Oslo is the city in Norway with the greatest ethnic diversity, but a lack of good statistics makes it hard to design effective, targeted measures to ensure diversity.

“The diversity study now underway in Norway is a ground-breaking project,” states Paula Mählck of Stockholm University.

Women with natural science and technology degrees experience maladjustment more often than their male colleagues when transitioning from master’s studies to working life, according to a new report. This is not the case for other scientific fields.

The KIF Committee has been given a new name and mandate by the Ministry of Education and Research.

Women physicists at CERN are locked in a structure and culture that is highly male dominated at all levels. The women’s movement and gender equality have not reached the physics fields, according to a history of science researcher.

There are many indications that something is about to happen with the gender balance in Norwegian academia. But it takes a long time for the changes to reach the professor level, which is still heavily male dominated.

There are sound legal arguments both for and against allowing the niqab to be worn at higher education institutions. A ban can send a clear signal in support of gender equality, but it can also be exclusionary and lead to more extreme attitudes.

It is more difficult for women to meet the requirements to qualify for tenure track positions, according to one researcher.

Now that government award schemes for gender equality efforts in academia have been discontinued, it is up to each individual institution to improve the gender balance in senior-level academic positions.

When the daily newspaper VG presented Norway’s top 20 economists, there was not a single woman among them. “Economics is a male-dominated field,” states economist Karen Helene Ulltveit-Moe of the University of Oslo.

The annual Gender Equality Award for gender balance in research is history. “It’s unfortunate to lose the opportunity to recognize those who have worked hard with an important and often difficult field,” says Curt Rice, Chair of the KIF Committee.

There is a large body of research on the barriers to gender balance in academia, but very little on ethnic diversity. Now the KIF Committee has announced funding for a study to fill this gap.

The Norwegian police academy has long sought to increase diversity among the student body and the future police force. Since 2012, they have been working systematically with recruitment to achieve this.

The KIF Committee’s strategy for its work with gender balance and ethnic diversity in research up to 2017 has been completed. Feedback from the sector shows that the institutions appreciate the committee’s active role, but they would like a clearer definition of “ethnic diversity”.