About Us

The lead trainer

An attorney by trade, lead trainer Olav Ofstad has worked as a public prosecutor, deputy judge, criminal defense attorney, senior partner in a private law firm and a lecturer.

In 1992 Olav was hired as a diplomat at the Norwegian Embassy in Pakistan, with responsibility for development aid programmes. He later worked at Norwegian Embassies in India and Nepal, with UNHCR in Bosnia and the Norwegian Refugee Council in Serbia.

He held senior international positions within the Red Cross Movement in different countries in Asia and the Balkans and was responsible for IFRC's International Disaster Response Law programme in Asia Pacific, negotiating legal reform with governments.

Between his humanitarian missions, he spent time on conflict-related research while providing training in conflict management and communication for peace-keeping officers, police officers and others. He specializes in the application of social psychology as a means to resolve conflicts, including in cases of kidnapping and hijacking.

Kidnapping survival background

In 2003, Olav was assigned by the Norwegian Defence International Centre (NODEFIC) to write a conflict management handbook for peace-keepers. The book was to include a chapter on kidnapping survival — a subject that required extensive research, given the lack of scientific literature on the topic.

Olav made it clear that his book would differ from existing conflict management literature in that it would draw much more on social psychology, a science he had found essential but under-utilized in both practice and theory. Through his research, he found that many of the psychological mechanisms he recommended for resolving conflict also held huge potential as survival tools in kidnapping or hijacking.

The first book, initially in Norwegian only, was followed by a further developed English version in 2006, Conflict Management in the Field. A Handbook for Officers and Soldiers. Olav's application of social psychology to conflict, kidnapping included, won the praise of internationally acclaimed psychologists (see A Book For Clients), and he followed up with Surviving Kidnappers: Precautions, Influence, Strategic Tools in 2017.

Observing that none of the kidnapping survival training on the market appeared to offer insight into the psychological methods he had found so invaluable, he decided to develop his own training.

Peacebuilding and conflict management research

Olav has also contributed to peacebuilding research. In 2011 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford University, conducting a project on UN peacebuilding in East Timor compared with UN peace operations in Africa. This research fed into his book Conflict Management in International Missions. A Field Guide, published in January 2015.