New prizes and distinctions to Uppsala researchers

The Oscar Prize is awarded to young researchers at Uppsala University ‘whose scientific writing is the most deserving and offers the greatest promise of continued academic writings at the University’. The prize money consists of the annual yield of a donation made by King Oscar II for the University’s 400th anniversary in 1877 and may be shared equally between two recipients. This year the prize is awarded to PhD Terje Falck-Ytter at the Department of Psychology and PhD Jonathan Scragg at the Department of Engineering Sciences.

“Terje Falck-Ytter has successfully studied young children’s psychological and perceptual abilities in an innovative way using sophisticated eye-tracking technology. His findings, which describe early age-related differences in the ability to predict others’ actions, have generated significant international interest. After his doctoral thesis, Falck-Ytter has initiated several research projects. One of these projects studies the risk of younger siblings of children diagnosed with ADHD or autism of developing these conditions themselves. Falck-Ytter has in a short space of time established national and international research cooperation. He has produced an impressive amount of research with a large number of articles published in prestigious journals.”

Read more about Terje Falck-Ytter’s research: The EASE Project

“Jonathan Scragg has a Doctor’s degree, dated September 2010, in physical chemistry from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom. The thesis looks at production and analysis of the material kesterite which is used in solar cells. After completing his degree he was employed as a postdoc at the Division for Solid State Electronics, where he still works, now as a researcher. Jonathan Scragg has written a series of innovative articles, primarily about how the processing of the material determines its electric qualities. These articles have been cited roughly 1,000 times, which is testament to the great importance of Scragg’s research.”

More about Jonathan Scragg’s area of research: Thin-film solar cells

The Torgny Segerstedt Medal was founded to honour Torgny Segerstedt for his efforts as Vice-Chancellor at Uppsala University over 23 years, and was first awarded in 1988. The medal is awarded every second year to Swedish researchers for particularly commendable efforts in the humanities and social sciences. The medal is accompanied by a prize sum of SEK 200,000.

This year’s recipient of the Torgny Segerstedt Medal, Inger Österdahl, is Professor of Public International Law and her research has been concentrated on two main areas: jus ad bellum, or the laws of war, and the borderland between international and national law and politics, and protection of human rights. She has organised and taken part in many scholarly conferences. The relationship between law and politics is also a recurring theme. She also contributes to the public debate through newspaper articles.

More about Inger Österdahl’s research

The Geijer Prize is awarded every three years to researchers at Uppsala University who, in the period between the awards, have completed their Doctor’s degree on a topic relating to Swedish history with a thesis deemed especially outstanding.

This year, two recipients have been selected: Susanna Erlandsson, Senior Lecturer at the Department of History, for her thesis Window of Opportunity:Dutch and Swedish Security Ideas and Strategies 1942–1948 and Henric Häggqvist at the Department of Economic History for his thesis On the Ocean of Protectionism. The Structure of Swedish Tariffs and Trade 1780–1830.

The prizes and the medal will be awarded at the Winter Conferment Ceremony on 27 January 2017.