Gudmund Hernes (born 25 March 1941 in Trondheim) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was the state secretary to the Secretariat for Long-Term Planning 1980-1981, Minister of Education and Research and Ministry of Church and Cultural Affairs (church affairs) 1990, Minister of Education, Research and Church Affairs 1991-1995 and Minister of Health and Social Affairs (health affairs) 1995-1996 and 1996-1997.
Gudmund Hernes got his PhD in sociology at Johns Hopkins University in 1971. He became a professor at the University of Bergen in 1971, and later at the University of Oslo. He has been a Fellow at The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (1974–75) and Visiting Professor at Harvard University in 1986 and 1990.
From 1999-2005 he was the Director of UNESCO's International Institute of Educational Planning in Paris, and UNESCO's Coordinator on HIV/AIDS.
He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Gudmund Hernes is researcher at the Fafo Institute in Oslo, and Professor II at BI Norwegian Business School. Since 2006 he has been the president of the International Social Science Council.