Thor Heyerdahl’s Research Foundation
The Kon-Tiki Museum. Thor Heyerdahl’s Research Foundation is a private museum, archive, and research foundation. It preserves, documents and research Thor Heyerdahl’s life and work, and in addition it undertakes and funds research connected to Thor Heyerdahl’s research interests with a particular focus on Pacific communities, history, and prehistory.
This work relies on the support of our Administration, boardmembers and a Scientific Advisory Board aimed at helping developing the museum, preserving its collections, and work to becoming a research institution of international standing.
Meet the director
The Kon-Tiki Museum is much like a family business. The director Liv Heyerdahl is the granddaughter of Thor Heyerdahl and keeps proudly his legacy and spirit alive every single day. She loves to tell stories of his incredible expeditions, but also convey his values, and strong commitment to environmental protection. She is proud of her famous grandfather, but often says that she is equally proud of her grandmother, Liv Rockefeller who she is named after.
When Liv is not in her office filled with old artefacts of Heyerdahl’s life, she is running around in the museum, guiding school classes, and helping where needed. So, keep your eyes open, you might run into her while visiting the museum.
Administration
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Liv Heyerdahl
Director
(47) 908 32 824
l.heyerdahl@kon-tiki.no -
Reidar Solsvik
Curator
(47) 988 79 836
r.solsvik@kon-tiki.no -
Magnus H. Brandsæter
Head of Operations and Security
(47) 986 46 059
m.brandsaeter@kon-tiki.no -
Liv Hukset Wang
Head of Communications and marketing
(47) 913 27 787
l.wang@kon-tiki.no -
Monica Fjeld
Head of Merchandising and Production
(47) 919 15 228
m.fjeld@kon-tiki.no -
Olav Heyerdahl
Head of Projects and Development
(+ 47) 976 08 896
olav.heyerdahl@kon-tiki.no -
Thor Heyerdahl Jr
Senior Advisor
(47) 901 35 950
thorhey@kon-tiki.no
Board members
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Merete Haugli
Chairwoman of the Board
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Anisa Solvang
Board Member
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Olav Heyerdahl
Board Member
Representative of the Heyerdahl family -
Magnus H. Brandsæter
Board Member
Employee Representative -
Mads Ravn
Board Member
Scientific Advisory Board
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Professor Kristian Kristiansen
Kristian Kristiansen, professor at the University of Gothenburg, is one of the leading archaeologists in Scandinavia. He is best known for his contributions to the study of the European Bronze Age, long-distance trade networks and migration in prehistory. Kristiansen has also been highly influential in developing theoretical frameworks in archaeology.
Kristiansen initiated the founding of the European Association of Archaeologists in 1994, and served as its first president until 1998. He was also the founding editor the European Journal of Archaeology. He has held visiting professorships at the Sorbonne, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford. -
Ingjerd Hoëm
Ingjerd Hoëm is a professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, and vice dean for education at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Oslo.
Her research interests are ritual communication, identification of space, linguistic anthropology, social organization and fourth world populations (indigenous people), with a geographical focus on Polynesia. Hoëm have done fieldwork in Tokelau, Samoa, New Zealand and on the Solomon islands.
Hoëm was head of the Department of Social Anthropology from 2010-2015, and responsible for the PhD-programme at the Department of Social Anthropology from 2008 and 2009. She was Head of Research, Institute of Pacific Archaeology and Cultural History, at the Kon-Tiki Museum from 2001 to 2007. Professor Hoëm was Chair Woman of the Board at the museum until 2020. -
Professor Eske Willerlev
Eske Willerslev is the Prince Philip Professor of Ecology & Evolution, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, and he is Director of Centre of Excellence in GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
He is a true adventurous scientist, internationally known for sequencing the first ancient human genome, and has conducted human population genomic studies across the world. Willerslev established the field of environmental DNA, in which modern and ancient DNA from higher plants and animals are obtained directly from environmental samples.