Tobias Andermann and Carl Öhman receive this year’s Oscar Prize
Carl Öhman and Tobias Andermann will share the prize money of SEK 140,000. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, private.
Tobias Andermann, researcher at the Department of Organismal Biology, and Carl Öhman, researcher at the Department of Government, have been awarded the 2025 Oscar Prize. They will receive the award at the University’s anniversary celebration on 7 October.
Uppsala University awards the Oscar Prize annually to promising early-career researchers at the University. The prize money of SEK 140,000 can be divided between two recipients.
Tobias Andermann earned his PhD from the University of Gothenburg in 2020. He is now an Assistant Professor at the Department of Organismal Biology and a SciLifeLab/Wallenberg Fellow in Data-Driven Life Science. In his research, he studies the decline of biodiversity and ways in which it can be monitored.
From the award citation: “Tobias Andermann’s research focuses on quantifying biodiversity loss, the rate of decline for different species and how it compares with previous extinction events in the history of the Earth. He uses DNA from environmental samples and AI to understand and predict patterns in biodiversity. Andermann’s research has had a major scientific impact with publications in journals such as Science and Nature Communications and has also influenced the way in which the Swedish Forest Agency, for example, conducts its biodiversity work.”
Digital remains
Carl Öhman earned his PhD from the University of Oxford in late 2020 with a collection of essays on digital remains, i.e. data left online by deceased internet users. He is now Associate Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Department of Government, where he is currently leading two major research projects on AI, digital media and disinformation.
From the award citation: “Carl Öhman’s research breaks new ground at the intersection of political science, philosophy and digital anthropology. His research focuses on digital ethics, politics and social theory in the context of the digitalised society. His book The Afterlife of Data asks important questions about who should control the data we leave behind us, and by extension, our collective history. Carl Öhman leads major research projects and actively participates in the public debate on AI and data protection.”
Åsa Malmberg
The Oscar Prize
Uppsala University awards the Oscar Prize annually to early-career 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 of SEK 140,000 consists of the returns on a donation made by King Oscar II upon the University’s 400th anniversary in 1877 and may be shared between two equally deserving researchers.
The recipients are selected by the University Board, acting on a proposal from a committee consisting of the deans of the faculties.