Terje Gansum is the Managing Director of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU).

He obtained his Mag.art. degree in Nordic Archaeology from the University of Oslo in 1995, with his thesis concentrating on archaeological landscape analysis and large burial mounds.

In 2004, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Gothenburg: “Hauger som konstruksjoner – arkeologiske forventinger gjennom 200 år” (EN: Mounds as Constructions – Archaeological Expectations through 200 Years). His scholarly interests include the development of archaeological methods and the study of the Viking Age.

Terje worked at Vestfold County Municipality and Vestfold and Telemark County Municipality from 2008 to 2023. He led the Midgard Historical Center in Borre from 2006 to 2009 and the Iron Age Farm Foundation at Ullandhaug from 1997 to 1998. Additionally, he served as the chairman of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology from 2014 until the institute concluded its research activities in December 2023.