We proudly present the Region Stavanger ambassadors for 2011.

Ingvild Morken, University of Stavanger, SUS, EuroHeartCare 2014

Ingvild, then a doctoral fellow at the cardiology section, SUS, together with the local group NSF – LKA, was a driving force to bring The Spring Meeting on Cardiovascular Nursing to Stavanger in 2014, an annual European professional conference (EuroHeartCare) for nurses with expertise in heart patients. This is organised by the European Society of Cardiology Council on Cardiovascular Nursing and Allied Professions (CCNAP). The congress itself was important for the professional and research environment at the hospital and the House of Research. Ahead of the congress, SUS will also organise the National Cardiac Nursing Congress, which could mean over 600 participants in total in 2014.

Jan Frick – University of Stavanger, Advances in Production Management Conference 2011

Jan Frick, professor at UiS, Business School, Faculty of Social Sciences. Jan is an excellent example of an international Roglander with in-depth knowledge rooted in local business life. He has been involved in a number of local businesses and research centres, including Jærtek, Sintef, Rogalandsforskning (IRIS), Tjørhomfjellet, and Sirdalsferie. He has coordinated several international research projects related to e-learning, broadband and innovation and published research articles and books on business development and operations. After studying civil engineering at NTNU, he did his doctoral thesis in Denmark, at the University of Aalborg. With his international network in IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing) he arranged the conference "Advances in Production Management Systems" in Stavanger in September 2011, with approx. 250 delegates from international academia and the research environment.

Kjell Ursin Smith - ONS

A career that encompasses politics and public administration, the private business world, with international experience in multinational companies and not least the important ONS (Offshore Northern Seas). Kjell worked early on in Stavanger municipality and later with Mayor Arne Rettedal. This took him to Oslo as a personal secretary when Rettedal became a municipal minister in Willoch's first administration. He later became Secretary of State in Willoch's second government. After that, he worked closely with the maritime industry, as marketing manager at Rosenberg Verft, which brought him further to Kværner and their London office. In 1999, he joined Offshore Northern Seas and has been responsible for 6 ONS trade fairs. The region’s largest event with over 60,000 visitors has had a formidable development and has become an event that includes conferences, exhibitions and a festival. His authority and ability to get people on board, create networks and get people to work together are the qualities that have made ONS the giga-event it is, with great international credibility. In 2010 he was named Oilman of the Year by The Society of Petroleum Engineers. He has also received the King's Medal of Merit in gold for his ambassadorial role in Norwegian oil and gas operations. Last, but not least, we are so proud to continue working with him and his enormous expertise and to make contacts in his large international network.

Reidar Mykletun, UiS, Norsk Hotellhøgskole, Global Events Congress 2012

Reidar was a senior researcher and leader at Rogaland Research (IRIS), and dean at the Norwegian Hospitality College 1997 - 2003, where he among other things, developed a strong international network and contributed to the development of the university's first international summer school and developed the Hospitality College's activities to include research on the doctoral level. He is the initiator of and editor-in-chief of the Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism (which is the only international journal at UiS). He has several guest appearances at foreign universities including in Florida, Australia and New Zealand, and a large international network in his field. He is the leader of the Senior Forum UiS and Rogaland festival leaders' Forum which organises an annual festival leaders' conference at the Norwegian University of Hospitality and Tourism. For several years, Reidar has published articles in international publications, especially within topics such as travel/tourism, organisational psychology and the working environment. Some of the articles are about the Gladmat food festival, the Stavanger region and Lysefjord, which he believes is a particularly interesting area for tourism development. Every year, he gives lectures about our festivals at international research conferences. He also supervises doctoral students in Event management and has drawn the world's foremost expert on event management, Professor Donald Getz from Calgary in Canada, to the Norwegian Hotel College and Stavanger as Professor II. He has previously been responsible for two large Nordic conferences in Stavanger. With his international network, he has now added The Fifth Global Events Conference to UiS when the Norwegian Hotel College's 100-year anniversary in 2012. The conference rotates between various countries and universities and has approx. 200 event leaders, researchers, and professors.