Blog post archive

Sunday, 1 Oct 2023
Ola Listhaug (1949–2023)

Ola Listhaug was an international scholar, a mentor to numerous students and younger colleagues, and an entrepreneurial university administrator. He passed away on 14 September and will be missed by many. Ola Listhaug was born in the small community of Sjøholt in Western Norway, where he also eventually retired and ...

Monday, 24 Oct 2022
Simon Schwartzman: My Norwegian Mentor

Johan Galtung, PRIO’s founder, is 92 today. We take this opportunity to publish an  essay by one of his former students, Simon Schwartzman. In 1963, I met Johan Galtung for the first time. He was to become one of my important mentors. This is the story of how that came ...

Monday, 13 Dec 2021
Can Peace be Researched? Revisiting a 55-Year-Old TV Program

I was reminded recently that a 55-year-old TV program about PRIO and peace research is currently available on the website of NRK, Norway’s public radio and TV company. You can access it here. The two-part program was broadcast on 18 and 25 October 1966. NRK does not have any information ...

Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Non-Pacifist Philosophy in Good Faith: Henrik Syse Interviewed by Trond Bakkevig

Henrik Syse, interviewed by Trond Bakkevig My Christian faith was formed in an intellectual framework. I do not mean intellectual in the academic sense of the word. It was more that thought became part of my faith. This is what PRIO’s first philosopher, Henrik Syse, tells PRIO’s first pastor, Trond ...

Friday, 21 Feb 2020
Olav Bjerkholt (1942–2020)

Olav Bjerkholt, professor emeritus of economics at Oslo University, passed away on 16 February. A mathematician who converted himself to an economist, he worked in the Research Department at Statistics Norway (Statistisk sentralbyrå, SSB) for 30 years. He then moved to the University of Oslo as professor of energy and ...