Nina Græger

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Nina Græger is Professor of political science specialized in International Politics and Head of Department of Political Science since the summer of 2019. She has extensive research and management experience behind her.

Primary research:

• Regional and global security and international order
• International organisations (mainly the EU, NATO)
• European and Nordic foreign and security policy, Norwegian defense policy, military sociology
• International Relations Theory, Practice Theory, Discourse Analysis and Strategy
• Geographic focus: Europe, the Nordic region, the Arctic/'High North', the transatlantic area and the Balkans.

Currently, Nina Græger is particularly interested in how geopolitics and great power rivalries affect the framework for and co-operation in Nordic and European security – including territorial, hybrid, and climate security. In a journal article from 2024, "High Politics" and Everyday Practices at the Border: Emerging Communities of Practice in the High North, she shows how local collaboration arising over time – communities of practice – often continues across national borders and despite international tension and conflict.

Nina Græger has received numerous external grants for her research and has been published in internationally recognised journals such as Journal of Peace Research, Security Dialogue, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Global Studies Quarterly, Cooperation and Conflict, Hague Journal of Diplomacy, International Journal, European Security, as well as by publishers such as Routledge, Palgrave MacMillan, SAGE and more.

Management:

In July 2019, Nina Græger was appointed Head of Department at Department of Political Science. The department has about 120 employees, consisting of permanent researchers, PhD students (approx. 25) as well as postdocs, research assistants and administrative staff.

Nina Græger has led the department through periods of reforms and cutbacks, and she has been responsible for development initiatives that have helped the Department of Political Science to become a strong community and a brand that attracts the best students and staff of top quality. In supporting these initiatives, she has professionalized research support and increased external funding, and built up a research support unit (pre-award team) with five full-time employees who have served the entire Faculty of Social Sciences since 2022. Under her leadership, the department has established new strategic research units, a future-oriented research portfolio and introduced new forms of management. She has also reformed the induction program for new students, to promote inclusion and well-being.

In spring 2023, an external research panel conducted an evaluation of the department's research over the past five years. The evaluation report refers to the department as one of Europe's leading political science departments with world-leading research e.g. in International Relations.

As Head of Department, Nina Græger is a member of the management team at the Faculty of Social Sciences. In addition, she holds several board positions in the:

• Academic Coordination Committee at the Queen Mary Centre for Research and Practice Cooperation
• Gender co-ordination at UCPH
• The Centre for Military Studies Steering Board (chairperson)
• Nordic International Studies Association (NISA) (chair)

In addition to her duties and responsibilities as top executive, Nina Græger is an active researcher who regularly publishes and participates in research projects. She contributes to academic debates internationally as well as the public debate, through lectures, panel debates, workshops and conferences as well as media appearances.

Public sector consultancy and political experience:

Nina Græger has extensive experience in public sector consultancy. She served on the Norwegian government's Security and Disarmament Committee for a number of years and on the government appointed "Vernepliktutvalget" in 2014-2015. She has experience from political and non-political agencies and councils, including as an employee representative on the board of the Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute (NUPI).

Nina Græger has also had a career in Norwegian politics, both as a government-appointed political advisor in the Ministry of Business and Energy and directly elected district councilor as well as held a number of political board positions at local and national level.