"I am very pleased with the appointment of Thorgeir Kolshus. He is well qualified for the position and has extensive experience that will benefit the department," says Dean Anne Julie Semb.
Kolshus is a trained social anthropologist with a PhD from the University of Oslo and was employed at the Department of Social Anthropology from 2002 to 2019. He now looks forward to starting at the department.
"My ambitions are for SAI to become an even better place for students and for us to be clear voices in public debate through the effective dissemination of excellent research," he says.
Kolshus is coordinator for the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania's annual honorary lecture. He is interested in the driving forces behind social development, particularly the interaction between religion and politics, identity formation, and processes of differentiation. His regional specialization is the Pacific, specifically the northern part of the island nation of Vanuatu. He also researches communication of research and has been a columnist for Aftenposten and Dagens Næringsliv.
“With Kolshus SAI will get a HoD with a very good knowledge of SAI, and an extensive experience with the administrative and practical issues related to the ongoing revisions of our study programs”, says HoD Rune Flikke.
"I am very excited to work on the long-term and strategic development of the field that is closest to my heart, alongside fantastic colleagues at a department that I deeply care about," concludes Kolshus.