Vitenskapelige gjennombrudd, teknologiske innovasjoner, klimaendringer, energikriser og helseutfordringer skaper et stadig større behov for at politiske beslutninger bygger på oppdatert og pålitelig kunnskap. Samtidig øker kompleksiteten i saker beslutningstakere må håndtere. Behovet for uavhengig, troverdig og forskningsbasert kunnskap for politikkutforming har aldri vært større.
European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) samler de nasjonale vitenskapsakademiene i Europa for å gi uavhengige og forskningsbaserte råd til europeiske beslutningstakere. Gjennom rapporter, «policy briefs» og direkte dialog med EU-institusjonene bidrar EASAC til å sette kunnskap og fakta i sentrum av politikkutforming på områder som klima, energi, biologisk mangfold og helse.
I dette foredraget vil Lise Øvreås (president i EASAC, og tidligere preses i Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi) belyse hvordan akademiene samarbeider for å identifisere viktige samfunnsutfordringer, utvikle kunnskapsgrunnlag og formidle dette til politiske prosesser. Hun vil gi eksempler fra klima- og energipolitikk, naturrestaurering og europeisk beredskap for å vise hvordan vitenskapsakademier kan bidra til konkrete politiske prosesser og samtidig ivareta rollen som frie og uavhengige kunnskapsaktører.
Erfaringene fra Europa danner også utgangspunkt for en bredere diskusjon om hvilken rolle vitenskapsakademier bør spille i samfunnsdebatten, og hvordan akademier som Norges Tekniske Vitenskapsakademi (NTVA) kan bidra til at viktige beslutninger i Norge i større grad bygger på oppdatert vitenskapelig kunnskap.
NTVA har som formål å fremme forskning, utdanning og utvikling innen de tekniske og tilgrensende vitenskaper, stimulere til internasjonalt samarbeid og bidra til at informasjon om teknologi og naturvitenskap formidles – til beste for det norske samfunn og for utviklingen av norsk næringsliv. Hvordan gjør vi best dette? Hvordan kan vi bidra til samfunnsdebatten og beslutninger tas på et oppdatert kunnskapsgrunnlag? Finn Gunnar Nielsen (president i NTVA) vil formidle tanker og ambisjoner for NTVA som en innledning til diskusjon for å nå disse målene.
Join the Arctic conversation that brings together science, business, policy and local communities to address challenges and opportunities in the region. The next Arctic Frontiers conference: Information/Disinformation is held in Tromsø, Norway, February 1-4, 2027.
Quantum technologies are beginning to reshape the security foundations of digital infrastructure. The prospect of quantum computers presents a threat to widely used cryptographic mechanisms, while quantum phenomena open for new paradigms for secure communication. Explore this recording of a recent event on the risks and opportunities for cyber-security.
Emerging quantum technologies, while still in their early stages, are already beginning to reshape the foundations of digital security.
Large-scale quantum computers will be able to break some of the most widely used cryptographic mechanisms that underpin secure digital communication and transactions, enabling services such as e-mail, online banking, and internet payments. Although quantum-resistant alternatives already exist, migrating our digital infrastructure to these new cryptographic standards will be a major undertaking.
Yet quantum technologies are not only a potential threat to digital security. Quantum phenomena may also create new opportunities, opening the door to entirely new paradigms for secure communication.
In this recorded event Carlos Cid and Morten Øygarden will discuss the status of quantum technologies, as well as the risks and opportunities they present for cyber security.
Med Johannes Bergh, Dag Arne Christensen, Ragnhild Louise Muriaas, Lise Øvreås og Ole Rasmus Øvretveit.
Ons. 28. oktober kl. 18:00 – 19:30 Olav H. Hauge-salen, Litteraturhuset i Bergen
Stortingsvalet 2025 fann stad i ei tid prega av aukande polarisering, internasjonal uro og store spørsmål om økonomi, tryggleik og samfunnsutvikling. Samstundes såg vi nye konfliktlinjer, endra veljarrørsler og ei mobilisering som sette sitt preg på valkampen. Kva var det som dreiv veljarane? Kvifor stemte nordmenn slik dei gjorde? Og kva fortel valresultatet om retninga for norsk politikk dei komande åra?
Denne kvelden inviterer vi til ein samtale med Johannes Bergh, forskingsleiar ved Institutt for samfunnsforsking og ein av Noregs fremste valforskarar. Gjennom mange år har han forska på val, politisk deltaking og veljaråtferd, og vore sentral i arbeidet med den norske valforskinga. Med utgangspunkt i boka Konflikt og mobilisering. Ein studie av stortingsvalet 2025 vil Bergh gi eit djupdykk i dei viktigaste konfliktlinjene, sakene og veljardynamikkane som forma valet, og analysere korleis politiske parti, samfunnsendringar og internasjonale utviklingstrekk påverkar norsk demokrati.
Gjennom eit føredrag og ein påfølgjande panelsamtale vil vi sjå nærare på kva stortingsvalet 2025 kan fortelje oss om tilstanden til det norske demokratiet. Korleis endrar veljarane seg? Kva rolle spelar sosiale medium, identitet og geopolitiske hendingar? Er norsk politikk på veg inn i ei ny tid?
I tillegg til Johannes Bergh deltek Dag Arne Christensen, forskar ved NORCE, og Ragnhild Louise Muriaas, professor ved Institutt for politikk og forvaltning, Universitetet i Bergen, i panelet. Samtalen blir leia av Ole Rasmus Øvretveit, medan Lise Øvreås, professor ved Universitetet i Bergen, ønskjer velkomen.
150/120,–
Gratis for studentar ved framvising av studentbevis og for medlemmar av Academia Europaea
Quantum technologies are beginning to reshape the security foundations of digital infrastructure. The prospect of quantum computers presents a threat to widely used cryptographic mechanisms, while quantum phenomena open for new paradigms for secure communication. The event will explore risks and opportunities for cyber-security.
In this event Carlos Cid (external link) and Morten Øygarden will discuss the status of quantum technologies, as well as the risks and opportunities they present for cyber security.
There will be time for questions after the presentations. In-person event at Auditorium 2, Realfagbygget, University of Bergen
Med Tom Røseth, Andrea Mevold Zakariassen, Roger Henning Normann, Lise Øvreås og Ole Rasmus Øvretveit
Geopolitikk er ikkje lenger noko som berre utspelar seg mellom statar, ved landegrenser eller på fjerne slagmarker. I dag går frontlinjene også gjennom næringsliv, forskingsmiljø, offentleg forvaltning, digitale system og globale verdikjeder. Sikkerheit handlar ikkje berre om forsvar og beredskap, men i aukande grad om vala som blir tekne av bedrifter, universitet, kommunar og andre samfunnsaktørar.
I denne utgåva av samtaleserien Noreg i ei ny tid møter vi Tom Røseth, hovudlærar ved Forsvarets høgskole og medforfattar av boka Den nye frontlinjen: Geopolitikk, risiko og felles ansvar. Med utgangspunkt i boka vil Røseth vise korleis den nye geopolitiske rivaliseringa påverkar samfunnet langt utover den tradisjonelle tryggingspolitikken, og kvifor spørsmål om teknologi, forskingssamarbeid, økonomi, forsyningskjeder og digital infrastruktur i aukande grad også er spørsmål om nasjonal sikkerheit.
Kva betyr den nye tryggingssituasjonen for Noreg? Korleis bør næringsliv, akademia og offentlege institusjonar handtere eit meir samansett og uforutsigbart trusselbilete? Kva inneber totalforsvar i praksis når samfunnskritiske funksjonar i stor grad ligg utanfor staten? Og korleis kan vi balansere openheit, samarbeid og tryggleik i ei tid prega av aukande internasjonal rivalisering?
Etter innleiinga følgjer ein panelsamtale med Andrea Mevold Zakariassen, universitetslektor ved Institutt for samanliknande politikk, Universitetet i Bergen, og Roger Henning Normann, prodekan for nyskaping og regional utvikling på Høgskulen på Vestlandet. Deretter opnar vi for spørsmål frå salen.
Moderator er Ole Rasmus Øvretveit, statsvitar og forskar ved Universitetet i Bergen. Arrangementet blir opna av Lise Øvreås, direktør for Academia Europaea Bergen Hub.
Noreg i ei ny tid er ein debattserie i regi av Academia Europaea Bergen Hub ved Universitetet i Bergen, og skal vere ein fast arena for samtale om dei store geopolitiske, teknologiske og samfunnsmessige endringane som vil påverke Noreg og Europa i tiåra som kjem.
Velkomen til ein kveld om geopolitikk, samfunnstryggleik og felles ansvar i ei ny tid.
Social scientist Stein Kuhnle MAE has been a member of the Governance, Institutions and Policies section of Academia Europaea since 2012. One of his main scholarly interests for close to 5 decades has been the welfare state. His introduction to the Building Bridges plenary session “Survival of the Welfare State?” on 15 October will look back at the evolution of the welfare state, but also address challenges today.
Stein Kuhnle is a Professor emeritus at the Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen. He is also a steering group member at the Academia Europaea Bergen Knowledge Hub.
He gave some rather long, but very interesting answers when we asked him for a glimpse of his Building Bridges presentation.
– The welfare state has been of scholarly interest to you for many decades. What kinds of changes to the thinking around the welfare state have you seen through these decades?
– The welfare state can be seen to be a European invention and Bismarck’s comprehensive national social insurance program in the 1880s is often considered the ’take-off’ for the modern welfare state. The concept of ‘the welfare state’ had been coined in German (‘Wohlfahrtsstaat’) already in the 1840s and was used for the first time in Norwegian (‘velferdsstat’) in the 1880s, but at that time mostly with a negative connotation.
– It was only after WWII that the concept gained a positive connotation in Europe, not least inspired by the social innovation of a universal National Health Services in the UK in 1948. In Norway, all political parties represented in the parliament (Stortinget), from the Communist Party (NKP) on the left to the Conservatives (H) on the right, agreed after WWII on a unique joint political program in 1945 in which they pledged to build a social security system for the whole population. The period 1945-1975 was by some been labelled ‘the golden age’ of the European welfare state.
– The so-called ‘oil crisis’ in the Western world in the 1970s gave rise to critical reviews of government spending and ‘government overload’. The OECD published an influential book on “The Welfare State in Crisis” in 1981, and since then a great number of books and articles have been published on the alleged crises of the welfare state in Western countries with book titles such as “Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II”, “Dismantling the Welfare State”, “The End of the Welfare State?”, “The Withering of the Welfare State”, “After the Welfare State”. I started to think that the massive academic and political doubts about the status of the welfare state was a bit overblown, so in 2000, I edited a book on Routledge with the title “Survival of the European Welfare State” to offer an alternative historical, comparative perspective on the development of the welfare state and concluded that “the survival [of the European welfare state] is possible and likely – and desirable – if one listens to the voice of the majority of European voters. Voice counts.”
Stein Kuhnle (second from left) is a member of the Steering Group of the AE-Bergen Knowledge Hub. Photo: Nils Olav Sæverås
– I tend to think that developments over the last two decades have proven me right, and I was pleased to see that a recent book (2024) by two of my European colleagues, Anton Hemerijck and Manos Matsaganis, “Who’s Afraid of the Welfare State Now?”, seems to confirm this perspective. The welfare state is not under ‘de-construction’ – we can rather talk about a continuous re-construction project to encounter challenges of demographic change, international business cycles, social and economic structural change, and geopolitics.
– The proportion of Gross Domestic Product spent on social security and health has generally been stable or increasing in the (growing number of) OECD countries over the last 30 years, and social policies of various kinds have been introduced in more and more countries in the world, although the concept of ‘the welfare state’ is not part of the language everywhere. I think we can talk about ‘globalizing welfare’: the social role of the state is increasing in the world.
– How will you characterize the willingness of policymakers to adopt science advice in this field?
– I don’t think that I am in a position to make general statements on this, but I think it is fair to say that especially in the Nordic countries, but also in other European countries, there has been a long tradition since the 1960-70s to politically support both basic and applied social science research, and especially social welfare research, in order to provide governments and politicians with a best possible basis for policy decisions. Policymakers depend upon statistics, data, knowledge, and interpretations generated by academic research. Research findings are often used, or we could even say are necessary, to legitimize policy reforms, and researchers often play a role as active members of expert committees established by governments, thus furnishing bureaucratic and political actors with research-based advice.
– It is a common perception that the welfare state is more challenged today than in several decades. You will of course address this in your keynote, but can you already give a glimpse into your findings on this?
– The circumstances in which welfare states first arose and developed and the circumstances in which they operate today are very different. As mentioned, many factors affect future welfare state development. Constant reconstruction work is required, but that does not necessarily imply abandoning fundamental principles of overall public responsibility for welfare, social rights, and universal population coverage of social security. But the challenge of welfare state sustainability is in my view more critical now than 40-50 years ago.
– There is today talk about a global ‘polycrisis’ due to the experience of the Covid-pandemic, manifold wars and armed conflicts globally, persistent global refugee and migration crises, disruption of supply chains, increased energy and food insecurity, inflation and debt crises in many nations, accelerating climate change and climate-induced natural disasters, and – not least – the superpower USA’s recent withdrawal from international organizations and agreements, inducing increased geopolitical polarization and rivalry. The ‘polycrisis’ has a collateral damaging impact on the politics of welfare at national and international levels.
– Welfare states face interconnected challenges of economic, political and moral sustainability. Is the welfare state affordable: is it realistic to increase taxes or retain high taxes necessary to meet increasing demand for services for ageing populations? Can welfare issues remain on top of political agendas in a context with increased competition for public funding due to greater focus on security-related issues (defense, cyber, climate, etc)? Will trends towards increasing social inequality in many parts of the world lead to a social division of welfare? Can social solidarity in national welfare states be maintained if economic and political insecurity persist and national populations become more heterogenous?
– We can observe that both in and beyond Europe many national governments introduce social policy reforms to modify future growth of social expenditures, to expand employment, and to increase productivity, and on the international level there are examples of agreements to avoid “a race to the bottom” in terms of taxation necessary to finance welfare states, e.g. in the EU, which has instituted a minimum general VAT-tax of 15% and agreed on minimum national standards in various social policies; in the OECD, which initiated an agreement, now signed by 140 governments worldwide, on a global minimum corporate tax of 15% on big multinational companies. My hypothesis is, after all, that the European welfare state is resilient and that the idea of “the welfare state” will be further strengthened in other parts of the world.
At the Annual Meeting held in Tromsø on 15 April 2026, Professor Lise Øvreås was elected as a new Board Member of the Polar Academy. At the same meeting, Brit Lisa Skjelkvåle was elected as the Academy’s first Deputy Board Member following an amendment to the Academy’s statutes introducing the possibility of electing up to two deputy members to the Board.
The new arrangement is intended to strengthen continuity and ensure the Board remains fully operational when ordinary Board members are unable to attend meetings. Deputy members may be called upon to serve in place of Board members when required and may also participate in Board meetings as observers.
Both Øvreås and Skjelkvåle emphasise the growing importance of polar research at a time when the Arctic is experiencing rapid environmental change and increasing geopolitical attention.
“Polar regions are changing rapidly and play a key role in global climate and environmental processes. The complexity of these challenges requires close collaboration across disciplines and national borders. That is why both polar research and strong academic networks are more important than ever,” says Lise Øvreås.
AE Bergen Hub Academic Director Lise Øvreås is elected as a new Board Member of the Polar Academy.
Øvreås has more than 25 years of research experience in the Arctic, focusing on climate and biodiversity. She previously served as President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA) and is currently President of the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC). She looks forward to contributing her experience from the academy sector, international collaboration, and science-for-policy work to the Academy’s future activities.
For Brit Lisa Skjelkvåle, the appointment represents an opportunity to continue a long-standing engagement with Arctic issues that began during fieldwork in Svalbard in the early 1980s.
“The Academy can play an important role in bringing together and strengthening Norwegian polar research. The opportunity to contribute to this work is a strong motivation for me,” she says.
Skjelkvåle brings extensive experience from both the research institute sector and universities and currently works at the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo. She hopes to contribute perspectives from natural history and collection-based research, as well as her experience with interdisciplinary collaboration.
Both newly elected representatives highlight the importance of independent research and international academic cooperation in addressing the major environmental and societal challenges facing the polar regions. Through their complementary expertise and experience, they will contribute to strengthening the Academy’s work in promoting knowledge about the Arctic and Antarctic and the role of science in society.
The Board and Secretariat warmly welcome Lise Øvreås and Brit Lisa Skjelkvåle and look forward to working with them in the years ahead.
Kva rolle har diplomati i ei tid prega av krig, stormaktsrivalisering og aukande bruk av hard makt?
Verda er i rask endring. Konfliktnivået aukar, internasjonale institusjonar blir utfordra, og tilliten mellom statar er under press. Samstundes er behovet for dialog, forhandling og langsiktige løysingar større enn på lenge.
Til denne samtalen kjem Kai Eide, ein av Noregs mest erfarne diplomatar. Han har hatt sentrale roller i norsk utanrikspolitikk gjennom fleire tiår, mellom anna som norsk ambassadør, FN‑utsending og representant i NATO. Gjennom arbeidet sitt har han stått tett på både fredsprosessar og internasjonale maktspel.
Onsdag 10. juni kl 18.00 – 19.30 Litteraturhuset i Bergen
Med dette som bakteppe spør vi: Kva rom finst det for diplomati i dagens internasjonale system? Har små statar som Noreg framleis ein særleg rolle å spele? Og kva skjer når dialog i aukande grad blir erstatta av maktspråk og konfrontasjon?
I samtale med eit breitt samansett panel utforskar vi spenninga mellom realpolitikk og ideal, mellom militær makt og politiske løysingar – og kva som står att av det ein kan kalle mjukdiplomati. Samtalen blir leia av statsvitar Ole Rasmus Øvretveit.
Arrangementet er ein del av samtaleserien Noreg i ei ny tid, eit samarbeid mellom Academia Europaea sin hub ved Universitetet i Bergen, Litteraturhuset i Bergen og Chr. Michelsen Research.
150,– / 120,– / Gratis inngang for studentar ved framvising av studentbevis.
