NKVTS

What NKVTS does

NKVTS (Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress / Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies) is a government-funded national research institute established in 2004 and headquartered in Oslo, Norway. Its statutory mandate is to develop and disseminate research-based knowledge and competence on violence, abuse, traumatic stress, forced migration, and disaster response in order to prevent and reduce the health and social consequences of such exposures. NKVTS employs 101–250 staff, of whom 57 are researchers, and currently runs 38 ongoing research projects across four thematic areas: violence and abuse in close relationships; disasters, terror and stress management; forced migration and refugee health; and treatment and implementation research. Practitioner-facing deliverables include proprietary assessment tools (Kartleggingsverktøy), PTSD treatment protocols, professional guides and handbooks, psychosocial-support resources for refugees, and the national web portal dinutvei.no on domestic violence and rape, supplemented by the campaign portal Plikt.no. Cumulative output since 2005 comprises 22 books, 32 PhD dissertations, and 61 peer-reviewed articles in 2025 alone.

The institute operates a community-led, knowledge-dissemination GTM rather than a commercial model. Its products are made freely available to Norwegian municipalities, healthcare services, schools, kindergartens, and asylum reception centers through publications, seminars, a triweekly newsletter, and website downloads. Revenue is sourced entirely from Norwegian government appropriations — no commercial pricing exists, no fees are charged for tools or publications, and the entity is structured as a government_state_entity (organization number 986 304 096) with no parent company or venture backing. NKVTS participates in Nordic and international collaborations — notably the NordURM network and CAGE research project on unaccompanied refugee minors across Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden, and joint work with the Norwegian Directorate of Health (Helsedirektoratet) on national psychosocial-crisis guidelines — and works alongside institutions including Oslo University Hospital, the University of Oslo, and Röda Korsets Högskola (Red Cross University College, Stockholm). Leadership is anchored by Director Inger Elise Birkeland, supported by a research faculty with specialist credentials across psychotraumatology, child and adolescent psychiatry, epidemiology, and clinical psychology.

Name

NKVTS

Legal name

Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress

Website

https://nkvts.no

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

NKVTS is Norway's government-funded national research center (est. 2004) that develops and disseminates evidence-based knowledge on violence, traumatic stress, disasters, and refugee mental health to public-sector practitioners across municipalities, healthcare, and education.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Behavioral Health Research Services

NAICS

Individual and Family Services (6241), Social Assistance (624), Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172), Human Rights Organizations (813311)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300), Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Misc Health & Allied Services, Nec (8090)

akta.pro primary industry

Global Health Research, Evidence & Technical Assistance Organizations (HLAJAKAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Protection, Child Protection & Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response (BPAGAAAG), Human Rights & Anti-Discrimination Organizations (BPAGAFAB), Maternal, Newborn, Child & Adolescent Health (MNCAH) NGOs (HLAJAKAG)

Keywords

• Trauma research services
• Psychosocial support resources
• Violence prevention research
• Refugee mental health
• PTSD treatment protocols

Headquarters

HQ city

Oslo

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: NKVTS is a government-funded national knowledge center. The organization receives funding from Norwegian government sources to conduct research on violence and traumatic stress and disseminate knowledge to prevent and reduce health and social consequences.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

NKVTS is a government-funded national knowledge center that develops and disseminates research-based knowledge, assessment tools, treatment protocols, guides, handbooks, and psychosocial support resources to professionals working with violence, abuse, trauma, disasters, terror, and refugees. It conducts ongoing research (38 projects) and produces publications, tools, and a national web portal (dinutvei.no) that support municipalities, healthcare services, schools, reception centers, and child welfare services.

Product overview

NKVTS (Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress) is Norway's national knowledge center for violence and traumatic stress studies. Rather than a unified software platform, NKVTS offers a portfolio of research-based products and services including assessment tools (Kartleggingsverktøy), PTSD treatment protocols, professional guides and handbooks, psychosocial support resources for refugees, and a national web portal on domestic violence and rape. These offerings serve mental health professionals, healthcare workers, social services, and other practitioners working with trauma-affected populations. The organization conducts extensive research (38 ongoing projects, 57 researchers) and disseminates knowledge through publications, seminars, and practical tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Kartleggingsverktøy (Assessment Tools) Assessment and mapping tools developed by NKVTS for professionals working with violence, abuse, trauma, and traumatic stress. These tools help practitioners identify and evaluate individuals affected by such experiences.
• Behandlingsforløp for PTSD (PTSD Treatment Pathways) Treatment pathways and protocols for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), providing structured approaches for healthcare professionals managing trauma-exposed individuals.
• Veiledere og håndbøker (Guides and Handbooks) Professional guides and handbooks for practitioners working with violence, abuse, trauma, and traumatic stress, offering evidence-based methodologies and best practices.
• Psykososial støtte for flyktninger (Psychosocial Support for Refugees) Resource pages providing psychosocial support guidance and materials for refugees, accessible to professionals working in municipalities, reception centers, schools, kindergartens, and health services.
• Nasjonal nettportal om vold i nære relasjoner og voldtekt (National Web Portal on Domestic Violence and Rape) A national web portal (operated as dinutvei.no) providing information and resources on domestic violence and rape, developed and maintained by NKVTS as part of its mandate to disseminate knowledge on violence and traumatic stress.

Quantifiable outcome

• 38 ongoing research projects across violence, trauma, and forced migration topics
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NordURM (Nordic Network for Research Cooperation on Unaccompanied Refugee Minors)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNordURM is a research network initiated by NKVTS focusing on unaccompanied refugee minors. The collaboration has resulted in research projects like CAGE (Coming of Age in Exile) examining young refugees' living conditions and well-being in Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.
• CAGE - Coming of Age in ExilecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAGE is a research project examining unaccompanied refugee minors' living conditions and well-being. It is conducted across Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden through the NordURM network.
• Röda Korsets Högskola (Red Cross University College) StockholmminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAlexander Nissen serves as statistician at this institution. Collaborative research project 'Resiliency, Mental Health and Social Participation among Refugees (RMSR)' focuses on mental health, resilience, and social inclusion of newly arrived adult refugees from Syria.
• Helsedirektoratet (Norwegian Directorate of Health)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNKVTS contributed to the development of the Norwegian Directorate of Health's guidelines for psychosocial measures during crises, accidents, and disasters. This represents government-level collaboration on trauma response guidelines.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Karolinska Institutet – Department of Clinical Neuroscience: Sweden's leading medical university with major psychiatric and trauma research programs. It operates on a much broader scale but produces trauma, refugee mental health, and violence research that is functionally comparable to NKVTS's work, particularly through its Nordic research collaborations.
• World Health Organization – Department of Mental Health and Substance Use: Sets global policy and clinical guidelines on mental health, including trauma and violence-related conditions. As a global authority with overlapping thematic scope, WHO provides the international policy context against which national centers like NKVTS operate.
• Norwegian Institute of Public Health (Folkehelseinstituttet): Norway's primary national public health research institute, operating as a government-mandated knowledge center with overlapping population-level research scope. NKVTS's violence/trauma research sits adjacent to FHI's broader public health mandate, making it a closely related Norwegian public research incumbent.
• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL): Finland's national public health and welfare research institute under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Comparable institutional role to NKVTS in producing government-backed evidence on violence, mental health, and refugee populations, though across a wider mandate.

Direct peers

• Danish Research Centre for Migration, Ethnicity and Health (MESOC): A national Danish research center focused on migration, ethnicity, and health — a directly comparable mandate to NKVTS's forced migration and refugee health pillar. It operates with a similar national knowledge center model and is part of the same Nordic research community as NKVTS.
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD: The leading U.S. national research and knowledge center on PTSD and traumatic stress, operating with a federal mandate analogous to NKVTS. It produces assessment tools, treatment protocols, and practitioner resources that are functionally equivalent to NKVTS's deliverable set, though in a U.S. context.
• King's Centre for Military Health Research (King's College London): A UK academic research center focused on military mental health, trauma, and PTSD. It mirrors NKVTS's treatment and implementation research pillar for trauma-exposed populations, including refugees and veterans, with comparable assessment and treatment methodology work.

Emerging players

• Röda Korsets Högskola (Red Cross University College): A Swedish Red Cross-affiliated university college with research programs on refugee mental health and humanitarian health. Already a direct research collaborator with NKVTS (RMSR project), it represents a closely aligned niche academic peer in the Nordic trauma/refugee space.
• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine – Centre for Global Mental Health: Produces globally significant research on refugee and conflict-affected population mental health. Comparable to NKVTS's refugee mental health work (and where Alexander Nissen completed his epidemiology master's), making it a relevant academic peer in the international trauma research ecosystem.

Others

• International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS): The leading international professional society dedicated to trauma and traumatic stress research. Functions as a standards-setting and convening body for the field in which NKVTS operates, providing context for NKVTS's positioning rather than direct competition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/NKVTS
• LinkedInno.linkedin.com/company/nasjonalt-kunnskapssenter-om-vold-og-traumatisk-stress
• Xx.com/NKVTS

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about NKVTS