Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | NKVTS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2004 |
| Type | Government-owned research institute |
| Location | |
| Fields | Violence and sexual abuse; disaster management, terrorism, armed conflicts and traumatic stress; and forced migration and refugee health |
Director | Inger Elise Birkeland |
| Affiliations |
|
Staff (2019) | 101[1] |
| Website | nkvts |
The Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (Norwegian: Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress, NKVTS) is a research centre in Oslo, Norway, and Norway's national research institution in violence and sexual abuse; disaster management, terrorism, armed conflicts and traumatic stress; and forced migration and refugee health research. It is interdisciplinary and employs experts mainly in psychology, psychiatry, and the social sciences. In addition to carrying out research and related activities, the institute advises the Government of Norway in its areas of expertise and has some official emergency management functions at the national level. NKVTS has 101 employees.
NKVTS was established by the Government of Norway in 2004 through the merger of four research institutions, mainly at the University of Oslo, and was wholly owned by the University of Oslo until 2019 when ownership was transferred to the Norwegian Research Centre, itself owned by four universities. While organised as an independent limited company, it remains an affiliated institute of the University of Oslo[2] and cooperates closely with the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of Medicine, where several of its research professors also hold professorial chairs. The centre was located at Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål 2004–2013, and is now located in Nydalen, Oslo.
NKVTS has its roots in the military and disaster psychiatry research of the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Armed Forces Joint Medical Services from the 1950s. Its oldest predecessor institution was the Division of Disaster Psychiatry, a joint unit of the University of Oslo Faculty of Medicine and the Norwegian Armed Forces, that was established by the chief psychiatrist of the Norwegian Armed Forces, Arne Sund, a pioneer in military psychiatry and the founder of the field of disaster psychiatry. Through Sund's efforts Norway became "an international pioneer in the research on mass killings, war, catastrophes, accidents and all forms of violence."[3] NKVTS has extensive international cooperation and has been represented in various UN bodies, such as the United Nations Committee against Torture.