SCAS News - 19 June, 2017

Four Promising Researchers to Join the Pro Futura Scientia Programme

With the final selections of another generation of Pro Futura Fellows, the twelfth admittance round
of the Pro Futura Scientia Programme has now been completed. Among a total of 27 nominees,
four talented scholars have been admitted to the programme. As in previous years, the selections were
based on criteria such as excellent research profiles and the scholars’ ability to work independently
and with ground-breaking results. The 27 candidates were nominated by thirteen universities in five
countries, namely Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK. After the usual multi-step selection
procedure, the decision was formally made by the Board of Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, at the
recommendation of the SCAS Pro Futura Scientia Programme Selection Committee.

The new Pro Futura Scientia Fellows are:
Patrick Jern, Department of Psychology, Åbo Akademi University (nominated by Åbo Akademi
University). Research proposal: An Empirical Test of the Erotic Plasticity Theory and Its Implications
for Sexual Function


Sofia Lodén, Department of Romance Studies and Classics, Stockholm University (nominated by
Stockholm University). Research proposal: The Europeanization of Culture in the Middle Ages:
Moving Borders and Landscapes in Arthurian Romance


Ola Wikander, Centre for Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University (nominated by Lund
University). Research proposal: The Words of the Storm Gods: Reconstructing the Common Mytho-
Poetic Language of Northwest Semitic


Nicholas Zair, Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge (nominated by the University of
Cambridge). Research proposal: Learning to Spell in the Roman Empire

In addition to the admittance of four new Pro Futura Fellows, this year’s round did also result in an
alternative grant being offered to some of those who were not awarded a Pro Futura Fellowship.
Two of the nominees to the programme will instead receive a “RJ one year research grant”. This
kind of grant, which is not part of the Pro Futura programme, does not only offer a one year
research grant but also includes a leadership course.
    
The scholars who have been awarded the RJ one year research grant are:
Ronald van den Berg, Department of Psychology, Uppsala University (nominated by Uppsala
University). Research proposal: Multistage Decision Making: Exploring the Limits of Human
Rationality


Temi Odumosu, School of Arts and Communication, Malmö University (nominated by Malmö
University). Research proposal: Remembering Practices: Decolonial Methodologies and Artistic
Coproduction for Cultural Heritage

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The Pro Futura Scientia programme was initiated in 1999 by the Swedish Collegium for Advanced
Study and Riksbankens Jubileumsfond. Thanks to the carefully designed structure of the programme,
talented scholars are given optimal scope for developing as researchers, over several years and in
stimulating environments, and it has thus proved to be an attractive career path. The programme
attracts promising young scholars not only from Sweden, but also from abroad. An increasing
number of researchers from the international arena enter the Swedish university and research
system this way.

The important role that the programme has come to play in the Swedish academic system over the
years is shown through the large number of current or former Pro Futura researchers that have
taken up distinguished professorships, and/or have been elected members of scholarly academies
and societies and joined research councils and key bodies at universities. As of today, 14 Pro Futura
Fellows have been appointed professors during (six scholars) or after (eight scholars) their time within
the programme. Six current or former Pro Futura Fellows are or have been members of the Young
Academy of Sweden.

The new Pro Futura Scientia XII Fellows will receive their diplomas during a ceremony at the Swedish
Collegium for Advanced Study in September.

Read more:
Pro Futura Scientia History and Mission

Nominations and Selections

Pro Futura Scientia Fellows (1999 - present)

Press release from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (in Swedish)

Faktabanken (in Swedish)