Should all PhD candidates learn Norwegian? We are concerned

With increasing internationalization and the use of English in Norwegian academia, Norwegian academic language has once again come into focus. To promote the use of Norwegian in academia, several measures have been implemented. 

In 2023, an action plan for Norwegian academic language was presented by the government. It proposes ways to strengthen the use and development of Norwegian academic language. 

Among other things, the action plan proposes regulations stating that all employees in a permanent academic position must reach at least level B2 in Norwegian (higher intermediate level) within 3 years from the start of their contract. Furthermore, all international Ph.D. candidates and postdoctoral fellows must have completed at least 15 credits in Norwegian courses before the end of their contract.

The action plan aims for these measures to be regulated in the new Higher Education Act. The new regulations will be open for consultation in April 2024.

Are the proposed language requirements feasible?

We are a group of over 400 concerned university and college employees who wish to discuss the feasibility of the proposed language requirements in light of economic consequences and previous research. Our position, in line with the action plan, is that Norwegian academic language is important for Norwegian society. 

Norwegian students and employees should have access to a fully developed Norwegian academic language. It would be a loss for Norwegian culture and democracy if this were to gradually disappear. At the same time, we are concerned about how feasible the new measures are to achieve these goals.

Particularly international employees, who are often in vulnerable situations in a new country, must be taken into consideration and have a say in this debate. Measures must be balanced in a way that aligns with both labor laws and equality laws. Everyone deserves a manageable work situation.

Economic consequences

Our first concern is the economic consequences of requiring all temporary international employees to attend Norwegian courses. Part 3 of the action plan acknowledges that this will be the biggest challenge in implementation. However, the action plan has not presented any form of needs analysis for how many resources this will require, or if the measures are feasible.

We have investigated these figures at NTNU, one of the universities with the highest number of international employees in Norway. NTNU has less than half of the available study places for Norwegian courses if it were required that all doctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows must take 15 credits in Norwegian. It is also possible to take Norwegian courses outside the university, but these courses are much more expensive and often have long waiting lists.

In addition, there are economic aspects to take into consideration. We have calculated that with the costs of the courses and hours in the work plan for all international employees, it would cost over 223 million kroner in courses, time, and resources for NTNU to cover all language requirements. 

This is a total sum (not annual), but the university continuously hires international employees annually. What does this mean for the institutions if so much of the resources are to be spent on Norwegian courses? What will be left out?

Consequences for temporary employees

We are positive towards the idea that Norwegian courses can be offered to a greater extent, but mandating temporary employees to complete 15 credits in Norwegian is problematic for several reasons. Especially doctoral candidates are already burdened with work, and Norwegian courses will subtract from time to research. The main argument of the action plan is that Norwegian must be maintained as the language of instruction, but far from all temporary employees teach.

A regulation can also function as discriminatory for non-Norwegian-speaking doctoral candidates, as they would then “cost” more than Norwegian-speaking ones with additional requirements and extended completion time. Not all doctoral candidates wish to stay in the country either. 

It is also unclear whether temporary employees will then receive an extended contract (an additional 3 months) or if Norwegian courses are considered something extra that temporary employees must do in their spare time. Should the funds for Norwegian courses come out of the operating funds of the doctoral candidate, so they have fewer funds than their Norwegian counterparts?

We wonder about the relevance of introducing Norwegian course requirements for temporary employees. Will this help with motivation to learn a new language in a new country? To what extent will this requirement further develop Norwegian academic language?

The language requirements are not in line with research

Learning a language takes time. A large study from the USA examined how long it took over 12 million immigrants to learn English when they arrived in the country. With 660 hours of instruction, it took an average of six years for adult immigrants to be able to use English at an approximate B2 level. 

In comparison, NTNU offers only 234 hours of Norwegian courses to its permanent employees, and permanent employees are expected to achieve level B2 within 3 years. It is also worth mentioning that level B2 is rarely a high enough language level to be able to teach a complex subject in depth.

We lack research on how long it takes adult immigrants to learn Norwegian as a second language; especially in a context where there is significant work pressure. There are also significant differences in mother tongues; employees with German, for example, will have a much greater advantage than employees with Mandarin or Persian. 

We believe it is important to research to see how many resources and how much time it takes before we regulate how much Norwegian international employees must learn. It is important that institutions provide enough resources for international employees to have the conditions to meet these requirements.

A recent study from NTNU indicates that one in three international employees state they need more than three years to learn Norwegian at a B2 level. This is something that Danish language policy has facilitated. At the University of Copenhagen, for example, employees are given up to six years to teach in Danish. Therefore, we wonder why the action plan presents 3 years, when research indicates that this is not enough time.

The study from NTNU also suggests that seven out of ten international employees are highly motivated to learn Norwegian, but only half receive support from their leaders. In other words, there are structural and economic challenges underlying why international employees do not always reach level B2 within the standard time. Will a new regulation change this, or will it require strengthened resources and infrastructure from the institutions over a longer period?

Critical questions for the authors of the action plan

We have some ethical questions for those who developed the action plan for Norwegian academic language. To what extent were international employees included in the development of the action plan? Since the action plan is aimed at international employees, we wonder if international employees have had the opportunity to participate in developing and commenting on the action plan. 

We note that the action plan has only been available in Norwegian - also during the consultation phase until 28.04.23. During the consultation phase, mainly Norwegian leaders from various institutions have responded. This is problematic from a perspective of democracy and citizenship. Are international employees at universities and colleges aware of the regulations that will soon apply to them?

Furthermore, we wonder why requirements for international employees are being regulated, but not for employees who have Norwegian as their first language. The action plan emphasizes a high level of Norwegian competence for immigrants. 

However, there are very few measures and obligations for Norwegian-born employees. This is striking when as many as 70 per cent of researchers in Norway are Norwegian - much of the development of Norwegian academic language could have been done by this majority group. It shows a high degree of trust that Norwegians are not subjected to requirements, but rather strengthened with resources. The same does not apply to international employees. 

Therefore, we ask: What responsibilities do employees with Norwegian as their first language have, and why are these not regulated similarly? Do international employees have the same responsibility to maintain and develop Norwegian academic language, or can we recognize their other languages as a resource?

Concluding remarks

Our position is that there are structural problems underlying why international employees may struggle to learn Norwegian. Therefore, these problems require structural solutions where universities are held more accountable for the training and resources provided. 

Regulating an individual responsibility to increase Norwegian competence will increase the likelihood of vulnerable minorities facing negative job consequences. We must therefore also discuss the ethical pitfalls of imposing language requirements; especially in terms of equity. At the same time, we emphasize the economic consequences of regulating language requirements, and that previous research indicates that three years is not enough time to reach level B2.

We hope that the government will take these arguments into consideration when the language requirements are up for regulation.

• To read the text in Norwegian, follow the link: Skal alle stipendiater lære seg norsk? Vi er bekymret

Authored by the research group Language Practices in Education at NTNU . Signed supportively by:

Michael David Martin (Professor, NTNU), Jan Süselbeck (Associate Professor / Associate Professor, NTNU), Anna Krulatz (Professor, NTNU), Nicola Paltrinieri (Professor, NTNU), Heiko Motschenbacher (Professor, HVL), Melania Bucciarelli (Professor, NTNU), Pierluigi Salvo Rossi (Professor, NTNU), Marilena Greco (Professor, NTNU), Elisabetta Tedeschi (Professor, NTNU), Damiano Varagnolo (Professor, NTNU), Regina Paul (Ph.D. candidate, former leader of DION og former deputy leader of SiN, NTNU), Yaqiong Xu (PhD candidate, NTNU), Muntequa Ishtiaq Siraji (PhD candidate, Current President of UiBDoc), Hanan Ashrafi (PhD candidate, UiB), Katrine Dalbu Alterhaug (Leader for Internationalization at the Department of Teacher Education, NTNU), Giovanni De Grandis (NTNU, Senior advisor, AFINO project coordinator), Raffaela Cabriolu (Associate professor, NTNU), Anamika Chatterjee (Senior Advisor, NTNU), Edmund Brekke (Associate Professor, NTNU), Anja Kirsch (Professor, NTNU), Nicholas Dalhaug (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Anders Fougner (Associate Professor, NTNU), Sunniva Skjøstad Hovde (Associate Professor, NTNU), Lilith Gorsten Rüschenpöhler (Associate Professor, NTNU), Matteo Sangermani (Researcher, NTNU), Nicole Quattrini (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Kostas Alexis (Professor, NTNU), Nikhil Khedekar (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Andrea F. Vallejo Vargas (PhD candidate, NMBU), Mohit Singh (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Svenn-Arve Myklebost (Associate Professor, Høgskolen i Innlandet), Henriette Rørdal (Ph.D. candidate, UiB), Stefan “Steve” Rabitsch (Associate Professor, UiO), Stuart McWilliams (Senior lecturer, UiO), Randall J. Stephens (Professor, UiO), Nicole Falkenhayner (Associate Professor, NTNU, Merja Stenroos (Professor, UiS), Kaisa S. Pietikäinen (Associate Professor, NHH), Mila Vulchanova (Professor, NTNU), Susanne Mohr (Professor, NTNU), Hilde Løvdal Stephens (Associate Professor, UiO), Marta Molinas (Professor, NTNU), Tatjana Schnellinger (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Victoria Husby (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Heidi Støa (Associate Professor, HVL), Laura Saetveit Miles (professor, UiB), Ben Anible (Associate Professor, NTNU), Brad Carlton Sisk (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Ebrahim Mansoor (PhD Candidate, UiB), Tijana Przulj (Ph.D. candidate, UiB), Dragana Surkalovic (Associate Professor, OsloMet), Yasemin Hacioglu (Associate Professor, Volda University College), Dennis Langer (PostDoc, NTNU), Nicholas Allott (Senior lecturer, UiO), Niamh O’Dowd (PhD Candidate, UiO), Mary Sutphen (Professor, UiO), Brittany Arnold (University lecturer, NTNU), John Howland (Professor, NTNU), Nele Põldvere (postmdoc, UiO), Subramanya Prasad Chandrashekar (postdoc, NTNU), Tom Muir (Associate Professor, OsloMet), Brianne Jaquette (Associate Professor, HVL), Emily Kesling (postdoc, UiB), Anastasia Kobzeva (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Ivana Malovic (senior academic librarian, UiO), Sreekant Sreedharan (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Fabio Massimo Zennaro (Associate Professor, UiB), Timo B. Roettger (Professor, UiO), Børge Rokseth (Associate Professor, NTNU), Lindsay Ferrara (Professor, NTNU), Nafeesa T. Nichols (Associate Professor, HVL), Kaia Berstad (Overingeniør, UiB), Vander Tavares (Associate Professor, HINN), Torill Ringsø (University lecturer, NTNU), Guri Amundsen (University lecturer, NTNU), Claudio Lugni (Adjunct Professor, NTNU), Kristin Halvorsen (Associate Professor, NTNU), Virginia Conde Ruiz (Postdoctor, UiO), Niyaz Al-Sharabi (Researcher, UiB), Prisca Bruno Massao ( Associate Professor, HINN), Mehmet Serhat Aydin (Ph.D. candidate, UiB), Islam Youssef (Associate Professor, USN), Tom G. Griffiths (Professor, OsloMet), Rahul Ranjan (Assistant Professor, OsloMet/Edinburgh), Gabriela K. Warden (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU, tidligere leder i DION), Johanna M. Wagner (Professor, HiØ), Anouk Brisebois (PhD Ph.D. candidate, OsloMet), Theo Luciani (PhD Ph.D. candidate, UiB), Sven Bretfeld (Professor, NTNU), Dina Tsagari (Professor, OsloMet), Francesco Cherubini (Professor, NTNU), Anastasia Hanukaev (University lecturer), Nina Lazarevic (Associate Professor, UiS), Cathryn McWilliams (University lecturer, USN), Crystal Turnbull (Ph.D. candidate, NMBU), Haroon Khan (University lecturer, OsloMet), Pedro Lencastre (PhD Ph.D. candidate, OsloMet), Olumide Victor Onabanjo (Ph.D. candidate, NMBU), Peter Rohrer (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU; Board Member, DION), Ole Kristian Dyskeland (Ph.D. candidate, Norges Handelshøyskole; leder 2023, Ph.D. candidateorganisasjonene i Norge), Carlos Jurado (Postdoc, NTNU), Ali Pour Ahmadiyan (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Payel Chatterjee (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Azza Hassan Mohamed Ahmed (SimulaMet, Post-doc), Jan Benedict Spannenkrebs (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Magnus Philipp (Postdoc, NTNU), Apoorva Chawla (Postdoc, NTNU), Marcelo Anunciação Jaculli (Postdoc, NTNU), Maureen Selina Laverty ((PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Mariya Stefanova Stoyanova Bond (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Tanya Mangion (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Shao-FnagWen (Postdoc, NTNU), Zhicheng Hu (PhD Stpendiat, NTNU), Natalya Amirova (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Khalid Hamid (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Maïlys HAU (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Julien Mayor (Professor, UiO), Bert van der Veen (Postdoc, NTNU), Julia Sborz (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Thomas Schubert (Professor, UiO), Gabriel Andy Szalkowski (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Tom Hermann (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Bikal Ghimire (Research Associate, NMBU), Bob O’Hara (Professor, NTNU), Jean-Baptiste Boyssou (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Hafiz Areeb Asad (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Stefanie Muff (Associate Professor, NTNU), Namrata Pradhan (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Damaris Matten (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Nikola Plavac (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Aldrich Zeno (Postdoc, NTNU), Trym A. E. Lindell (PhD Ph.D. candidate, OsloMet), Beate Seibt (Professor, UiO), Raffael Wallner (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Jianxiang Wang (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Arron Wilde Tippett (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Beatrice Trascau (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Angeline Bruls (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Brooke Wolford (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, NTNU), Monica Pazos Urrea(Postdoctoral Fellow, NTNU), Aurora Skare (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Serag-Eldin Abdelmoteleb (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Martin Kvisvik Larsen (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Roosa Sofia Tikkanen (PhD Candidate and Social and Educational Sciences Faculty Representative for Temporary Employees / Ph.D. candidate og Representant for Midlertidig Ansatte ved Fakultet for samfunns- og utdanningsvitenskap, NTNU), David Baumgartner (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Ellen Marie Botne Quinsgaard (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Jonas Østerhaug Andersen (Data Analyst, NTNU), Meng Jiang (Postdoctoral Fellow, NTNU), Benedikte Emilie Vindstad (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Selma Bozorgpana (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Behnam Tavagh Mohammadi (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Nariê Rinke Dias de Souza (Postdoc, NTNU), Anna Sophia Hüllein (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Arvind Sharma (Associate Professor, NTNU), Ayodele Arigbabu (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Maximilian Wess (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Paul Meiners (Postdoc, NTNU), Indra de Soysa (Professor, NTNU), Ruoyan Meng (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Ingvild Bergom Lunde (Postdoctor Universitetet i Oslo; leder 2024 Ph.D. candidateorganisasjonene i Norge), Lucy Piggott (Postdoc, NTNU), Insa Backhaus (Postdoc, NTNU), Rana Tallal Javed (PhD Candidate, UiO), Charles Butcher (Professor, NTNU), Emir Cem Gezer (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Klaus Ening (PhD Candidate, NTNU / Researcher, SINTEF), Nanna Lauritz Schönhage (Associate Professor, NTNU), Leon De Beer (Associate Professor, NTNU), Prateek Gupta (Postdoc, NTNU), Henning Finseraas (Professor, NTNU), Karin Dyrstad (Professor, NTNU), Conor Andre Kelly (PhD Candidate, NTNU), May Laura Kilano Khider (PhD candidate, NTNU), Mina Moeineslam (PhD candidate, NTNU), Benjamin Semujanga (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), May-Britt Tessem (Associate Professor, NTNU), Gøril Storvig (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Johanne Rauwenhoff (Postdoc, NTNU), Gerard Clarke (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Natchiyar Balasubramanian (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Mingxuan Hao (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Tengjiao Jiang (Postdoc, NTNU), Pradipta Banerjee (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Javier Cantillo (Associate Professor & postdoc, NTNU), Daniel Machado (Associate Professor, NTNU), Gulnaz Anjum (Associate Professor, UiO), Gisela Luz (Researcher, NTNU), Milad Mehdizadeh (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Nina Zisko (former PhD student, Researcher at NTNU), Laura Beghini (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Shizhe Zhang (PhD candidate, NTNU), Èva Cossette-Laneville (PhD candidate, UiT), Eva Breitschopf (PhD candidate, UiT), Miguel Teixeira (PhD candidate, NTNU), Enis N. Kostak (PhD candidate, UiT), Aheli Moitra (PhD candidate, UiT), Eli Wilson (PhD candidate, NTNU), Waranya Wataniyakun (PhD candidate, UiT), Aloïs Revéret (PhD candidate, UiT), Mudassar Aziz (Associate Professor, UiO), Yunbo Yang (PhD candidate, NTNU), Feiran Zhang (Postdoc, NTNU), Alicia JW Takaoka (Postdoctoral Researcher, NTNU), Florian Perabo (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Amar Aganovic (Associate Professor, UiT), Charlotte Luckner (PhD candidate, NTNU), Ying Wang (PhD candidate, UiT), Md Rajib Kamal (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Melanie Magin (Professor, NTNU), Duc Duy Nguyen (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Martine Alexandra Andersen Hennig (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Koen van Greevenbroek (Ph.D. candidate, UiT, tidlegare leiar TODOS), Fernando Fernando (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Bruno Dzogovic (Associate Professor, OsloMet / Research Scientist, Telenor), Morgane Colleau (Senior Research Advisor, Nord University), Jacob J. Lamb (Associate Professor, NTNU), Mahsa Pakdel (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Imen Hamed (Assistant Professor), Franz Tscheikner-Gratl (Associate Professor, NTNU), Andreas Goldberg (Associate Professor, NTNU), Markus Drexl (Associate Professor, NTNU), Charlotte Mylog (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Thomas A. Adams II (Professor, NTNU), Friederike Schäfer (PhD candidate, NTNU, SiN board 2022 & 2023), Floor Kamphorst (Associate Professor, NTNU), Lia Herrmannsdörfer (PhD Candidate, NTNU), John Potter (Professor, NTNU), Evren Turan (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Lucas Ferreira Bernardino (PhD candidate, NTNU), Syed Sajid Hussain Shah (Postdoctor, NTNU), Durga Prasad Bavirisetti (Postdoc, NTNU), Domenik Ehlert (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Marco Turchetta (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Jennifer Infanti (Associate Professor, NTNU), Abhilash Sasidharan (Postdoc, NTNU), Rita Fortuna (Postdoc, NTNU), Magnus Själander (Professor, NTNU), Ronny Bergmann (Associate Professor, NTNU), Maja Urbanczyk (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Kang Nian Yap (Associate Professor, NTNU), Mahdi Bahrami (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Khasbulat Kerimov (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Jaelle Brealey (Postdoc, NTNU), Vincent Pons (Postdoc, NTNU), Khanh Truong (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Rita Pimentel (Associate Professor, NTNU), Milad Naeimaei Aali (PhD Candiate, NTNU), Charlotte Sant (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Maëliss Lemoine (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Bradley Loewen (Associate Professor, NTNU), Foteini Oikonomou (Associate Professor, NTNU), Davood Qorbani (PhD Fellow, NTNU), Maede Sadat Etesami (PhD Candiate, NTNU), Charuka Saamantha Meegoda (Researcher, NTNU), Roxanna Morote (Associate Professor, NTNU), Carlos Oliveira (Associate Professor, NTNU), Nima Razavi (Associate Professor, NTNU), André Mendes Quintino (Postdoc, NTNU), Alireza Norouziasas (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Xuezhou Wang (PhD candidate, NTNU), Finn L. Aachmann (Professor, NTNU), Reem Nasser (PhD candidate, NTNU), Ha Thu Nguyen (PhD candidate, NTNU), Daniela Sueldo (Associate Professor, NTNU), Heather Frasch( Associate Professor, NTNU), Gunika rishi (PhD, NTNU), Srinivas Lakshmi Narayana Gudi (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Sarah L. Fordyce Martin (Researcher/Senior Engineer, NTNU), Ashish Kumar Loomba (Postdoc, NTNU), Matteo Castagnola (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Michele Guerra (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Nicolas Dussex (Postdoctoral researcher, NTNU), Ettore Teixeira Turatti (Postdoctoral researcher, UiT), Silvia Ecclesia (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Uyen Ngo (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Filipe Cortes Figueiredo (Postdoctor, NTNU), Nathalie Jurisch-Yaksi (Researcher, NTNU), Veerle Jaspers (Professor, NTNU), Martin Wagner (Associate professor, NTNU), Govert Valkenburg (Researcher 1, NTNU), Linda Haaland (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Amir Nadem Leyli (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Nikolas Aksamit (Associate Professor, UiT), Alexander Mauro (Postdoctor, NTNU), Hojjat Daniali (PhD candidate, IPS, NTNU), Anne-Fleur Brand (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Cinthia Freire Stecchini (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Sidonie Rousseau (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Moritz Jäckels (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Sarah Stevens (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Christian Kraus (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Claire K. Crowley-Aksamit (PhD Candidate, UiT), Fabian László Kellner (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Elisa Márquez Zavala (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Bikash Chaudhary (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Abishek Shrestha (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Taufik Akbar Sitompul (Postdoctor, NTNU), Felix Mehlan (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Noam Almog (Researcher, NTNU), Carlos Eduardo Sanchez Perez (Postdoc, NTNU), Synne Hoggen Nybø (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU/SINTEF Ocean), Jakob Gebel (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Vitor Rosa Meireles Elias (Postdoctoral researcher, NTNU), Ivan Markel Krasovec (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Dishiti Gupta (P.hD NTNU), Yongmei Gong (Researcher, NTNU), Besmir Tola (Associate Professor, NTNU), Ahmed Idries (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Robine H. J. Leeuwis (Postdoctoral researcher, NTNU), Samieh Najjaran (PhD candidate, NTNU), Luis Alonso Baez (Postdoctoral researcher, NTNU), Paul Acker (Postdoc, NTNU), Thomas Ray Haaland (Postdoctor, NTNU), Iwona Maria Windekilde (Associate Professor, NTNU), Spyros Pritsis (PhD candidate, NTNU), Tahmineh Akbarinejad (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Vanessa Carina Bieker (Researcher, NTNU), Branko Mitrović (Professor, NTNU), Burhan Turgut Ozbar (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Bidisha Sen (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Dhika Amanda (Postdoc, NTNU), Michaela Ticha (Postdoctoral researcher, NTNU), Anastasiia Ivanova (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Muhammad Asad Akhtar (PhD Ph.D. candidate, UiT Arctic University of Norway), Ghazaleh Akbarzadeh (PhD candidate, IPS, NTNU), Roman K. Brunner (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Laertis Vaso (Postdoctor, NTNU), Marius Korsnes (Associate Professor, NTNU), Silvio H. C. de Santana (PhD Candidate, IDI, NTNU), Francesco Camilli (Postdoctor, NTNU), Xu He (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Prasanna Mohan Doss (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Ali Muhtaroglu (Associate Professor, OsloMet), Anastasia Skarpeti (PhD candidate, NTNU), Shan Wang (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Shaua Fui Chen (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Joanne Tsoi (Ph.D. candidate, OsloMet), Knut H. Sørensen (professor emeritus, NTNU), Elen Telumyan (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Johannes Kabisch (Professor, NTNU), Martine Sletten (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Elodie Besnier (Postdoctor, NTNU), Lihong Zhou (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Pravin Punde (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Katriina Byström (Professor, OsloMet), Ashkan Moradi (Postdoctor, NTNU), Claire Degail (Ph.D. candidate, UiT, board member of TODOS), David Weissbrodt (Professor, NTNU), Keivan Afshar Ghasemi (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Shuhua Chen (Researcher, NTNU), Masih Mojarrad (PhD Candidate, UiO), Brita Phuthi (PhD Candidate, OsloMet), Marita Løkken (Ph.D. candidate OsloMet / University lecturer NTNU), Fernando Perez-Garcia (Researcher, NTNU), Luciana Fernandes de Brito (researcher, NTNU), Youness Azimzade (Postdoc, UiO), Eloïse Rochat (PhD Candidate, AMB), Emre Yaksi, (Professor, NTNU), Maximiliano José Nigro (Associate Professor, NTNU), Kristoffer Eikemo (Ph.D. candidate, OsloMet), Giulia Quattrocolo (Associate Professor, NTNU), Tobias Navarro Schroeder (Associate Professor, NTNU), Catherine Appleton (Researcher, NTNU), Ajay Kumar (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Mizanur Rahman (PhD Ph.D. candidate, UiT, vice board chair, TODOS), Arne Lien (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Lorenzo Ragazzi (Staff engineer, UiT), Robin Schabert (PhD Candidate, UiT), Gabriela Jimenez Diaz (PhD candidate, NTNU), Lucy Pius Kyauke (Researcher, NTNU), Rodrigo Graça (PhD Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Juliana Miranda Tatara (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Schyler Bennett (Ph.D. candidate, NTNU), Vladislav Slabov (NTNU), Soledad Gonzalo Cogno (Group leader, NTNU), Nureda Taskesen (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Ragnhild Irene Jacobsen (Researcher, NTNU), Weijian Zong (Group leader, NTNU), Hakan Basarir (Professor, NTNU), David Emberson (Associate Professor, NTNU), Tina Mirzaamin (Head engineer,NTNU), Mara Martin-Alonso (Group Leader, NTNU), Andrea Bocchino (PhD candidate, NHH), Dirk Ahlers (Senior Researcher, NTNU), Luca Onnis (Professor, UiO), Mustafa K. Guner (Phd Candidate, NTNU), Jade Dillon (Associate Professor, NTNU), Jessica Chow (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Efthymios Papatzikis (Associate Professor, OsloMet), Konstantinos Amoiropoulos (Associate Professor, Oslomet), Constantinos (Konstantinos) Xenofontos (Professor, OsloMet), Adam Cziboly (Associate Professor, HVL), David G. Hebert (Professor, HVL), Salman Türken (Associate Professor, OsloMet), Reza Arghandeh (Professor, HVL), Ali Nouri Qarahassanlou (Postdoc, UiT), Yu Cheng (Higher Executive Officer, NTNU), Padmaja Barua (Associate Professor of Social Work, HVL), Gloria Abena Ampim (Postdoctor, Høgskulen på Vestlandet), Dorian Vodopia (PhD Candidate, UiT), Naser Kazemi (PhD, HVL), Dragana Lukić (Ph.D. candidate, UiT), Jade Sandstedt (Associate Professor, HiVolda), Salma Tofaily(PhD candidate, UiT), Beibei Shu (PostDoc, UiT), Sofie Elise Quist (PhD candidate, UiT), Mahith Madhanakumar (PhD candidate, UiT), Alexandra Sousa (PhD candidate, UiT), Silje Mork (PhD candidate, UiT), Robert Gray (Associate Professor, UiB), Luigi Tommaso Luppino (Postdoctor, UiT), Magnus Oterhals Størdal (PhD Fellow, UiT), Suaiba Amina Salahuddin (PhD Fellow, UiT), Madison Taylor (PhD Fellow, UiT), Nieves Fernandez Anez (Associate Professor, HVL), Javier de Elio Medina (Associate Professor, HVL), Anju Angelina Hembrom (PhD Candidate, UiT), Vanessa Molin Paynter (PhD Candidate, UiT), Torstein Fjermestad (Researcher, UiO), Nadine Jacques (PhD candidate, UiT), Zina Kebir (PhD candidate, UiT), Pierre Lison (Head Researcher, NR), Claudiu Eduard Nedelciu (Postdoctor, UiB), Juan Manuel Valero Rodríguez (Postdoctor, UiB), Paul Thomas (Postdoctor, UiB), Bashar Hussien ElKhorbatly (Postdoctor, UiB), Bichitra Nanda Sahoo (Postdoctor, UiB), Shreesha Sadashiva Rao (Postdoctor, UiB), Amit Sharma (Postdoctor, UiB), Elin Danielsen Huckerbery (Postdoctor, UiB), Asia Alsgaard (Postdoctor UiB), Hilary Edema (PhD candidate, UiT), Connor Cavanagh (Associate Professor, UiB),  Eike Struck (PhD, Researcher, UiT), Damaris Benny Daniel (Postdoctor, UiB), Chrysi Danelaki (PhD Candidate, NTNU), Tor A. Benjaminsen (Professor, NMBU) 

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