Willy Østreng is a political scientist, international affairs from the University of Oslo. He is currently Director of Østreng Consulting and Affiliated Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He was President of the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research (2012-2015), Scientific director at the Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters, (2003-2009), Executive director of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute (1978-2003), Adjunct professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (1994-2004), and Chairman of the Board of Ocean Futures, (2005-2009). He has been Visiting Senior Fellow to the Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley, Visiting Professor to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, and Special advisor to the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is an elected member of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters, the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research and  the International Academy of Regional Development and Cooperation in Russia. He is board member of multiple national and international institutions, and was Head of the International Northern Sea Route Programme (INSROP) which was organized between research institutions in Russia, japan and Norway in the period 1993 to 1999. He has published more than 250 scientific works, among them 30 books and major reports on polar politics, ocean affairs, military security, international resource management and science theory, in particular on interdisciplinarity in research. He is Commander of the Finnish Lion Order.

Fields of Scientific Interest:

Polar Politics (Arctic and Antarctic), Ocean Law and Politics, Ocean Resource Management, Security Policy, Naval Strategy, International Regimes and Governance, and Inter-and multidisciplinary research, theory and methodology