One month position ("ansökningsmånad") for Lund university researchers
SASNET is happy to announces the 2016 result of the applications for a one month position to prepare a research application with a South Asian focus. The Lund University researchers selected are Dr. Maria Tonini, Dept. of Gender Studies; and Dr. Ted Svensson, Dept. of Political Science.
For the second year, SASNET invited researchers at Lund University to apply for a one month position (”ansökningsmånad”) at SASNET in which to prepare a research application with a South Asian focus. The purpose is to promote more South Asia-related research at Lund University. Members of all faculties and disciplines at the University were invited. Applications were especially encouraged from the faculties of Social Sciences, Humanities and Theology, Fine and Performing Arts, and Law.
Dr. Ted Svensson plans for a project entitled ”Divine Ganges, Profane Development: Governing Pollution, Flood, and Well-Being”, revolving around the basic tension between notions of the river Ganges that stem from religious and secular conceptions of its meaning. These are often incompatible and result in disparate and dissonant ideas regarding how to manage the river in order to respond to its present state of pollution, degradation, and periodical capriciousness. If given research funding, Ted intends to carry out the project in collaboration with Dr. Sammyh Khan, Lecturer in Social Ssychology at Keele University, United Kingdom. Khan has previously been involved in research on pilgrimage impacts on social identity in relation to the Prayagh Magh Mela, with a particular emphasis on social identity at collective events and the manner in which social identification informs and enables increased stress-related self-efficacy and well-being.
The previous call for applications in 2015 received a very positive response. One of the granted applications, by Ebbe Nordlander at the Division of Chemical Physics, Department of Chemistry, later resulted in a Swedish Research Links (SRL) grant from the Swedish Research Council for a three-year project entitled “Development of Bio-inspired Catalysts for Oxidative Degradation of Organic Pollutants in Wastewater”.