A new KIF Committee for the next four years

The new KIF Committee has been appointed, and for the first time it has a leader team from both a university and a research institute.

Dean Ragnhild Hennum is chair of the new KIF Committee, The Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research, for the period 2022–2025. (Photo: University of Oslo)

Kristin Aukland
29.03.2022 / 29.03.2022 - 17:08
The new deputy chair of the KIF Committee, Ole Jacob Sending, research director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. (Photo: NUPI)

Ragnhild Hennum, Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, is chair of the Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research (the KIF Committee) 2022-2025, the Ministry of Education and Research recently announced.

Deputy Chair is Ole Jacob Sending, Research Director at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

The new committee will work to improve gender balance and ethnic diversity in the research sector. This year, social background is also part of the mandate.

For the first time, the Ministry of Education and Research has appointed members from the Young Academy of Norway (AYF) and from the Association of Doctoral Organizations in Norway (SiN) to the committee.

More to do for the new committee

Just before Christmas, the fifth committee ended its work, with Curt Rice leading for two terms the past eight years.

With the new mandate, the responsibility of the KIF Committee is further expanded. Now, both gender, social background and ethnic background are highlighted. The Ministry also emphasizes critical transitions in researcher career paths.

The mandate from the Ministry of Education and Research states:

"The Committee shall seek to raise the overall level of awareness of issues related to diversity, inclusion and harassment at higher education and research institutions. This includes increased knowledge about how gender, social and ethnic background affect critical transitions in a research career; from the path into research to senior-level and leadership positions."

Read Mandate for the Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research

Almost complete KIF Committee on their first meeting 25 March. From the left: Torjer Olsen, Julia Orupabo, Yan Zhao, Feroz M. Shah, Anna Piterskaya, Ella Ghosh, Gunnlaug Daugstad, Astrid M. J. Sandsør, Tove Håpnes, Katrine W. Bjerde, Ragnhild Hennum, Heidi H. Zachariassen, Liza Reisel, Ronald M. Synnes, Johannes W. Løvhaug, Atle Rotevatn, Camilla Røsjø, Rolf Martin Aspenes og Ole Jacob Sending. (Photo: Kristin Aukland)

The KIF Committee in short

The first KIF Committee was established by the Ministry in 2004 to increase the proportion of women at universities and university colleges. It was called Committee for Mainstreaming – Women in Science. At that time, women were underrepresented in a number of disciplines and the gender imbalance increased higher up the research system.

The mandate for the second committee was extended to also include the research institute sector, in addition to the university and university college sector.

For the third KIF Committee, the mandate was changed to gender balance, and the committee was to contribute to equality between women and men in the research sector.

The fourth committee expanded to also include diversity and got the name that still stands: The Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research. The main tasks from 2014 and onwards with the fifth committee until 2021 were issues on gender and ethnicity.

The current KIF Committee is the sixth committee appointed by the Ministry.

Read more about Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research (KIF) 2022–2025

More about the KIF Committee 2022–2025

Members 2022–2025:

  • Dean Ragnhild Hennum, University of Oslo, chair
  • Research Director Ole Jacob Sending, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, deputy chair
  • Head of Department Torjer Olsen, UiT - The arctic University of Norway
  • Associate Profesor Yan Zhao, Nord University
  • Associate Profesor Ronald Mayora Synnes, Universitety of Agder
  • Senior Research Fellow Julia Orupabo, Institute for Social Research
  • Division Director Camilla Røsjø, Nofima
  • Research Manager Tove Håpnes, Sintef
  • Senior Lecturer Feroz M. Shah, The Young Academy of Norway
  • Doctoral Research Fellow Anna Piterskaya, Association of Doctoral Organizations in Norway
  • Student Rolf Martin Aspenes, The National Union of Students in Norway
  • Department Director Johannes Waage Løvhaug, Research Council of Norway

Deputy members:

  • Professor Ragnhild Kvålshaugen, BI
  • Head of Department Atle Rotevatn, University of Bergen
  • Research Professor Liza Reisel, Institute for Social Research
  • Researcher Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør, The Young Academy of Norway
  • PhD Candidate Johanne Kalsaas, Association of Doctoral Organizations in Norway
  • Student Caroline Erviksæter, The National Union of Students in Norway
  • Department Director Gunnlaug Daugstad, Research Council of Norway

Read more about Committee for Gender Balance and Diversity in Research (KIF) 2022–2025 and Members 2022–2025

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