Henrik Thune to NOREF

The Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre (NOREF) has hired Dr. Henrik Thune as Deputy Director. Thune will become central in strengthening the Centre’s profile on conflict diplomacy and mediation support.

-Henrik Thune’s background from research, and his long practical experiences from working with peace and reconciliation processes for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) are highly relevant for the direction the Centre is taking and we look forward to including him in the team, says NOREF’s Director Mariano Aguirre. 

The management’s goal is to establish NOREF as one of the most innovative international non-state actors and milieus within the field of conflict diplomacy.
 - I’m looking forward to be part of NOREF and to further develop and strengthen the Norwegian model for conflict resolution and reconciliation processes, Henrik Thune says.

Thune recently returned to Norway from a stay as visiting scholar at the University of North Carolina. From 1997 and up until now he has held a number of positions at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), among them Senior Researcher and Head of the Middle East Programme, while in the interim serving in several positions in the MFA, i.a. as Senior Advisor in the Section for Peace and Reconciliation (2006-2009) and Project Manager in the Secretariat of former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre (2010-2012). He has authored numerous books and academic publications on Great Power politics, conflicts in the Middle East, peace processes and on Norwegian foreign policy.

He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and a Masters in International Relations from the University of Oslo in addition to a Masters from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London.

Thune will commence his position on 1 September 2015.