Finn A. Weltzien, Nofima's new acting director of aquaculture.
Photo: Reidun Lilleholt Kraugerud Nofima
Professor Finn A. Weltzien has been appointed acting director of the aquaculture division at the Norwegian food research institute Nofima, the organisation has announced this week. His term will run from 1 November 2025 until summer 2026.
Weltzien is currently professor of physiology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), where he has also held several senior management roles, most recently as pro-rector for research and innovation. He will take leave from his university post during the period of the assignment.
“I am very much looking forward to joining Nofima and am motivated by the opportunity to focus on leadership within my own field,” Weltzien said via a press release.
“I am really looking forward to having Finn on board now for a period, thereby strengthening the leadership of the aquaculture division in Nofima at a time marked by change and development,” added Nofima’s CEO, Bente Torstensen.
The aquaculture division carries out research in fish health, production biology, breeding and genetics, and nutrition and feed technology, operating facilities including a research station, feed technology centre and laboratories, with activities at Ås, where Weltzien will be based, as well as Bergen, Sunndalsøra and Tromsø.
Weltzien’s research focuses on how the brain and hormone systems regulate fish reproduction. He holds a PhD in reproductive physiology from the University of Bergen and has held research positions in Paris and at the University of Oslo before joining NMBU’s Veterinary School in 2008.
The acting aquaculture director is not the only new appointment at the Norwegian food research institute this autumn. Earlier this month, Nofima confirmed Kristin Hollung as the new Director of its Food Division.
