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    Nina Græger left PRIO in 2026. The information on this page is kept for historical reasons.

    Nina Græger

    Nina Græger

    Interests and experience

    • Regional and global security, global order and governance
    • International organisations, EU-NATO relations
    • European security and defence, transatlantic relations
    • Nordic and Norwegian foreign, security and defence policy, and military sociology
    • International Relations theory, esp. communities of practice, discourse analysis
    • Geographic area: Europe, Nordic region, Arctic/'High North', transatlantic area, the Balkans

    Topic
    Security
    Topic
    Multilateral Affairs
    Topic
    Nordic Security
    Topic
    European Security

    Press release

    Thursday, 18 Sept 2025

    Nina Græger. Photo: PRIO

    Nobel Peace Prize 2025: PRIO Director’s updated list announced

    The Director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Nina Græger, announced her updated list today for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.

    Event

    11–13 Aug 2025

    .

    PRIO at Arendalsuka 2025

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

    News

    Friday, 6 Jun 2025

    Outgoing PRIO Director Henrik Urdal, incoming Director Nina Græger and Research Professor Inger Skjelsbæk talk at a panel during the event 'Making PRIO’s Director Transition – A Conversation About Peace Under Pressure.'. Photo: PRIO

    PRIO Marks Leadership Transition with event on “Peace Under Pressure”

    PRIO welcomed guests for a special event this week, marking the transition of leadership from outgoing Director Henrik Urdal to incoming Director Nina Græger.

    Nina Græger was Director at PRIO during 2025-2026. Prior to taking up the Director position, she served as Head of Department and Professor in International Relations at the University of Copenhagen from 2019–2025. She has previously worked as a researcher at PRIO for two periods between 1993 and 1998. From 1998–⁠2019 she held different positions at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), and where she was affiliated as Research Professor II from 2019-2025.

    Nina Græger´s research focuses on global and European security, including territorial, hybrid and climate security. She is also an expert on Nordic and Norwegian foreign-, security-, and defence policy and co-editor of the first Handbook of Nordic Cooperation (2025), https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/handbook-of-nordic-cooperation-9781035319718.html. Græger´s work on international institutions, and especially EU-NATO relations, is widely cited in the fast growing IR literature on practice theory. In a journal article from 2024, '"High Politics" and Everyday Practices at the Border: Emerging Communities of Practice in the High North', she also shows how local collaboration arising over time – communities of practice – often continues across national, organisational and professional borders, despite international tension and conflict.

    Education and work experience

    Nina Græger holds an MSc and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Oslo. Her doctoral research analysed the restructuring and internationalisation of security and defense policy in the post-Cold War era, with an empirical focus on the Norwegian Armed Forces.

    Work positions
    2025–2026
    DirectorPeace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
    2019–2025
    Head of Department and Professor in International RelationsUniversity of CopenhagenDepartment of Political Science
    2019–2025
    Research professor IINorsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (NUPI)
    2013–2017
    Associate Professor IINorwegian University of Environment and Bioscience (NMBU)20 % position - teaching, supervision and course convenor
    2006–2019
    Senior Research FellowNorwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
    2000–2006
    PhD Candidate and Research FellowNorwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI)
    1997–1998
    ResearcherPeace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
    1996
    Political Adviser to Mr. Jens StoltenbergThe Norwegian Ministry of Industry and Energy
    1993–1996
    Research AssistantPeace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
    1991–1992
    Masters StudentPeace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
    Education
    2024
    INSEAD Executive Management Programme INSEAD Business SchoolDenmark and France
    2007
    PhD in Political Science University of Oslo
    1994
    Cand. Polit., Political Science University of Oslo
    1989
    Cand. mag. University of Oslo
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