Helga Marie Hernes (born 16 January 1938) is a German-born Norwegian political scientist, diplomat, and politician for the Labour Party.
Educated in the United States, she moved to Norway following her marriage to Norwegian sociologist and politician Gudmund Hernes whom she met during her studies.
After leaving the government in 1993 she was Director of the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research, and served as Norway's ambassador to Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland and the Holy See.
[2] In 1970 she completed her PhD in political science at the Johns Hopkins University, on the thesis The Concept of Community in Modern Theories of International Law.
[3] These books were a part of the series Kvinners levekår og livsløp, of which Hernes was the editor, counting seventeen publications in total.
[1] Hernes remained at the Institute for Social Research until 1988, when she was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a part of the second cabinet Brundtland.
After one year she was hired as an advisor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO),[3] where she works today on issues related to gender and conflict.
She also edited the volume Women and War: Power and Protection in the 21st Century with Chantal de Jonge Oudraat and Kathleen Kuehnast (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2011).