Hans Kjetil Lysgård

Hans Kjetil Lysgård was elected Prorector for the period 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2027.

As Prorector, Lysgård leads UiA’s strategic development of research and academic and artistic development work. He is the senior manager of the research programmes at UiA and works to promote academic and professional excellence. He is also central in the development of annual as well as long-term research plans and presents these to the University Board.

He is particularly central to interdisciplinary projects in research and teaching and strives to make UiA a preferred research and education partner internationally.

Lysgård’s goal is that systematic and targeted development of UiA’s interdisciplinary projects will help solve the complex challenges of the future and create an inspiring academic environment of high quality. One goal is to include the UN Sustainable Development Goals in UiA’s research activities, both to help solve one of our time’s most serious challenges, but also to serve as good principles to guide our research, methodology and dissemination efforts.

In keeping with the action plan for equal opportunities, inclusion and diversity, he is particularly interested in achieving UiA’s goal that all staff and students be equally respected, that they get equal treatment as individuals and have the same opportunities to use their abilities and skills irrespective of gender, ethnicity, disability, faith, age, or sexual orientation.

During his career at UiA, Lysgård has been occupied with teaching and research on all levels. He has participated in launching and developing a number of programmes on bachelor’s, master’s and PhD level, several of them being interdisciplinary and crossing faculty lines. Lysgård has also held various management roles and positions at UiA: like head of department, programme coordinator, faculty board representative, and member of the Appeals Committee. He has also participated actively in external committees on behalf of municipalities, counties, regional councils, and business clusters in the region.

His research focuses on regionalisation processes, the regional development of cities and rural places, and planning - focusing particularly on strategic city and regional development. Over the last years, his research has primarily focused on the construction of culture-led policies in the space between the rural, the urban and the regional levels.

Lysgård was professor of human geography at the Department of Global Development and Planning until he became vice rector. He has previously worked at NTNU and Agderforskning/NORCE both as senior researcher and head of research. Lysgård has a Dr. Polit./PhD from NTNU from 2001.