Tormod Heier

Tormod Heier is Professor in Military Strategy and Operations, Director Research at the Command and Staff College, Professor-II at Innland University of Applied Sciences, and Assistant Professor at the Swedish Defence University in Stockholm. Following 32 years of active service, Heier ended his military career as Lieutenant Colonel in 2022.  

As active-duty officer, Heier served in the Army’s Brigade North, Norwegian Intelligence Service, at the Ministry of Defence, and in Afghanistan. He holds a PhD and two master’s degrees in Political Science and War Studies from the University of Oslo and King’s College London. As author, co-author and editor, Heier has published numerous books, i.e. on Norwegian and European Security- and Defence Policy, Qualitative Research Methodology in Social Science, and Strategic Management. Heier holds regular lectures for universities and NGOs nationwide.  

Heier is frequently used as expert member for Swedish Higher Education Authority and Denmark’s Accreditation Institution when evaluating Scandinavian military education. He is also expert member of Nei til Atomvåpen’s Advisory Council, Norway Defence & Aerospace Cluster (NDAC), and Norwegian Defence Research Establishment’s Advisory Board on the Research Programme “Protection of the Society”. Heier was visiting fellow at Pembroke College, Oxford University in 2017, and was awarded the Ossietzky Price for Freedom of Speech the same year.      

His latest books are An Astray Rim State? Norway’s Way into the New Cold War, 2014–2021 (Cappelen Damm 2021), as well as Thinking and Writing in the Social Sciences (co-authored with professor Torbjørn L. Knutsen, Fagbokforlaget 2021).