Liv Tønnessen
Current projects
Rights Activism under Political Uncertainty (RightAct)
Pushing pads
Completed projects
Assisting Regional Universities in Sudan (ARUS)
Women and Peacebuilding in Africa
ARUSS: Assisting regional universities in Sudan and South Sudan
Women's Human Rights and Law Reform in the Muslim World
Politics of Faith
Protection of Civilians: From Principle to Practice
Transformations in the Arab World
Legislating Marriages: Family Law Reform & Democratization in African and Asia
Caught between rape and adultery in Sudan
Peacebuilding in Sudan: Micro- Macro Issues
Gender based violence in conflict-torn Sudan
The Moderation of Islamist Movements
Joint Evaluation of Norwegian and Swedish Aid in Support of Child Rights
Women and Peacebuilding in Sudan
Religious Dialogue and Peace-Building in Sudan
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Political scientist researching gender and politics in the Middle East and Northern Africa.
Tønnessen has a PhD in comparative politics from the University of Bergen. She has been a guest researcher at University of Texas at Austin, Ahfad University for Women in Sudan, and at the Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She has also worked at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Damascus, Syria.
Tønnessen has published extensively on topics related to gender and politics, including women and peacebuilding, sexual and reproductive rights and health (Abortion, FGM and LGBTQ+), women's political and economic empowerment, Islamic law reform, social movements (women's movements, queer movements, and Islamic movements), and sexual violence in war.
Tønnessen has a track record from the Middle East and Northern Africa with long term stays in Sudan, Lebanon and Syria. She has specialized in Sudanese politics for more than a decade. Tønnessen has conducted extensive fieldworks in the country and she has been a lecturer at Ahfad University for Women and held numerous lectures for regional universities in the west, east and south of Sudan. She has a wide network of contacts within Sudanese academia, politics and civil society. Tønnessen's work has involved long-term collaboration with several research institutions and research partners in Sudan.
Tønnessen has a track record heading research projects funded by the Norwegian Research Council, Carnegie Foundation and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is currently involved in the research projects ‘Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health: Criminalisation, health impacts and game changers’ headed by Siri Gloppen (University of Bergen/Center for Law and Social Transformation) and 'Rights Activism under Political Uncertainty' by Leo Arriola (Berkely/CMI). She is also heading the ‘Assisting Regional Universities in Sudan' project funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Khartoum.
Tønnessen is currently Director of the CMI-University of Bergen Center on Law and Social Transformation together with Siri Gloppen. She has previously been Research Director at CMI (2017-2021), Founder and coordinator of the Gender Politics research group (2010-2014), Member of the CMI board (2015-2017), Head of the Norwegian Association of Researcher at CMI (2013-2015), Board member of the program for development research at Swedish Research Council (2016-2019) , Board Member of the Nordic Middle East Society (2010-2016), and Founding member of the Norwegian Center for Humanitarian Studies which is a collaboration between CMI, PRIO and NUPI (2012-2016).