund Global (Sovereign Wealth Fund) since 2015 and has recently served on the government-appointed Ethics Committee for the Sovereign Wealth Fund. Hellestveit is affiliated with the newly established Norwegian Centre for International Law (NAIL).
Director - UTSYN
Hedda Langemyr
Hedda Langemyr has more than 20 years experience from Norwegian civil society organizations. She is specialised on Norwegian defence- and security policy, the High North and Arctic Security, as well as hybrid threats and cognitive warfare. She is a prominent voice in the Norwegian public debate on these issues, and has written multiple articles and op-eds in Norwegian newspapers. Langemyr has also been the chairman of the board at The Norwegian Humanistic Academy Nansenskolen and is currently leading the network for social security and total defence at Polyteknisk Forening. Her educational background includes International Studies at The University of Oslo and Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen.
Research Assistant - Washington DC
Astri Edvardsen
Astri Edvardsen is a journalist in High North News, an international online newspaper based in Bodø, Northern Norway, that covers the High North and the Arctic. She works in particular with foreign, security and defense policy, with an emphasis on Norway, the USA and Russia. Edvardsen has a master's degree in political science from the UiT – the Arctic University of Norway.
Research Assistant - Washington DC
Marie Staberg
Marie Staberg is soon finishing her bachelor's degree in journalism at Nord University in Bodø. She has worked for NRK Nordland and other local newspapers. Staberg is also scheduled to have a two-month internship at the online newspaper High North News. She has been affiliated with the Nordic Press Center in Washington DC, where she worked on and learned about disinformation in the United States of America.
Research Assistant
Ragnhild Tvergrov Skare
Ragnhild is an information coordinator at UTSYN – Centre for Security and Resilience. She holds a BA in European Politics from King’s College London where she wrote her dissertation on Russian memory diplomacy in the North of Norway. For this, she earned the award of best dissertation in the Department of European and International Studies. Formerly, Ragnhild has worked at the Norwegian Embassy in Riga, Latvia and at UTSYN as an intern. She is especially interested in influence operations in social media, modern threats against democracy, Russia and Eastern Europe.