Nina Witoszek

Nina Witoszek (born 15 July 1954) is a Polish-born Norwegian cultural historian, writer, public intellectual and a Research Professor (Norwegian: forskningsleder) at the University of Oslo's Centre for Development and the Environment.

Academic career

Witoszek studied at the University of Wrocław, Oxford University, University of Stockholm and holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in comparative literature.

She held fellowships at the Swedish Collegium of the Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Uppsala (1993), Robinson College, Cambridge (1995) and Mansfield College, Oxford (2001) and visiting professorship at Stanford University (2010). She has taught at Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, University College, Galway (1995–1997) and European University Institute (1997–1999).

In 2005 she received the Fritt Ord Award for articulating and communicating central and eastern European experiences in Norwegian public debate.

Witoszek is known for her work on the Ecosophy of Arne Næss and modern Scandinavian cultural identities. She serves as a director of the Arne Næss Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo.

Since 2019 she is a member of the Concilium Civitas – The Association of Polish Scientists Abroad.

Private life

Witoszek was born in Poland and grew up in Kraków; as a student she was part of a dissident group, and in 1983 she fled to Norway. In the 1990s she moved to Ireland and co-authored with partner Pat Sheeran, under the pseudonymn Nina FitzPatrick, a number of novels, short stories and, under their own names, a study of Irish traditions of death. After Sheeran's death in 2001 she returned to Norway.

Since 2015 Witoszek serves as a deputy representative of the Green Party at the Oslo City Council.