Whoever serves as both director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee plays an important role in the selection of Nobel Peace Prize winners. This week a veteran researcher of peace and conflict is making his public debut in the post.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo is the home of the Nobel Peace Prize, and where a new director and secretary to the Norwegian Nobel Committee will be making his official debut this week. PHOTO: NewsInEnglish.no/Morten Møst

Kristian Berg Harpviken took over the job on January 1, and has traditionally kept a fairly low profile since then. He’ll be showing up on TV screens all over the world on Friday, though, when this year’s Peace Prize winner is announced in Oslo. He’ll be the one standing next to the committee leader when the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is revealed at the Nobel Institute.

“If you’re interested in war and peace, this is one of the most exciting jobs in the world,” Harpviken told Oslo newspaper Dagsavisen last spring. “The Nobel Peace Prize holds a unique position, and my job is to contribute to awarding good prizes. Drawing attention to the prize is the most meaningful job I can imagine.”

Kristian Berg Harpviken, age 64, is the new director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and secretary to its Nobel Committee. PHOTO: Norwegian Nobel Institute

Harpviken was born in Lillehammer, site of the highly successful Winter Olympics in 1994 when the world came together in a spirit of peace at the time. Harpviken initially expected to remain in the area after taking over his family’s farm south of Lillehammer when he was around 20. He’d already worked on the farm since he was a child and was even educated to do so, at Statens gartnerskole Staup.

He told newspaper Aftenposten that he developed some back problems, though, and “became restless.” Harpviken launched into new academic pursuits, studying political science, management at BI in Oslo and ultimately earning a PhD in sociology at the University of Oslo. He devoted most of the rest of his career to the study of peace and conflict including peace processes, the dynamics of civil war, regional security and migration.

Harpviken is perhaps best-known for specializing on Afghanistan and the surrounding region, where he spent many years, but he’s also worked and carried out research in Angola, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Mozambique and Pakistan, according to his resumé at the Nobel Institute. He led the Oslo-based peace research organization PRIO before taking on the job as leader of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. It was during his years at PRIO that he became responsible for putting together an annual list of who he and his colleagues thought would be the best candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. PRIO still publishes such a list and until last year, it was Harpviken who took part in an annual brainstorming session on Peace Prize candidates with the Foreign Press Association in Oslo. He also served as a media commentator on candidates and winners.

Kristian Berg Harpviken (right) is shown here with another Nobel Peace Prize expert, Asle Sveen, sharing their thoughts on prize candidates with foreign correspondents in Oslo nine years ago. Now Harpviken is offering his professional evaluations to the Norwegian Nobel Committee. PHOTO: NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund

Now he can’t do that anymore. His role at the Nobel Institute requires discretion, confidentiality and sharing the information he gathers with the Nobel Committee now. He seems, however, to be thriving in the role.

“My job is to support the committee in making good decisions, and laying the groundwork for good nominations,” Harpviken told Dagsavisen. He promised last spring to “create well-structured meetings” and collect evaluations of the candidates the committee puts on its short-list. That’s the most important.” It remains a professional secret whether US President Donald Trump, who has made it clear he thinks he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, made it on to this year’s initial short-list, which had to be prepared months ago, after the January 31 deadline for nominations. It’s been pared down since.

Harpviken thinks that at a time of war and other tensions in the world, “our work is even more important.” He thinks the Nobel Peace Prize “can make a difference,” not least because it can recognize “the incredibly good work going on for peace, both by individuals and organizations. Even in the areas most full of conflict, there’s work going on for peace.”

NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund