ICEIDA Awards Grants to Ph.D. and Master´s Students

20.6.2008

The Board of ICEIDA has decided to award three grants to Ph.D. projects and two grants to Master’s projects according to the recommendations of the Evaluation Committee at the University of Iceland. ICEIDA received twenty applications, eleven for Master’s projects and nine for Ph.D. projects. The Ph.D. grants were awarded to Sigríður Björk Þormar, Kristinn Hermannsson and Pétur Waldorff. The Master’s grants were awarded to Þórður Örn Hjálmarsson and Jakob Hafþór Björnsson.

The Evaluation Committee recommended to the Board of ICEIDA that “because of much exuberance, interest in development work and many good applications, especially for Ph.D. grants” three Ph.D. grants would be awarded this year and two Master’s grants but usually ICEIDA awards two Ph.D. grants and two Master’s grants.

Sigríður Björk Þormar plans to research the processes of trauma after working in catastrophe areas and the effects on the physical and emotional health of volunteers from humanitarian organizations. Kristinn Hermannsson is in his research going to evaluate the economical effects of higher education in Malawi and Pétur Waldorff’s Ph.D. research pertains to cultural and political tides in development work in Angola after the war.

“Development Aid: The Role of the Locals in Development Work” is the title of Þórður Örn Hjálmarsson’s research which will be carried out in Malawi and the reporting will be both a traditional paper and a documentary. Jakob Hafþór Björnsson is going to research the cost-gain analysis of ICEIDA’s geothermal projects in Nicaragua.

The Ph.D. students receive grants for 1,4 million Icelandic Crowns (ISK), in addition to a travel grant, and the Master’s students receive 700 thousand Icelandic Crowns (ISK) and a travel grant.