CHR MICHELSENS INSTITUTT FOR VIDENSKAP OG ANDSFRIHET STIFTELSE

Their core work

CMI is a Norwegian independent research institute specializing in social sciences, with deep expertise in migration, conflict, and maritime anthropology. They conduct ethnographic and multi-sited field research on displacement, refugee situations, transoceanic fishing communities, and the lived experience of warfare. Their work bridges academic research with policy-relevant insights on humanitarian issues, inter-group relations, and informal economies across borders. With two prestigious ERC grants, they demonstrate the capacity to lead ambitious, long-duration research programs.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

CMI's H2020 trajectory shows a shift from policy-oriented migration research toward more fundamental, ERC-funded explorations of human experience in extreme contexts. Their earliest involvement (TRAFIG, 2019) focused on protracted refugee situations and humanitarian policy as part of a larger consortium. By 2021, their own ERC-led projects moved into more unconventional territory — the informal economies of transoceanic fishing and the experiential dimensions of warfare — suggesting a deliberate push toward anthropological research that challenges conventional framings of conflict, mobility, and human agency.

CMI is moving toward ambitious, conceptually bold research on how people experience and navigate conflict, borders, and informal economies — expect future work at the intersection of anthropology, security, and mobility.

How they like to work

CMI predominantly leads its own research as coordinator (2 of 3 projects), both through highly competitive ERC individual grants. This indicates strong principal investigators who design and drive their own research agendas. Their one participation as partner (TRAFIG) involved a broader consortium, but the ERC model means most of their work is PI-led with smaller, focused teams. Potential partners should expect to engage with researcher-driven agendas rather than large consortium dynamics.

Despite only 3 projects, CMI has worked with 11 unique partners across 10 countries, reflecting a genuinely international research network. Their geographic reach spans well beyond Scandinavia, consistent with field research in Southeast Asia and global displacement contexts.

What sets them apart

CMI stands out for winning two ERC grants (Starting and Consolidated) in the social sciences — a strong indicator of research excellence in a highly competitive funding scheme. Their research tackles unconventional questions that other institutes avoid: the "fun" in warfare, the invisible economies of transoceanic fishing, the agency of displaced people beyond victimhood. For consortium builders seeking a partner that brings rigorous ethnographic methods and fresh conceptual angles to security, migration, or maritime topics, CMI offers something genuinely distinctive.

Highlights from their portfolio

• WARFUN
  Largest grant (EUR 2M ERC Consolidator), with a provocatively original research question about the experiential and even pleasurable dimensions of warfare.
• TransOcean
  ERC Starting Grant combining maritime anthropology with security-relevant themes like illegal fishing, smuggling, and transoceanic mobility in the South China Sea.