In October 2011, Sida’s (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) U-landsforskningsråd decided upon the 2011 grants applications for the period 2012-14. The projects below are given funding for South Asia related research.
Go for SASNET’s list of South Asia related projects funded by Sida U-forsk 2011, with more details about the projects.
– Professor Arne Bigsten from the Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg receives SEK 2.4 m for a project entitled ”Fiscal Capacity and Democracy in Developing Countries”, focusing on Kenya and India.
– Dr. Mattias Larsen (photo to the left), School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg receives SEK 1.57 m for a project entitled ”Social Dimensions of Financial Exclusion: The Effect of Social Capital on Use of Financial Services in India”, a project that will be carried out in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) in Chandigarh.
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Prof. Marie Vahter (photo to the right), Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet Medical University, Stockholm, receives SEK 2.1 m for a project entitled ”Sources of exposure to environmental pollutants in Bangladesh and variations over time – important strategies for sustainable development”, a project that will be carried out in collaboration with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) in Dhaka.
– Prof. Semida Silveria, Department of Energy Technology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, receives SEK 2.7 m for a project entitled ”Biogas based poly-generation for rural development in Bangladesh”, a project that will be carried out in collaboration with Grameen Shakti; local non-profit organization working in rural energy in Bangladesh.
– Cand. Scient. Pol Winnie Bothe (photo to the left), Department of Political Science, Lund University, receives SEK 1.8 m for a project entitled ”Local Governance in Sikkim and Bhutan: Two models of State Formation – Different Citizenship Roles?”, a project that will be carried out in collaboration with North Bengal University, Siliguri and Sikkim University, Gangtok.
– Associate Professor Ulf Johansson Dahre, Division of Social Anthropology/Department of Sociology, Lund University, receives SEK 3 m for a project entitled ”Climate change, water stress and adaptation: A cross-cultural study in India from gender perspective”, a project that will be carried out in collaboration with the Department of Policy Studies, TERI University, New Delhi. The project also involves Dr. Nandita Singh, Department of Land and Water Resources Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm; and Dr. Anna Jonsson, Department of Water and Environmental Studies, Tema Institute, Linköping University.
– Prof. Örjan Gustafsson (photo to the right), Department of Applied Environmental Science (ITM), Stockholm University, receives SEK 1.8 m for a project entitled ”Source Determinations of Climate- and Health-Affecting Air Particulate Matter emitted from the South Asian region”, a project focusing on the Maldives and that will be carried out in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), UNEP-Maldives Climate Observatory.
• KI doctoral dissertation on husbands’ violence against their wife in Pakistan
Tazeen Saeed Ali, Division of Global Health (IHCAR) at the Dept. of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, defended her doctoral dissertation entited ”Living with violence in the home: Exposure and experiences among married women, residing in urban Karachi, Pakistan” on Friday 16 December 2011, at 09.00. The thesis is based on a study conducted in urban Karachi, Pakistan to investigate prevalence, frequency, risk factors, and mental health effects of husbands’ violence against their wife. It also explores current gender roles in urban Karachi, Pakistan, how these are reproduced and maintained, and their influence on life circumstances for both men and women. Further, it explores the women’s perceptions of situations which create conflicts and potentially lead to different forms of violence and the immediate consequences of violence exposure. reveals serious gender inequalities and human rights violations against women within marriage, in her extended family and within Pakistani society. The unequal gender roles were perceived as static and enforced by structures imbedded in society. The opponent was Professor Berit Schei, University of Bergen, Norway. More information.
• Swedish government report on Indo-Swedish research collaboration
On 21 November 2011, the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis (Tillväxtanalys) published a report on Indo-Swedish collaboration within the fields of Education, Research and Innovation. The report, entitled ”Underlag för förstärkt forsknings-, utbildnings- och innovationssamarbete med Indien (Rapport 2011:06)” gives a thorough overview of current collaboration projects, and also gives concrete suggestions on how it should be further developed. It has been compiled through an initiative by the Swedish government’s Ministry of Education and Research, and Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications.
Regarding education, the report suggest among other things that Swedish universities should strengthen their attractiveness, such marketing efforts might be coordinated on the Swedish or Nordic levels. The report also suggests that appropriate funding measures should be given for different forms of stipends, including increased possibilities for the build-up of stipend funds at universities.
Sweden should become more attractive with visa rules adapted for the mobility of researchers. One possible measure could be a “fast-track” for strategically important scientists.
The importance of student mobility for the recruitment of high quality PhD-students is also should be investigated, and student mobility could be reinforced if Sweden agreed with India on reciprocal recognition of exams.
Further, the report suggests that administrative hindrances and possibilities for commissioned educations and satellite campuses should be investigated. It also suggests that Swedish research funding agencies should be given an increased flexibility to enable a better participation in structured collaborative efforts, such as bilateral research agreements, with countries such as India where the top-down approach is dominating.
The report is freely available on the web. Go for the full report (in Swedish).
A summary is also available in English, go for it.