The Barents Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) unanimously supported the candidate proposed by the Norwegian chairmanship. Among many strong applicants Markus Karlsen has now been appointed by the CSO as the new Head of IBS. Markus has for many years held the position as the Head of International Department at Finnmark Fylkeskommune and was recently acting as a Chair of the Regional Committee of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region. Welcome, Markus, to the IBS team!