Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister of New Zealand (2017 – 2023); Patron, Christchurch Call Foundation; Board Member, The Earthshot Prize; Founder, Field Fellowship for Empathetic Leadership.
The Right Honourable Dame Jacinda Ardern served as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Assuming office at just 37, Ms Ardern championed an inclusive and empathetic leadership style that made bold policy change and successfully guided her nation through unprecedented global and domestic challenges.
Responding with a people-first approach grounded in kindness, she helped New Zealand achieve one of the lowest losses of life during the COVID-19 pandemic among developed nations, instituted a ban on military-style semi-automatic weapons, and created the Christchurch Call to Eliminate Violent Extremism Online, for which she remains an active Patron.
Read more
A champion of women’s empowerment, Ms Ardern saw New Zealand reach a historic 50 percent representation of women in Parliament, and on government appointed boards. Her administration also decriminalized abortion, strengthened pay equity laws, and extended paid parental leave to six months. Ms Ardern is the second woman in history to give birth while leading a country.
Today, Ms. Ardern continues to hold roles that allow her to “be useful” including as a Member of the World Leaders Circle and a Distinguished Fellow at the Blavatnik School at Oxford University. She is an active advocate for climate action, serving on the board of The Earthshot Prize and as a Distinguished Fellow at Conservation International, helping provide solutions to climate change and environmental challenges.
In 2024, Ms. Ardern founded Field, a first of its kind fellowship programme that fosters empathetic leadership in politics.
Lars Svendsen
Professor of philosophy, University of Bergen and Civita.
Lars is the author of numerous books on themes such as boredom, fear, freedom, evil, work, loneliness, and hope; his works have been translated into 35 languages. Known for combining academic rigor with an accessible essayistic style, he writes for both scholarly and general audiences.
In addition to his academic work, Svendsen is affiliated with the liberal think tank Civita and is an active public intellectual, contributing essays and commentary on contemporary cultural and political issues.
Ana Mosiashvili
Research and Programmes Manager, European Partnership for Democracy.
Ana holds a Master’s degree in International Human Rights Law and has hands-on experience in project management, research and advocacy in the fields of meaningful youth participation, youth work, social justice, gender mainstreaming and intersectionality.
Ana has worked with several national and international organisations, including Y-PEER Network, Caucasus Environmental NGO Network (CENN), European Confederation of Youth Clubs (ECYC), as well as a consultant for UNESCO, UNFPA and PMNCH.
Staffan I. Lindberg
Professor and Founding Director, V-Dem Institute.
Staffan I. Lindberg is a Professor and the Founding Director of both the V-Dem Institute and the DEMSCORE research infrastructure, as well as the PI for Varieties of Democracy and a Wallenberg Academy Fellow alumnus. In addition to co-authoring major works such as Varieties of Democracy (2020) and Why Democracies Develop and Decline (2022), he has published over 70 scientific articles and numerous policy-focused “think-pieces.”
Leveraging this expertise, he serves as a consultant and advisor to international organizations and ministries, acting as the principal author for the annual Democracy Report and the Case for Democracy series.
Jannicke Mikkelsen
Astronaut and filmmaker
Jannicke Mikkelsen is a “citizen of the arctic” and a visionary who redefined the boundaries of both science and storytelling. As the world’s first cinematographer in space and Norway’s first astronaut, she has dedicated her career to capturing perspectives that challenge our understanding of what is possible. In 2025, she made history by becoming the first Norwegian in orbit, a journey defined by the pursuit of clarity within chaos.
Her work with global organizations like NASA, the BBC, and Disney explores the transformative power of narrative and its ability to shape culture and courage. By pushing the limits of filmmaking in the world’s harshest environments – underwater, under ice, and beyond Earth – Mikkelsen offers a unique lens on the resilience required to lead when the margin for error is zero.
Read more
Space missions require international collaboration, scientific trust, and disciplined communication under pressure, not dissimilar to the institutional trust and coordination challenges currently facing multilateral systems. Her reflections provide a perspective on shared risk, collective responsibility, and the importance of long term cooperation.
Mikkelsen’s remarks will serve as a reflective lens on how perspective influences leadership. The view from space does not prescribe policy, but it reframes the scale of our challenges and underscores the necessity of collaboration across generations, sectors, and borders.
Carl Henrik Knutsen
Professor of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Carl Henrik Knutsen is a Professor of Political Science and research group leader at the University of Oslo as well as Professor II at the University of South-Eastern Norway and Affiliated Researcher at The Norwegian Nobel Institute.
Knutsen’s research centers on the measurement of democracy, causes of regime change, and the economic effects of different regime types. Knutsen leads or co-leads several large projects, for example, an ERC Consolidator Grant on autocratic politics, the Assessment of Norwegian Democracy, and the international Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) project.
Finn Jarle Rode
Chairman, The Oslo Center.
Finn Jarle has previously served a number of roles in international development work, including as the Director of the Global Partnership team of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) headquarters in Geneva.
He has over 20 years of experience in IFRC/ICRC and the Norwegian Red Cross. He has been IFRC’s Country Director in Afghanistan and North Korea and Regional Director for Eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. Finn-Jarle also held different positions in Norway’s private sector, including within the shipping and hotel industry. He has an MBA from Heriot-Watts, specialising in organizational development and international finance.
Toril Pedersen
Director, UNDP Global Policy Centre for Governance.
Pedersen brings extensive experience in governance, transparency and public finance, with a strong track record of working at the intersection of global policy and country-level implementation. Most recently, she served as Assistant Director at the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), where she headed the section for Governance, and previously led Norad’s work on Tax for Development.
Prior to joining Norad, Pedersen worked with the United Nations on a wide range of governance and public management issues, including support to local governments, expenditure and revenue management, land governance, and gender equality in public administration.
Sirianne Dahlum
Professor of Political Science, University of Oslo.
Sirianne Dahlum is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo. Her research focuses on democracy and dictatorship, autocratization, mass protest, political violence and citizens’ attitudes.
She has held positions and/or fellowships at institutions such as Oxford University, Harvard University, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute. She currently leads or co-leads several large research projects on the state of global democracy and the rise of authoritarianism.
John Lovdal
CEO, The Oslo Center.
As CEO of The Oslo Center, John Inge Løvdal has decades of experience in democratic development and inclusive governance. He previously served as Program Director at the National Democratic Institute (NDI), focusing on political party strengthening and the inclusion of women, youth, and marginalized groups.
His background includes extensive work across Ethiopia, Kenya, Ukraine, Somalia, and Nepal, centering on participation, accountability, and institutional reform.