Dr. Gunnar Sørbø is the former director of the Chr. Michelsen Institute

Chr. Michelsen Institute

The Chr. Michelsen Institute was founded in 1930, and is currently the largest centre for development research in Scandinavia. CMI is an independent, non-profit research foundation for policy-oriented and applied development research. Headed by the director Ottar Mæstad, it employs 40 social...

 (CMI). He is a social anthropologist with extensive international experience from research, research management and consultancy work.

Before joining CMI as director, he was the first director of the Centre for Development Studies, University of Bergen

University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is located in Bergen, Norway. Although founded as late as 1946, academic activity had taken place at Bergen Museum as far back as 1825. The university today serves more than 14,500 students...

. He has held positions as trustee or member of several boards, including the Norwegian Agency for International Development, the International Livestock Centre for Africa, the Research Council of Norway (Division of Environment and Development) and Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights was established in 1986 in a memory of , a professor of Economic History at the Norwegian School of Economics and a human rights activist. The main objective of the is the promotion of freedom of political expression and enterprise...

. During 1993–95, Sørbø was a member of the North-South/Aid Commission appointed by the Norwegian Government.