The Norwegian Institute for Social Research is a social science research institute

Research institute

A research institute is an establishment endowed for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research...

 based in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, Norway.

It was founded in 1950 by Vilhelm Aubert

Vilhelm Aubert

Johan Vilhelm Aubert was an influential Norwegian sociologist. He was a professor at the University of Oslo from 1963 to his death, first at the Department of the Sociology of Law and then at the Department of the Sociology of Law...

, Arne Næss

Arne Næss

Arne Dekke Eide Næss was a Norwegian philosopher, the founder of deep ecology. He was the youngest person to be appointed full professor at the University of Oslo....

, Eirik Rinde, and Stein Rokkan

Stein Rokkan

Stein Rokkan was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was a professor in comparative politics at the University of Bergen.-Career and influence:...

. It cooperates closely with the University of Oslo

University of Oslo

The University of Oslo , formerly The Royal Frederick University , is the oldest and largest university in Norway, situated in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The university was founded in 1811 and was modelled after the recently established University of Berlin...

 and the Research Council of Norway, but is a contract-based research institute. It publishes the journal Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning.

The institute is divided into five research fields, each with its own research director. They are Bernt Aardal (Political institutions, voting and public opinion), Erling Barth (Employment and working conditions), Mari Teigen (Gender and society), Bernard Enjolras (Civil society in transition) and Hilde Lidén (International migration, integration and ethnic relations). In total, the institute employs 52 researchers. Its board of directors consists of Anne Kari Lande Hasle, Aanund Hylland

Aanund Hylland

Aanund Hylland is a Norwegian economist.He took a master's degree in mathematical logic at the University of Oslo in 1974, and the Ph.D. at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in 1980. He worked at the University of Oslo and BI Norwegian Business School from 1983, and in...

, Dag Album

Dag Album

Dag Gunnar Album is a Norwegian sociologist.He graduated from the University of Oslo with a cand.sociol. degree in 1972, and took the dr.philos. degree in 1996. He then worked as a research assistant at the University of Tromsø and as a researcher at Statistics Norway...

, Eivind Smith

Eivind Smith

Eivind Smith is a Norwegian lawyer and professor of law.He was born in Bærum, and took the dr.juris degree in 1979. He works at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo, where he has been a professor since 1986. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.He has published a...

, Terje Hauger, Pål Schøne and Ragnhild Steen Jensen.