The Nansen Center in Bergen has taken the initiative to build up and coordinate the international Nansen Group, lead by Prof. Ola M. Johannessen. The Nansen Group comprises of independent research institutes in Russia, China, India and South Africa, namely:

• The research foundation Nansen International Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NIERSC) in St. Petersburg, Russia established in 1992.

• The Nansen Environmental Research Center – India (NERCI) in Cochin in Kerala, India in 1998.

• The Nansen–Zhu International Research Centre (NZC) in Beijing, China at the “Institute of Atmospheric Physics – Chinese Academy of Sciences” in 2003 .

• The Nansen-Tutu Centre for Marine Environmental Research (NTC) located at the University of Cape Town in South Africa in May 2010.

• The Nansen‐Bangladesh International Centre for Coastal, Ocean and Climate Studies (NABIC) located at Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 2012.
  

Jointly with the Nansen Center in Bergen this forms the Nansen Group that has opened up for frequent scientific exchange visits, affiliated positions, Nansen fellowships to students and young scientists as well as sharing of creative ideas, research tools, experiments and data. The formation of The Nansen Group has therefore mutually strengthened the individual expertise in each Center and made us an attractive network for research collaboration.  

These international sister organizations are based on close cooperation with their national and international co-founders, including the St. Petersburg State University in Russia, Peking University, China, Nanjing University in China, the Russian and Chinese Academies of Sciences, the Max Planck Society in Germany, University of Cape Town, African Centre for Climate and Earth System Studies, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa and Princeton University in USA. The University of Bergen is a co-founder of the Nansen Centers in St. Petersburg, Beijing and Cape Town and UniResearch AS of the Nansen-Zhu Centre in Beijing. Institute of Marine Research is a co-founder of the Nansen-Tutu Centre.

The Nansen Group of research centers.

The Nansen Group also comprises the commercial company Terra Orbit AS established in Bergen in 1987. The aim of Terra Orbit is to commersilze the research results from the Nansen Group and offer these to market.

In 2006 the Nansen Scientific Society was established in order to foster and facilitate research cooperation within the Nansen Group under the motto "Knowledge without Borders".

Totally the research Centers in the Nansen Group comprise more than 200 staff members, including 75 Ph.D. and Master students.

Dr. Fridtjof Nansen

The Nansen Group is inspired by the life of Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), a renowned Norwegian biologist, oceanographer, polar explorer, diplomat and humanist. The FRAM expedition, conceived and led by Nansen to chart Arctic waters by freezing a ship into the pack ice and allowing it to drift for 3 years was completed in 1896.  His pioneering work  expeditions laid the foundation for research in the Arctic Ocean, which is today known to be a key component of the global climate system.

Fridtjof Nansen

Nansen was empowered by 52 nations to issue the Nansen Passport to millions of war prisoners and refugees in the aftermath of the First World War and the Russian Revolution and organised their feeding and repatriation. In 1922, Nansen was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. He played a key role in Norways separation from Sweden in 1905 and also served as Norways representative to Great Britain and to the League of Nations. The Nansen Center has made the slideshow Eventyrlyst (A Sense of Adventure) about the life and achievements of Dr. Fridtjof Nansen.