Kristian Berg Harpviken: All news

The 2026 Oscarsborg Symposium gathered leaders and experts from business, government, and research to examine the critical roles and conditions of businesses in defense and preparedness.

Leading decision-makers, business representatives, experts and researchers from across the Nordic region will gather at Oscarsborg Fortress on 1-2 October 2026 for the second annual Oscarsborg Symposium on Nordic Security. Hosted by PRIO.

On 6 November, Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide and Defence Minister Tore O. Sandvik received the report from the Afghanistan Commission assessing Norway’s engagement in the country.

As the conflict in Ukraine intensifies, questions about the prospects for peace and the shifting dynamics of international involvement take center stage in the latest episode of PRIO’s Peace in a Pod.

PRIO’s Deputy Director Torunn L. Tryggestad and PRIO Research Professor Kristian Berg Harpviken are both appointed members of new commission on Afghanistan.

Eirik Kristoffersen, Norway’s Chief of Defense, introduced the PRIO-hosted event on Norway's new role in NATO at Arendalsuka.

PRIO congratulates Research Professor Kristian Berg Harpviken who has been appointed the new Director of The Nobel Institute.

Arendalsuka is an annual Norwegian political festival that brings together politicians, journalists, policy makers, aid organisations, civil society and the private sector.

Today, Rahmat Hashemi successfully defended his dissertation.

Stefan Löfven, former Prime Minister of Sweden, and Knut Storberget, former Norwegian Minister of Justice, gave the key introductions at the PRIO-hosted event on Nordic security.

A new survey shows that 70 per cent of respondents believe Norway should put up an armed resistance if it is attacked by another country.

A new podcast series on ethics in peace negotiations is now available on Spotify.

​Arendalsuka is an annual Norwegian political festival that brings together politicians, journalists, policy makers, aid organisations, civil society and the private sector.

This new case brief under the On Fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation (FAIR) project written by Kristian Berg Harpviken focuses on how the US-Taliban agreement paved the way for the Taliban’s takeover, an outcome that was not given yet seemed highly likely, whether seen from the vantage point of 2018 (when talks started) or 2020 (when they were concluded).

PRIO was awarded new funding this week by the Research Council of Norway for a 3-year project, Russian Approaches to Peace Processes.

​Call for Papers for an international symposium & workshop, 9-10 November 2023.

The PRIO Research School on Peace and Conflict, incollaboration with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, hosted doctoralcandidates at the PhD-level course.

​The new open accessbook Livesin Peace Research: The Oslo Stories explains how PRIO, the world'soldest independent peace research institute, was founded and how it survivedthrough crises.

​Russia’s war in Ukraine has been met with global condemnation drawing NATO and the EU closer together in coordinating collective responses.

What is the current status of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)? What are its main challenges? What types of scenarios can we envision for UNRWA's future?These were some of the questions discussed today when the PRIO Middle East Centre and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a roundtable with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

​In the MidEast Policy Brief 'Irresolvable Dilemmas? The Prospects for Repatriation for Syrian Refugees', Research Professor Kristian Berg Harpviken and Research Assistant Bjørn Schirmer-Nilsen address the challenges for Syrian refugees in major host countries, the refugees' eroding opportunities for onward migration, and their prospects for repatriation.

​On 9-10 September 2021, around 20 researchers met for a hybrid online-offline workshop to share their research on specific cases of ethical issues in peace negotiations and mediation.

​In a new policy brief on the importance of a neighborly concert for Afghan peace, Kristian Berg Harpviken examines the present state of affairs in each of the main regions surrounding Afghanistan: Central Asia, South Asia and the Gulf.

​In their first-ever report to examine conflict trends in the Middle East, PRIO researchers take a closer look at the hard data on the number of conflicts – between states, within states, as well as one sided violence – and at ceasefires as well as peace agreements.

​On the occasion of the Royal visit – by His Majesty King Harald V and Queen Sonja –  to Jordan 2-4 March, PRIO co-hosted the seminar 'Preserving Spaces for Dialogue in the Middle East' in collaboration with the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan.

King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway will visit Jordan 2-4 March, accepting an invitation from King Abdullah II.

​The Research School on Peace and Conflict invites applications for the PhD course "International Mediation: Theory, Cases and Skills" to take place at PRIO in Oslo on 8-12 June 2020.

​What makes peace negotiations fair?This is the over-arching question asked in the project On Fair Terms: The Ethics of Peace Negotiations and Mediation, which has now received three years of NORGLOBAL funding from the Research Council of Norway.

It is a paradox that anti-immigration movements, whose key concern is opposing mobility across borders and who advocate isolationism, nationalism and cultural traditionalism, often work transnationally.

​Nikos Christodoulides, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic ofCyprus, gave the inaugural lecture for the newly established PRIO Middle EastCentre on Wednesday 27 November.