Nordic Center at UC Berkeley

Mission & Vision

The Nordic Center at UC Berkeley serves as a vibrant, interdisciplinary platform that brings together the Nordics to UC Berkeley and UC Berkeley to the Nordics. We foster dialogue, support exchanges, spark research, enable shared understandings, inform policies and practices, and further elevate the profile and global interest in the Nordics.

The Nordic Center at UC Berkeley, housed at the Institute for European Studies, coordinates a vibrant suite of activities in close collaboration with the Scandinavian Department, Berkeley Haas Center for Responsible Business, Institute for Business & Social Impact, the Peder Sather Center, and works across UC Berkeley and beyond.  

Why the Nordics?

The Nordic region demonstrates among the comparatively highest levels of prosperity, democracy, equality, and sustainability performances across the world. The Nordic Center at UC Berkeley serves as a platform for inquiry into the Nordic experiences – assessing successes and challenges alike – past, present, and future. The Nordic Center efficiently directs the attention of UC Berkeley in a cross-disciplinary manner toward the Nordics while building mutually beneficial collaborations with Nordic organizations. California represents a unique testing ground open to experimentation where Nordic inspired ideas may be tested in California, the results of which may effect changes across the United States and beyond. The Nordic Center brings the Nordics and UC Berkeley together in collaborative spirit to address our most pressing common challenges represented by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).