FNI is a foreign policy and international law research institute located in the home of polar explorer, statesman, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Fridtjof Nansen. Since 2013, FNI has been consistently ranked by the Norwegian Research Council among the top three research institutes (out of 48 in Norway) in terms of academic publishing. In 2017–2020, Prospect Magazine declared FNI to be the best think-tank in Europe in the category ‘Energy and Environment.’
Established in 1958, FNI conducts research within the interest areas of Fridtjof Nansen. Research areas include international politics concerning climate, environment, energy, resource management and law. The main disciplines at FNI are political science and international law, but FNI researchers also hold degrees in economics, geography, and social anthropology, and have special language and regional competence on Russia and China.
FNI currently has a staff that includes around 25 researchers. ArcGov will build on and productively interface with existing research projects at FNI that similarly tackle questions of Arctic governance.