Members

Thomas von Brasch is a research economist at Statistics Norway (SSB). He headed SSB’s Macroeconomics Research Group from 2020 to 2025 and has been the head of Business Cycle Analysis since 2017. He is a member of the Advisory Committee on Fiscal Policy Analysis and has worked in the secretariat of the Technical Calculation Committee for Wage Settlements since 2018. In 2023, he also served in the secretariat of the Committee on the Lead-Sector Model (Frontfagsmodellutvalget).

Knut Røed holds a PhD in economics and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Ragnar Frisch Centre for Economic Research. His research covers the labour market, social security, immigration, pensions, economic inequality and social mobility. Røed has previously served on a number of government committees, including the Committee on Labour Immigrants (NOU 2022: 18), the Employment Committee (NOU 2019: 7 and NOU 2021: 2), the Committee on Welfare and Migration (NOU 2011: 7) and the Committee on Disability Pensions (NOU 2007: 4).

Hildegunn E. Stokke is Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). Her research focuses on the labour market, urbanisation and productivity, using econometric analyses of Norwegian register data. Stokke has previously served on the Committee on the Lead-Sector Model (NOU 2023: 30) and the Norwegian Committee on Skill Needs (NOU 2018: 2, NOU 2019: 2 and NOU 2020: 2).

Christian Franklin (Barrister, LLM, PhD) is Professor of Law at the University of Bergen, specialising in EU and EEA law and internal market law. For many years, his research and teaching have focused in particular on the free movement of persons under EU/EEA law. He is a former Chair of the Norwegian Association for European Law (NFER), and currently heads both the Centre for the Europeanisation of Norwegian Law (CENTENOL) and the European Law Research Group (BERG) at the University of Bergen.

Frode Forfang was Director General of the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) from 2012 to 2024, and before that held other senior positions at UDI from 1998. His previous roles include State Secretary for International Development at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He now works as an independent consultant and, among other things, chairs the expert group reviewing the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (Nav). He holds a master’s degree in political science from the London School of Economics.

Aleksandra Czech-Havnerås is Senior Adviser on work-related crime at the Salvation Army. She was previously Director of the Salvation Army’s Migration Centre in Oslo, where she assisted hundreds of labour immigrants who had been exploited in Norwegian working life. Czech-Havnerås holds a master’s degree in Peace, Conflict and Development from the University of Bradford, and has previously worked against human trafficking in the United Kingdom. In 2024, she received the Stockmann’s Hammer Award for her work as a whistleblower and advocate for foreign workers.

Anne Mette Ødegård is a member of the working life research group at Fafo and has extensive knowledge of labour market regulation and cooperation between the social partners. She also has in-depth knowledge of European labour market regulation. Her particular areas of expertise include labour immigration to Norway, both from the EEA and from third countries. Another key research area is freedom of expression and whistleblowing in working life. She has also worked on projects on temporary agency work and on a range of industry studies. Ødegård has broad experience in research communication and project management.

Roger Bjørnstad has been Chief Economist at the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) since 2017. He holds a PhD in economics from the University of Oslo. He has previously headed the Macroeconomics Research Group in Statistics Norway’s Research Department, served as Chief Economist at Econ Pöyry and as head of Samfunnsøkonomisk analyse. He is a permanent member of the Technical Calculation Committee for Wage Settlements (NOU 2026: 5) and has previously served on, among others, the Low Wage Committee (NOU 2024: 11) and the Committee on the Lead-Sector Model (NOU 2023: 30).

Kristine Alsvik is a Senior Adviser in the Department of Working Life and Skills at the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO). She holds a Cand.polit. degree (equivalent to a master’s) in social anthropology from the University of Oslo. Alsvik has worked at NHO since 2015 and has broad experience in labour market issues, with a particular focus on labour immigration. She has previously worked at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN specialised agency for the world of work. Alsvik was previously a member of the Committee on Labour Immigrants (NOU 2022: 18).

Henrik Dahle is a lawyer and Head of Policy at Unio, with responsibility for Unio’s labour market policy and the organisation’s legal work. He has extensive experience as chief negotiator and lawyer in various labour market organisations. In recent years, Dahle has been appointed by the Government to many public committees, including the Whistleblowing Committee, the committee on the Civil Service Act and the committee that assessed the future of working life.

Bente Larssen is Regional Director of KS Northern Norway (the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities). She has long experience from the local government sector, including as Chief Municipal Executive of Sør-Varanger and Porsanger municipalities. Larssen has also worked at the former County Governor of Finnmark.