CV

Carl Henrik Knutsen

University of Oslo, Campus

Born in Kongsvinger, Norway, 1981

E-mail: c.h.knutsen@stv.uio.no
Twitter: @carlhknutsen
Google scholar page
Research gate profile
Department webpage
Institutt-nettside
ORCID
Dataverse page
Full CV in PDF version
URL personal website

Postal address, office:
Department of Political Science, University of Oslo,
Boks 1097 Blindern,
0317 Oslo,
Norway

Academic positions

  • 2013-present: Professor, Department of Political Science, UiO
    (main affiliation; hired as tenured Associate Professor 1/1 2013. Promoted to Full Professor 15/9 2013)
  • 2017-present: Research Group Leader for “Comparative Institutions and Regimes” (CIR), at the Department of Political Science, UiO; approx. 35 members (counting Professors, Associate Prof. Postdocs, PhDs).
  • 2018-present:  Research Professor (secondary affiliation; 10% position, 20% from 2020) CVP, PRIO
  • 2017-present: Prinicipal Investigator Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem)
  • 2008-present:  Associated Researcher ESOP, Department of Economics, UiO
  • 2013-2014: Senior Researcher (secondary affiliation; 20% position) CSCW/CVP, PRIO
  • 2011-12: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Political Science, UiO
  • 2007-11: Ph.D. Fellow, Department of Political Science, UiO
  • 2008-10: Researcher (10% position), CSCW, PRIO
  • 2010: Guest Researcher, Department of Political Science, Columbia University, New York (with Leiv Eiriksson Grant from The Research Council of Norway)
  • 2009: Guest Researcher, Sciences Po, Bordeaux (with GARNET Mobility Grant; sponsored by The European Commission’s FP6)

Awards and activities (selection)

  • 2023: Honorable Mention for the Juan Linz Best Book award from the APSA Democracy and Autocracy Section for Why Democracies Develop and Decline, Cambridge University Press (shared with Michael Coppedge, Amanda Edgell, Staffan I. Lindberg).
  • 2022: Frank Cass Award for Best Article in Democratization in 2021 for “A business case for democracy: Regime type, growth and growth volatility”.
  • 2021: APSA Democracy & Autocracy section Best Article Award for “Patterns of Regime Change since the French Revolution” in Comparative Political Studies (shared w/ Vilde Lunnan Djuve & Tore Wig).
  • 2020: Fritdtjof Nansen’s Prize for Young Researchers within the Humanities and Social Sciences. Awarded for “excellent research in political science”.
  • 2020: Assessment of state of Norwegian democracy, Ministry of Local Government and Modernization (4 mill NOK, + later option of 4 mill NOK; co-PI Sirianne Dahlum)
  • 2020: ERC Consolidator Grant (2 mill EURO)
  • 2020: FRIHUMSAM Researcher Project, Norwegian Research Council (12 mill NOK)
  • 2018: NEPS Medal for best publication in Peace Science for “Autocratic Elections: Stabilizing Tool or Force for Change” in World Politics (w. Håvard M. Nygård and Tore Wig)
  • 2016: Lijphart/Przeworski/Verba Data Set Award by APSA’s Comparative Politics section for the V-Dem dataset (w. other PIs and project managers of V-Dem)
  • 2015-2019: Founding Member of the Norwegian Young Academy
  • 2015: Young Research Talent Grant, Norwegian Research Council
  • 2014: Chr. Michelsen’s Prize for best study by Norwegian scholar under 40 years in Development Research (“Democracy, State Capacity and Economic Growth” in World Development)
  • 2014-2017: Editor, Scandinavian Political Studies (w. Åse Gornitzka)
  • 2012: His Majesty the King of Norway’s Gold Medal for best PhD in the Social Sciences
  • 2012: Shortlisted (among 6 candidates) for ECPR Jean Blondel Prize for best European PhD Dissertation in Political Science

Education

  • 2013: Research Leadership Programme, UiO
  • 2013: Basic Competency in University Pedagogy, UiO
  • 2007-2011: PhD in Political Science, UiO. Disputation date: 16.08.2011. Awarded: 29.09.2011. Supervisors: Helge Hveem and Håvard Hegre
  • 2002-2008: 5-year Master in Economic Theory and Econometric Methods, UiO. Thesis supervisor: Kalle Moene
  • 2005-2006: 2-year Master in Political Science, Department of Political Science, UiO. Thesis supervisors: Helge Hveem and Govindan Parayil
  • 2000-2004: Bachelor in Political Science, History and Philosophy, UiO

Supervision of graduate students

  • 2009-present: 16 PhDs (main adv. Vivi Berrefjord, Sovleig Bjørkholt, Sirianne Dahlum, Mathilde Giske, Haakon Gjerløw, Palina Kolvani, Tarald Laudal-Berge, Jonas Schmid; co-adv. Jonas Berge, Trond Flaarønning (ISF), Lisa Garbe [U. St. Gallen], Runar Hilleren [Faculty of Law, UiO], Valeriya Mechkova [U. Gothenburg], Peter Langsæther, Tommy Knutsen, Tore Wig); 29 MAs. Mentor, 8 postdocs, formally (and a large number informally).
  • 2015-present: Member of 12 PhD evaluation/defense committees at UiO (one in Political Science and one in Economics), Aarhus University (two), University of Bergen (two), University of Copenhagen (two), University of Essex, Gothenburg University, St. Gallen University, EUI Florence.

Other activities

Bali Democracy Forum, 2018, Nusa Dua

Invited presentations (updated in 2023):
I have held about 170 academic presentations since 2007. I regularly present at the major political science conferences (APSA, ECPR, EPSA, ISA). I have been invited to/held talks at, for instance, U. of Oxford, U. of Barcelona, U. of Tokyo, Aarhus U., Columbia U., Gothenburg U., Lund U., U. of Glasgow, Trinity College, Dublin, U. of Bergen, EUI, Florence, U. of Essex, IBEI, Barcelona, Michigan State U., U. of Michigan, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Heidelberg University, Technical U. Munich, U. of South Carolina, U. of Melbourne, and Pontificia Universidad, Santiago. I have held keynote speeches at the opening of the Regional V-Dem center in Tartu, 2015, the Annual Finnish Political Science Conference in Helsinki 2016, and the Maputo Conference on Democracy, Mozambique 2017, and held the Annual Gunnerus lecture for The Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters in 2021. I have also held numerous talks for politicians, bureaucrats, think tanks, IGOs and NGOs from various countries, for example in Amman (Jordanian NGOs and politicians different parties), Cairo (Egyptian politicians various parties), Gothenburg (V-Dem Policy Day), Paris (OECD GovNet and UNESCO), Nusa Dua (Bali Democracy Forum), Oslo (UNDP and CoD conferences; NHOs Årskonferanse; Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Knowledge, Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, NORAD, Government Pension Fund Global, UHR, Civita, Agenda, etc.), Stockholm (International IDEA conference) and virtually (USAID, EU Comission, UK FCDO etc.). In these talks, I have covered topics such as democracy measurement, global state of democracy, political instability and regime change, democratization and growth, how coalition government influences choice of economic policies, effects of aid projects on democratization, autocratization, and how to measure aspects of SDG 16.