Johanna Chamberlain receives 2024 Stig Strömholm Prize
The Stig Strömholm Prize for Humanities-Oriented Research in Law and Social Sciences has been awarded since 2023. The prize for 2024 is awarded to Johanna Chamberlain, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Business Studies. Photo: Tobias Björkgren.
Johanna Chamberlain, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Business Studies, has been awarded the 2024 Stig Strömholm Prize for Humanities-Oriented Research in Law and Social Sciences. She receives the prize for her doctoral thesis “Privacy and Tort Law”, which addresses the protection of personal data and private life in Swedish law in a digital era, and subsequent research.
“It’s a fantastic feeling and a real honour. When you’re sitting there with a research project, it’s always hard to imagine what sort of reception and interest it may generate, and whether you will succeed in conveying your ideas. I was very happy with the citation from the prize committee showing how they had read my thesis,” Chamberlain says.
The prize citation includes the following: “In conclusion, in our opinion Johanna Chamberlain has treated this demanding and important research project with impressive skill. Through her thesis and her subsequent research, she has promoted law as a cultural expression in the spirit of Professor Stig Srömholm.”
“The way this is put touches me and makes me feel both proud and humble. As I see it, law always evolves in a social and cultural context. This becomes particularly obvious in certain fields, such as the legal protection of privacy that I have worked on a lot. In my research, I try to broaden the legal perspective and pay attention to the interplay between social and legal norms.”
Chamberlain defended her doctoral thesis “Integritet och skadestånd: Om skyddet för personuppgifter och privatliv i svensk rätt” (“Privacy and tort law: the protection of personal data and private life in Swedish law”) at the Department of Law in 2020. Since then she has held a postdoctoral position at the Department of Business Studies at Uppsala University, as a member of the project “AI and the Financial Markets: Accountability and Risk Management with Legal Tools”.
Can you tell us something about your current research?
“My interest in the dynamic nature of law often leads me into areas that are subject to regulation. In a recently concluded postdoctoral project, I have studied the regulation of AI that is now emerging at EU level, with a focus on risk and accountability aspects. Risk is a really exciting concept, as it is studied in many different academic fields, which means there are good opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. This will continue to play a central role when I start my next research project in the autumn, on PFAS damages.”
Anders Berndt
Facts about the Stig Strömholm Prize
Stig Strömholm, Professor Emeritus of Civil Law and International Private Law, was Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University between 1989 and 1997. In connection with his 90th birthday, the University decided on 16 September 2021 to establish a prize in the spirit of Stig Strömholm. The prize is to be awarded to an early-career scholar working in the Nordic region in recognition of having promoted law as a cultural expression.
The prize was awarded for the first time in connection with the University’s anniversary on 9 October 2023.