On 16th January, the Letten Prize and the Holberg Prize will organise a seminar on empowering young scholars and their groundbreaking work.
This event is a collaboration between the Letten Prize and the Holberg Prize, which awards the Nils Klim Prize. Focused on fostering the next generation of researchers, the seminar aims to offer engaging talks, lively discussions and valuable networking opportunities.
The event will take place at Kronesalen, Sentralen, in Oslo.
Programme:
08:15 – 08:45 | Breakfast and mingling session
08:45 – 08:55 | Welcome and Opening Remarks
Speakers: Chair of the Letten Prize Board Siddharth Sareen, and Academic Director of the Holberg Prize Bjørn Enge Bertelsen.
Brief overview of seminar objectives and the significance of nurturing young researchers.
08:55 – 09:00 | Digital greeting from the 2023 Letten Prize Laureate, Paula Moraga
09:00 – 09:45 | Keynote Lecture: Unlocking the Future: Nurturing and Supporting New Researchers in Uncertain Times
Speaker: Michael Woods
How do we equip new researchers for uncertain times? As the world faces a climate crisis, geopolitical volatility, increasing social and economic polarisation, and new disruptive technologies, the nurturing and development of new generation researchers that will help society to negotiate the future has never been more important. Yet, the environment in which new researchers are starting their careers is also under pressure, with funding cuts, policy changes, political scrutiny and precarious employment.This talk draws on over 25 years’ experience of research leadership and working with new scholars to consider how a supportive research ecosystem for new researchers not only can be sustained, but also refashioned to equip and empower new researchers with the skills and capacities they will need to meet evolving challenges and expectations and to realise their potential to make a difference. It will present lessons for university leaders, senior academics, learned societies, funding bodies and early career researchers themselves.
09:45 – 10:30 | Panel Discussion
Moderator: Bjørn Enge Bertelsen, Academic Director of the Holberg Prize.
Panellists: Keynote speaker Michael Woods, Cathrine Thorleifsson and John-Andrew McNeish.
Focus: Reflections on the keynote, personal experiences, and advancing research in the region, as well as promoting capacity-building and excellent research practices in Norway.
10:30 – 10:45 | Audience Q&A
Open floor for participant questions to the keynote and panellists.
10:45 – 11:00 | Closing Remarks
Speakers: Chair of the Holberg Board Jørgen Sejersted, and a representative from the Letten Prize.
11:00 – 12:00 | Networking lunch
Speakers include:
- Paula Moraga received the Letten Prize 2023 for her “groundbreaking research ambitions towards early detection of epidemics and designing control strategies worldwide, through the development of innovative and cost-effective disease surveillance systems at finer spatial and temporal scales than currently available”. Moraga is assistant professor of statistics at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Saudi Arabia. She will give a greeting at the start of the seminar.
- Cathrine Thorleifsson, is associate professor of anthropology at the University of Oslo and the 2023 recipient of The Research Council of Norway’s Award for Excellence in Communication of Science. Thorleifsson will offer reflections from her research on ethnic identity and globalization.
- John Andrew McNeish, is professor of international environment and development studies at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, where he specializes in natural resource governance. He willl share insights from his pioneering work on sustainability and development. McNeish is the scientific director of Empowered Futures: A Global Research School Navigating Low Carbon Energy Transition and Controversy.
- Michael Woods is professor of human geography at Aberystwyth University, United Kingdom, where he specialises in research on the global countryside, spatial justice and disruptive politics. Through projects including ERC Advanced Grants GLOBAL-RURAL and Rural-Spatial-Justice, Horizon-funded DERRG and IMAJINE, and the UKRI WISERD Civil Society Research Centre and Rural Wales Local Policy and Innovation Partnership, he has supervised 26 post-doctoral researchers. As Head of School and in a part-time role as professor of transformative social science, he helped early career colleagues to develop their research capacity. Woods has contributed to ECR schools and workshops for Regional Studies Association, Learned Society of Wales, ESRS and others; and has experience as a grant panel chair, journal editor, and as a member of the Welsh Government’s Review of Student Finance and Higher Education Funding.
- Siddharth Sareen is the 2023 Nils Klim Prize Laurate and research professor at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. He is also Chair of the Lettern Prize Board. Sareen explores critical topics in sustainability, energy justice, and social responsibility, drawing from his expertise as a researcher and public intellectual.
- Bjørn Enge Bertelsen is professor of social anthropology at the University of Bergen, and Academic Director of the Holberg Prize. Bertelsen will offer insights on research partnerships and collaborative research from the field of urban studies.
- Jørgen Sejersted is professor of Scandinavian Literature at the University of Bergen, and Chair of the Holberg Prize Board.