Programme
Letten Prize Days 2018: How can research solve global challenges?
Time: September 12th-13th
Place: Gamle festsal, University of Oslo, Norway
Read Letten Prize Committee member Katerini T. Storeng’s report from the 2018 Letten Prize Days here.
Programme: Letten Seminar (Wednesday 12 September)
12.00-12.55 Registration and light lunch
13.00-14.40 Session 1: Celebrating groundbreaking research
Welcome by Asta Busingye Lydersen, master of ceremony.
Lecture: Brain waste clearance and the importance of sleep. Professor Erlend Nagelhus, University of Oslo
This lecture is an opportunity to know the continuation of Letten F. Saugstad’s research.
Panel conversation: Using research to solve global challenges
Tarunabh Khaitan, winner of the Letten Prize 2018
Robert Aldridge, short listed for the Letten Prize 2018
Nassim El Achi, short listed for the Letten Prize 2018
Chaired by Asta Busingye Lydersen.
14.40-15.15 Coffee break
15.15-17.30 Session 2: Research in and for the Anthropocene
Lecture: Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change: Is “Research as Usual” Sufficient? by Professor Karen O’Brien, University of Oslo
This lecture addressed the role of research — and researchers — in meeting the important goal of limiting global warming by the end of this century to below 2°C.
Shortnote: Crop evolution in the Anthropocene, by Associate Professor Ola Westengen, NMBU
Using the crop maize as a case, this lecture illustrates the continuity and change in the human-plant relationship during the early and late Anthropocene.
Shortnote: Authoritarian Inclusion? A Sociological Approach to the Study of Political Regimes, by Associate Professor Anna Lisa Ahlers, University of Oslo
Using China as a case, this lecture addresses whether we possess sufficient theoretical and analytical tools for the study of modern authoritarianism in all its forms, facets and dynamics.
Lecture: Global Inequality and Development in an Age of Climate Breakdown, by Jason Hickel, Lecturer, Goldsmiths University of London
This lecture takes a closer look at global inequality and addresses ‘what are the prospects for development in the Anthropocene’?
17.30 Reception at the Faculty of Law Library
About the speakers Khaitan is a legal scholar specializing in equality and disclination law. His work has already had an impact on the drafting of the Anti-Discrimination and Equality Bill, presented by Shashi Tharoor MP in India’s Parliament, and UK supreme court and by the European Court of Human Rights. He will use the prize to set up Indian Equality Law Program at Melbourne Law School. Read more about Tarunabh Khaitan. Aldridge fields of research are epidemiology, public health, migration, and data science and his worked is directed towards international migrants. While trained as a chemist, El Achi has since retrained in water management. Her current field of research focuses on the implementation of rainwater harvesting in Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon. Read more about Aldridge and El Achi.
Letten Prize Award Ceremony (Thursday 13 September)
14:00 – 15:00 Award Ceremony, Gamle Festsal, University of Oslo, Norway
Master of Ceremony: Asta Busingye Lydersen
- A brief introduction to Letten F. Saugstad and her life and work, given by Professor Borghild Roald.
- A statement from the committee, represented by Associate Professor Katerini T. Storeng.
- An interview with the winner of the 2018 Letten Prize, Tarunabh Khaitan, and Asta Busingye Lydersen.
- Music from music students at Barratt Due Institute of Music.