Background and experience
Diplom-Physik, 1970, University of Kiel, Germany
Dr.rer.nat. (PhD in Natural Sciences), 1970, University of Kiel, Germany
Dr.techn. (PhD in Technology), 1978, NTH (Norwegian Institute of Technology), now NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Active since 1971 in academia, since 1999 professor at the University of Agder and since 2005 adjunct professor in Gjøvik, now part of NTNU.
Professor emeritus since 1st March 2019, but still active as researcher.
Awarded by the Agder Academy of Science and Letters the Research Prize in 2012 and the Scientific Dissemination Prize in 2023.
Awarded the King of Norway's Medal of Merit for my contributions to societal security in 2019
I gave a talk at TEDs Arendal 2021 with the title "Can technology help against technology?". The talk concerns humankind’s Grand Challenges, major pandemics being among them, and methods that must be developed to deal with systemic complexity. Link to the talk: https://youtu.be/aIqqj5VcCXM
May 2025 I held the keynote "Moving Toward Systemic Risk Governance: How Can Research Achieve Societal Impact?" at The 22nd Global Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM2025) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Areas of responsibility
In 2011 I led an initiative to fund the Centre for Integrated Emergency Management (CIEM) CIEM - Centre for Integrated Emergency Management - University of Agder. I led CIEM 2011-2014. CIEM got the status Priority Research Centre at the University of Agder.
I participated as scientific coordinator for the H2020 Smart Mature Resilience project 2015-2018 SMR :: SMR
I led 2020-2023 the innovation project Systemic Pandemic Risk Management, funded by the Research Council of Norway with participation from Stepchange AS; Kristiansand municipality; the Hospital of Southern Norway; the Centre for Integrated Emergency Management (CIEM), University of Agder; the Center for Research and Training in Disaster Medicine, Humanitarian Aid and Global Health (Italy); and the Center for Disaster Medicine and Traumatology (Sweden). The project led to five publications and it was showcased in the report Addressing Complex and Cross-Boundary Challenges in Government: The Value of Strategy Mapping, published 5th January 2023 by The IBM Center for the Business of Government. The report can be downloaded from Addressing Complex and Cross-Boundary Challenges in Government Report.pdf (businessofgovernment.org)
Teaching
As professor emeritus I do not longer teach regularly.
The last courses that I held were:
ORG453-G 17H Communication, Cooperation and Research Methods
IKT440-G ICT Seminar
IKT416 System Dynamics
IND405 System Dynamics
IND511 Value Chain Dynamics
Research
Academic interests
Publications in physics, polymer science, modelling and simulation of complex systems, system dynamics, epidemiology, instructional design, information security, insider threat, Critical Infrastructure protection, disaster management, disaster eHealth, systemic risk.
Citations: 2158, h-index: 23; i10-index: 55 (June 2025)
https://scholar.google.no/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=K4PqvOgAAAAJ
Current research interests: Security management in a broad sense (information security, safety, Critical Infrastructure Protection/Homeland Security, Emergency Preparedness and Response). Resilience. Modelling and simulation of security. Disaster eHealth. Modelling of complex societal problems. Systemic risks.