27 projects awarded grants from UI doctoral funds
27 projects have been awarded grants from doctoral funds at the University of Iceland. The projects look at a wide range topics, including prejudice in artificial intelligence, sexual violence and sexual harassment against women in the workplace, cancel culture, consumption of processed foods in Iceland, Russian literature in Iceland, how disabled people have experienced the digital revolution in public services, sustainable agricultural production in Iceland, and ecosystem services concerning the northern lights.
A total of 144 applications for doctoral grants were submitted this year, a large majority of which proved worthy of funding. Competition for grants was therefore extremely fierce. This year, it was possible to fund 27 projects, from across all five schools at the UI. Most of the grants are for three years.
The Doctoral Grants Fund is an umbrella term for the UI Research Fund, the University of Iceland Eimskip Fund and other funds involved in awarding grants to PhD students. This year, 14 of the grants were allocated from the Eimskip Fund, 10 from the Research Fund, 3 from the University of Iceland Science Park, which awards grants each year to fund research in health and biotechnology, information technology and renewable energy, and 1 from the Ludvig Storr Culture and Progress Fund, which awards grants for research in geochemistry and engineering.
These grants will support research in an incredibly diverse range of fields, including sociology, anthropology, environment and natural resources, economics, business administration, public health sciences, psychology, nutrition, pharmaceutical science, medicine, literature, philosophy, cultural studies, educational sciences, chemistry, environmental engineering, physics, geography, biology, computer science and earth sciences.
"The allocation of doctoral grants each spring is a joyful event in the annual calendar at the University of Iceland and I warmly congratulate all this year's grant recipients. Doctoral studies at the University have advanced significantly in recent years and doctoral grants from UI and domestic and international funds have played a big role in this development. Unfortunately, the overall number of grants available from the UI Doctoral Grants Fund has fallen since last year, due to prior commitments and funding shortages at UI, but we can celebrate the fact that the Ludwig Storr Culture and Progress Fund has this year awarded its first grant and that both the Eimskip Fund and the UI Science Park have awarded more grants than last year. I wish all grant recipients and their supervisors the very best of luck with the vital research work that lies ahead," said Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of UI.
See here for an overview of funded doctoral projects for 2023
