Venue: Student Society in Trondheim
Address: Elgeseter gate 1
Town: Trondheim, NO

The Student Society in Trondheim (Norwegian: Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem, Samfundet for short) is Norway's largest student society. It is an independent organization for all students and teachers in Trondheim, owned fully by its members. At the end of 2011, it had around 9000 members. Samfundet's buildings house a café, a restaurant, and several bars. The society frequently hosts concerts and other activities, including UKA, the largest cultural festival in Norway. Musical artists that have performed within Samfundet include Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, N.E.R.D., Phoenix, Public Enemy, White Lies, Crystal Fighters, Tom McRae, Motörhead, Suede, Motorpsycho, Dum Dum Boys, and In Flames, among others. Several Norwegian bands, such as Knutsen & Ludvigsen, deLillos and Postgirobygget, have started their careers on one of Samfundet's many stages. Every other year, world figures attend The Student Society through its festival ISFiT. Past speakers include the Dalai Lama, former Director-General of the World Health Organization Gro Harlem Brundtland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureates José Ramos-Horta and Wangari Maathai. From 1992 to 2014, Samfundet transformed into Trondheim InterRail Center (TIRC), run by society volunteers every summer. One week after the opening of the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) (later the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NTNU) on September 15, 1910, a group of students met and decided to create a student society. On October 1, Norges Tekniske Høgskolens Studentersamfund ("The student society of NTH") was created. Membership was initially limited to NTH students but later expanded to all students (aged 18 and older) in the Trondheim area. In 1912, to reflect the expanded membership, the society's name changed to Studentersamfundet i Trondhjem ("The student society of Trondheim"). This is its current name, although the society has switched names twice since. Samfundet did not have its own building for its first two years, but in 1912