Academic Interests
Erik Oddvar Eriksen’s main research fields are political theory, public policy and European integration. His interest in legitimate rule has led to publications on democracy in the EU, governance and leadership, functions and limits of the state, deliberative democracy, trust, regional politics, security politics and the welfare state.
Background
Eriksen was Director of ARENA from 2008 to 2020.
He has been a professor at the University of Tromsø, at the University of Bergen, professor II at Centre of Professional Studies, The University College of Oslo and is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Aalborg.
Positions held
Erik O. Eriksen is a member of the research board of the Research Programme on Democracy at the University of Oslo since 2008.
He is also a member of the board for scientific advice at Stockholm’s Centre for research on the public sector (SCORE) since 1998.
In addition, he is member of the editorial boards of The Open Political Science Journal, Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift; Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, Ethics & Global Politics and he is co-editor of the series Routledge Studies on Democratising Europe.
Projects
Eriksen is scientific coordinator of the Norwegian Research Council-funded project REFLEX - Democracy and Expert Rule: The Quest for Reflexive Legitimacy (2016-2021).
He was research director of the Norwegian Research Council-funded project EuroDiv - Integration and division: Towards a segmented Europe? (2013-2018).
He is co-leader of the subproject "The EU and Global Justice" within the project GLOBUS - Reconsidering European Contributions to Global Justice. GLOBUS is a joint research project between 8 universities from across the globe. The project is coordinated by ARENA and funded by the EU's research programme Horizon 2020.
Eriksen was research director of the Norwegian Research Council-funded five-year project EuroTrans - The Transformation and Sustainability of European Political Order (2007-2013).
He was co-director of NORCONE – The Norwegian Constitution in a Changing European Context, a project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (2011-2013).
Erik Oddvar Eriksen was the scientific coordinator of the EU funded Integrated Project RECON - Reconstituting Democracy in Europe, a joint research project between 20 partners in 12 European countries. The project ran from 2007 through 2011 and was financed by the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme. In addition, he was chairing the 1st work-package on the theoretical framework of the RECON project.
Eriksen also held the scientific responsibility for CIDEL - Citizenship and Democratic Legitimacy in the European Union, which was a research project between 10 partners in six European countries, and was financed by the Fifth Framework Programme (2003-2005).
Curriculum vitae (PDF)