University of Copenhagen gold and silver medals

Prize papers for 2023

At the Annual Commemoration Ceremony on 25 November 2022, the University announces the subjects of the prize papers for 2023.

The papers must be submitted by
12:00 noon on Monday 15 January 2024
via email to the faculty in question:

Humanities: prisopgave@hum.ku.dk  
Law: 
Does not call for papers  
Medical Sciences: Does not call for papers 
Science: Does not call for papers 
Social Sciences: 
hoeringer_og_indstillinger@samf.ku.dk 
Theology: pic@teol.ku.dk

Interdisciplinary prize papers must be sent to prisopgaver@adm.ku.dk 

The medals will be awarded at the Annual Commemoration Ceremony in November 2024.

Prize papers for 2023

 

Theme: Crisis

The foundation of the world seems to crack. Our climate and ecosystem, economic and political system, and the technological preconditions, on which we have built our civilization, suddenly seem less steady.

One might suggest that this century is the century of crises: Coronavirus, war in Europe, recession, climate and biodiversity crisis, and a global mental health crisis. Accordingly, the University of Copenhagen issues a prize competition on the topic of crises.

Prize papers can be based on traditional temporal or phase thinking about crises and seek to answer the root causes or prevention of crises; how they are handled, or how we might learn from them. Prize papers can also seek to answer more epistemological questions about the crises our society is facing: polycrises, systemic risk or existential risk, and how the development of crises should change our perception and management of crises, or even how our view on crises impacts society. Finally, we accept prize papers addressing issues across scales: ranging from individual to societal crises or from mental health to climate crises.

Regardless of approach, the prize paper must provide new insights about crises and, to the extent possible, be interdisciplinary. You can find a full description of the requirements for prize papers here. The problem addressed may be monodisciplinary, in which case it must be supplemented by interdisciplinary perspectives. We encourage students to respond to this call in groups to ensure a combination of disciplinary domains.

Contact: Iben Nathan, associate professor, in@ifro.ku.dk 

You can find inspiration or relevant topics here:

SSCCOPECMSCASTCenter for AnxietyABCs of Mental HealthGreen Solutions Center

Submission

The interdisciplinary prize paper must be sent to prisopgaver@adm.ku.dk 
by 12:00 noon on Monday 15 January 2024.

 

 

 

 

Department of English, Germanic and Romance Studies

1. First, consider the changes in the material resources and technological means by which a literary text is composed. Second, consider the material form in which a literary text is disseminated or published, and the technological means by which it might be read: by hearing, by manuscript, by print, or digitally. How might the material constitution of a literary text, and the technological means by which it is read, alter our reading, the text’s meaning, and even ‘the text itself’?
You are encouraged to look at a minimum of two texts from diverse technological epochs within any of the Engeromic literatures, from manuscript to digital..

Contact: Charles Lock, professor, lock@hum.ku.dk 


2. Can fiction cultivate empathy? Please make a study of one or more fictional works that are thought to be able to cultivate empathy for other human beings, especially suppressed minorities, and if possible, with your point of departure in theories concerning “the reading brain,” “embodied simulation,” and “reader response”.

Contact: Inge Birgitte Siegumfeldt, associate professor, siegum@hum.ku.dk 

 

Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics

Multilingual language users’ acquisition of Danish

1. We invite studies which focus on adult language users’ acquisition of Danish in Denmark. Analyses of morphology, syntax, lexicon and/or language in use need to be included.
One or several of the following themes should be addressed:
- Danish language acquisition among illiterate or traumatized individuals
- Newly arrived migrants’ Danish language acquisition
- Migrants who have started learning Danish only after long-term residency in Denmark
- A comparison of grammar anomalies in the production of Danish between groups of individuals with different first languages.

2. Attitudes towards Danish with an accent
We invite studies which focus on language attitudes towards Danish spoken with an accent. Either quantitative methods, qualitative methods or a combination of these can be used. Possible hierarchies of Danish with different accents should be discussed.
One or both of the following themes should also be addressed:
- Language attitudes among young and older respondents
- Language attitudes among respondents from different geographical areas.

Contacts:
Marta Kirilova, tenure track assistant professor, mki@hum.ku.dk 
Martha Sif Karrebæk, associate professor, martha@hum.ku.dk 


Centre for Gender, Sexuality and Difference

3. A study of media representations of and media discussions about transgender in a Danish/Nordic context.

4. A study of the gendered and intersectional aspects and effects of the corona epidemic within a self-chosen empirical field.

Contact: Michael Nebeling Petersen, associate professor, nebeling@hum.ku.dk 


Department of Communication

1. An empirical study of tracking in one or more digital communication systems is desired, with special regard to how users' metacommunication is registered.

2. A comparative analysis of the concept of 'tracking', as defined by two or more research traditions in information science and media and communication studies.

3. An empirical study of the general public’s personal data protection practices. The study may rely on a qualitative, a quantitative, or a multi-method approach.

Contact: Stine Lomborg, associate professor, slomborg@hum.ku.dk 


4. Climate justice, disagreement and consensus / convergence: can effective climate action be fair given a public reason perspective? An overview of prominent public reason theories relevant to the preservation of the question "legitimate climate policies" is requested, as well as a suggestion on how such a theory can inform effective climate action, if possible.

Contact: Morten E.J. Nielsen, associate professor, mejn@hum.ku.dk 


Department of Arts and Cultural Studies

1. An ethnographically informed study focusing on gender (im)balance and negotiations of gender in an intersectional perspective within a delimited area of Danish and/or international popular music life.

Contact: Kristine Ringsager, tenure track assistant professor, kringsager@hum.ku.dk


2. An analysis of artistic reactions to the current war in Ukraine after Russia's invasion in February 2022. Historical perspectives may be involved, and the task can also be used to shed light on Ukrainian art and culture and its relation to other European regions in the east and west.

3. An empirical analysis of public monuments (sculpture and architecture) as well as material afterlife, within a delimited period of art history, and a discussion of the tradition of monumental memorials in Danish contexts, with perspectives on contemporary art and contemporary public debate.

Contact: Kristian Handberg, assistant professor, handberg@hum.ku.dk 


4. What are the consequences of the choice of materials for visual art/architecture? Which choices, opportunities and limitations are implicit in the production of the images/buildings? Based on analyses of examples of works chosen by the student, the meanings inherent in the materials and techniques produced by the works are discussed. The analyses are put into perspective historically.

Contact: Amalie Skovmøller, tenure track assistant professor, skovmoeller@hum.ku.dk 


Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies

1. Account for the failure of the post-2003 Iraqi state to create a narrative of Iraqi nationhood based on the collective suffering of the Ba’th era?

Contact: Fanar Haddad, tenure track assistant professor, fanar.haddad@hum.ku.dk

 

 

 

 

The Faculty of Law does not call for prize papers.

 

 

The Faculty of Science does not call for prize papers.

 

 

Department of Political Science

What role can and should democratic institutions play in addressing our current climate and biodiversity crises?

Contact: Professor Lars Tønder, lt@ifs.ku.dk

 

Department of Psychology

We invite for a study on a psychological phenomenon in the field between psyche, sexuality and structure. One may write about topics such as the relationship between identification with non-conforming gender categories, psychosexual development and structural conditions, or one can write about rape-accuseds’ own understanding of the abusive act they are accused of having committed.".            

Contact: Associate Professor Katrine Zeuthen, katrine.zeuthen@psy.ku.dk

 

Department if Anthropology

What are the social consequences of war, and how can they be studied anthropologically?

Contact: Professor Henrik Vigh, hv@anthro.ku.dk

      

Department of Sociology

The assignment must include an analysis of violence in the public and / or digital space, with a particular focus on the impact of gender (including masculinity) and the experience of societal inclusion. The analyses can be based on quantitative, qualitative, or combined methods, and integrate either concrete events, such as the Field’s shooting or specific violent digital actions, or approach the subject through socio-demographic analyses.

Contact: Associate professor Jakob Demant, jd@soc.ku.dk

 

Department of Economics

Please conduct an analysis of the economic effects of comprehensive, international crises, for example public health- or security crises

Contact: Professor Thomas Markussen, thomas.markussen@econ.ku.dk

 

 

Biblical Studies Section

An investigation of how the inclusion of 'material culture' in biblical and/or Qur’anic exegesis can contribute to the understanding of the world behind, in and/or in front of the texts.

Contacts/Supervision: Matthew D. Larsen, Jill Middlemas, Martin G. Ehrensvärd, Jan Loop
  

Church History Section

“Female pastors in Denmark. The theme can be researched through church historical investigations of the change in access to ordination 1947-48 and the consequences of this change for Danish theology and church life, or through close studies of selected female pastors”.

Contact: Lektor Tine Reeh
  

Systematic Theology Section

Ecological theology in the Anthropocene.

Contact: Professor Niels Henrik Gregersen