Research Interests
An extensive interview with Inger Skjelsbæk by Cindy Horst was published as part of the 60th Anniversary series
PRIO Stories in August 2019.
Background
Languages spoken:
English, French and German
Working experience:
2009-2015 : Deputy Director at PRIO
Aug 2013 - Feb 2014: Research Director, Dimensions of Security Department, PRIO
2011/2012 (summers): Visiting scholar at the Human Rights Center, University of California Berkeley
2008-2009: Programme Leader of the Ethics, Norms and Identities programme at PRIO
2002-2003: Guest Researcher and Fulbright Scholar at the Institute of Slavic, Eurasian and Eastern European Studies (ISEEES) at the University of California, Berkeley, USA
1996- : Researcher at PRIO
Associate editor of International Feminist Journal of Politics since July 2011
Education
2007 Dr. Polit. Degree at the Institute for Psychology, University of Trondheim (NTNU). The title of the Ph.D. dissertation is "Sexual Violence In Time of War: Sexuality, Ethnicity and Gender Diversity in the War in Bosnia-Herzegovina".
1996, Cand. Polit. Degree from the University of Trondheim (NTNU) with a Master’s degree in psychology. The title of the Master’s dissertation was "Women and War: A Qualitative Study of the Construction of Femininity in the Wars in the Former Yugoslavia, El Salvador and Vietnam".
1993, Cand. Mag. Degree from the University of Oslo with the following subjects: English language and literature, French language and literature, Psychology and Social science statistics.
Blog Posts
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk, Johanne Rokke Elvebakken, Lina Stotz & Ingvill C. Ødegaard on Thursday, 23 February 2023
Over nine months have passed since Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Several of the first Ukrainian women who became pregnant as a result of wartime sexual violence have now given birth to children who were conceived as a result of this violence. More will be born in the coming months. And ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Friday, 1 April 2022
Soldiers, refugees, victims, mothers: we must listen to stories about the women’s war in Ukraine. Five weeks have passed since the start of the war in Ukraine. Shocking images dominate television news broadcasts. Europe is experiencing its largest refugee crisis since World War II. Men aged between 18 and 60 ... Read more »
Posted by Lina Stotz, Johanne Rokke Elvebakken, Ingvill Constanze Mochmann, Inger Skjelsbæk, Sunniva Árja Tobiasen & Torunn L. Tryggestad on Sunday, 6 March 2022
A recent UN report published by the Secretary General in late January is one of the first to focus exclusively on women and girls who become pregnant as a result of sexual violence in conflict and on children born of war. The term ‘children born of war’ refers to children born ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Wednesday, 30 December 2020
The people of Bosnia and Herzegovina are governed by three presidents, 14 prime ministers, 180 ministers, and 700 members of parliament (who sit in 14 different parliaments). A ping on my phone last fall told me that she was now a widow. The message was from my Bosnian friend in ... Read more »
“We cannot allow the invisibility of women in the area of peace and security to continue,” stated Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide in her opening of the session on “Gender and Preventing Violent Extremism” in Amman, Jordan. Women are often “invisible” in analyses of violent extremism, whether ... Read more »
This year, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to the Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and the Iraqi human rights activist, and witness and survivor of human-trafficking, Nadia Murad. These two voices are an extremely important contribution to ongoing efforts to combat war-related sexual violence. We are among the ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Friday, 5 October 2018
The choice to award the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad is both timely and wise. The two Nobel laureates embody different dimensions of conflict-related sexual violence. Further, the prize comes at a time when we mark the one-year anniversary of the #metoo movement, when trust ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Monday, 21 December 2015
The Dayton agreement ended the war. But with children from different ethnic groups unable to attend school together in many places, its intentions concerning reconciliation have unfortunately not been realized. “Of course I don’t need good grades in Bosnian when I’ve got good grades in English,” says a 13-year-old to ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Friday, 10 July 2015
On 11 July this year, a number of heads of state and foreign ministers, including Bill Clinton, will meet on a plain seven kilometres outside Srebrenica. They will be there to commemorate the fact that it is twenty years since over 8000 men and boys were killed while the women were ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk, Nora Sveaass & Rikke Marie Gjerde Kvale on Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Assessing the therapeutic potential of criminal prosecution of international crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Over the past twenty years, the global community has shown a renewed commitment to the pursuit of international criminal justice. A hallmark development in this regard is the establishment of the permanent International Criminal ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Tuesday, 21 April 2015
Imagine being at a dinner party with friends. Some you know from before and some are new to you. You are served a welcome drink, smile, and begin to greet the other guests. The conversation starts amicably with exchanges about the weather, where you are from, recent events and perhaps ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Wednesday, 11 June 2014
A Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict is taking place in London on 10-13 June. World leaders are meeting to discuss ways of combating the use of sexual violence in conflict and of improving efforts to bring perpetrators to justice. This is a historic event. Never before have so ... Read more »
Posted by Inger Skjelsbæk on Sunday, 14 August 2011
“Why do some people want to attack both my countries?” asks my 11-year old son with tears in his eyes. He is Norwegian and American, and this summer we are in California with his American family. He has just heard about what happened in Norway on 7/22. Our eyes are ... Read more »