Announcement of the 2023 Holberg Prize and Nils Klim Prize

foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] life [Music] foreign [Music] thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Applause] [Applause] they roll on behalf of the University of bergenics with great pleasure that I welcome you to this year's announcement of the Holberg price and the nilsklim price 2023 marks 20 years since the Norwegian Parliament decided to establish the Holberg price I am therefore honored to welcome you to the Holberg prize anniversary year the whole book price is a great recognition of individuals who have had the decisive impact on International research price then I know is intended to acknowledge groundbreaking and pioneering academic work within the humanities social sciences law and theology it has become a distinguished and esteemed award given either within one of its subject areas or for interdisciplinary research and crucially it showcases the importance of these fields globally in addition to the whole bike price the Hallberg board also Awards the nilsklim price and this price is awarded to Young Scholars working in or being from the Nordic countries the whole body price through its 20 years of existence has contributed to honoring a long list of outstanding academics and it has been an invaluable recognition of our academic responsibility to create space for critical thinking free research open debate in the spirit of Ludwig called Barrick the plans for this anniversary are ambitious the year will be filled with more informative and thought-provoking events than ever before the whole very week has facilitated also before Unforgettable events and meetings and also this June the Hallberg week will be filled with activities that will make the laureates work known to a wider audience as we come together to celebrate this Milestone we do so with an awareness of the challenges we face the war in Europe is now in its second year the climate crisis confronts us with questions that we do not yet have answers to the hash effects of these challenges are felt by us all in confronting complex challenges our academic values will be Paramount today and also for the next 20 years we need researchers who feels this year push the boundaries of what we know we need Scholars who contribute with interpretations of their present on the past and we need spaces where ideas can meet across its traditions and intellectual traditions and intellectual institutions and most of all we need an open critical conversation that can provide us with understanding beyond what is immediately experienced with this in mind it is it is with great excitement that I give the floor to the academic director of the Hallberg prize Professor Bjorn he will announce the Holberg price and the nilsklim laureates for the year 2023. [Applause] good morning everyone and thank you Professor Margaret Hogan director of the University of Bergen each year the Holberg board Awards two prices in the academic fields of the humanities social sciences law and theology these prices are the main Hallberg price excuse me and the Nils claim price as also noted by director the Holberg prize celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2023. the prices are awarded by their board the Holberg board on behalf of the University of Bergen and the Norwegian government under recommendation of academic committees these committees consist of outstanding scholars in the fields covered by the prices the prices celebrate groundbreaking academic achievement in these research research areas and emphasize their broad importance the award ceremony for the holbeck prize and the Nils claim price takes place in Bergen in June every year this year's ceremony will be held here at the University Ola on the 8th of June and now first to the Holberg price awarded annually to Scholars who've made outstanding contributions to research in the areas covered by the price either within one discipline or through interdisciplinary work the Laureate must have had a decisive influence on International research the value of the price is 6 million kroner or approximately 550 000 Euros on behalf of the University of Bergen and on the recommendation of the Hallberg committee it is a great pleasure for me to announce that the board of the Holberg price has decided that this year's Holberg price shall be awarded to Professor Juan Martinez alier Professor Joanne Martinez alier works at the universitad autonomous the Barcelona in the department of economics and economic history where he has carried out most of his research is among the world's leading Scholars of ecological economics political ecology and environmental justice furthermore here's the central figure not only in ecological economics and the study of environmental justice struggles but also in the currently burgeoning movement for the growth after graduating in economics from universitat autonomous Barcelona in 1961 he continued his studies in agricultural economics at Saint Anthony's College Oxford where he was based between 1966 and 1973 as well as the period 1984-1985. he holds a PhD in economics from universitat autonomous de Barcelona from 1976. Martinez alier became full professor in the department of economics and economic history at universitad autonomous Barcelona in 1976 and it became Emeritus in 2009. Professor Martinez alier has held the visiting positions at a number of prestigious institutions around the world including being visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin at Stanford University and at University of California at Davis in addition to receiving numerous fellowships and awards he's also professor emeritus at Latin American School of social sciences Institute flaxo in Quito Ecuador and in 2014 he became an honorary doctor at Universidad National de Cordoba in Argentina Martinez alier is not only an exceedingly prolific researcher but also an impressive institution Builder being a founding member of the international Society for ecological economics he is also co-founded The Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the University Barcelona and he has served as a member of the scientific Committee of the European environment agency from 2000 to 2008. chair of the Holberg committee Professor heike Krieger will now present the committee's review of the contributions of Juan Martinez aliers work Professor Martinez Ayer is a world leading scholar of ecological economics political ecology and environmental justice his transdisciplinary research integrates social and Natural Sciences proposing a humanities-driven form of economics he is based at the autonomous University of Barcelona and the department of economics and economic history Martinez is highly influential in diverse fields these range from anthropology geography Environmental Studies political economy to agrarian studies and the analysis of Food Systems he is a major figure and leading public intellectual in the burgeoning movement for degrowth and agro-ecology analytically clear his critiques of mainstream economic theory waste questions about the dominant focus on economic growth at the sole metric of a good economy his approach rejects economic models based on extracting resources from the environment to support material accumulation and consumption instead his economic framework centers human and environmental flourishing creating an alternative pluralistic theory of value for determining economic judgments the empirical basis of his theory draws on extensive and long-term research conducted in a variety of global contexts based on the participatory research method his analysis emerges from dialogue with indigenous and non-western forms of life and knowledge a central concern of Martinez alier's work is how environmental questions are inseparable from analysis of historical injustices and ongoing inequalities these injustices raise questions concerning the ecological debt that so-called developed Nations owe formally colonized countries two of his most influential books are ecological economics energy environment and Society from 1987. and the environmentalism of the poor a study of ecological conflicts and valuation from 2002. ecological economics traces the history of ecological critiques of Economics from the 1860s to the 1940s it was a major Catalyst in the development of political ecology through its articulation of a different tradition of economic thought the environmentalism of the poor examines the relationship between environmental conflicts and poverty the book overturns assumptions that there is a necessary conflict between improving the economic well-being of the poor and attaining environmental sustainability matina Zaire is a founding member of the international Society for ecological economics he also found that the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the autonomous University of Barcelona The Institute is a multidisciplinary center promoting the study of the nature and causes of environmental problems and seeks constructive policies that enable transition to a sustainable economy a key part of his work is the environmental justice Atlas that documents environmental justice struggles around the world has the unusual distinction of both anticipating and actively engaging with the interrelated planetary challenges of poverty climate change and food security his Innovative theories and membership continue to build the capacity of Scholars and policy makers to address these intersecting crises of global economic life Joanne Martinez is undoubtedly a highly worthy recipient of the 2023 Holberg price [Applause] thank you Professor hiki Krieger for the committee's review and now to the nilsklim prize the prize is awarded annually to researcher under 35 years of age from or in another country in the fields covered by the Hallberg prize the price is awarded to researchers who have made outstanding contributions either within one discipline or through interdisciplinary work in the assessment of the nominated candidate the independence and Innovative qualities of the researchers work are deemed particularly important the committee also takes into account whether the research contribution is especially outstanding or promising in light of the Scholar's age the nature of the research projects and traditions in the researchers academic field the value of the price is 500 000 Norwegian kroner or approximately 45 000 Euros on behalf of the University of Bergen and on the recommendation of the Nils climb committee it is now my great pleasure to announce that the board of the Holberg price has decided that this yes Nils climb price shall be awarded to associate professor Simona setterberg Nielsen Simona setberg Nelson born 1988 is a Danish literary scholar who works at the faculty of Arts at Argus University in Denmark the chair of the nilsquim committee Professor astradur astainson will now present the committee's review of the contributions of Simona setterberg Nelson's work Professor Einstein's son's review will be followed by a greeting from Mr Ula the Norwegian Ministry of research and higher education the Nils claim committee has decided to recommend that Simona satterbag Nielsen be the recipient of the 2023 nilsclean price Nielsen is associate professor of Scandinavian studies at the faculty of Arts at all's University Denmark she pursued her University education at Ojos University completing her PhD degree in 2017 with the dissertation fictionality and the formation of the novel with a focus on the invention of 18th century Danish fiction while Ojos university has been her academic base she has been a visiting student and later visiting scholar at academic institutions in Europe Australia and the USA mcnielson has also been an active participant in international scholarly collaboration especially in the areas of narratology the history of the novel and fictionality throughout her academic career chatterbek Nielsen has been prolific on several academic fronts teaching and supervising editing journals and books and organizing conferences as well as giving lectures and Publishing in both English and danish a bilingual activity which is exemplary in itself Nielsen's achievements have been acknowledged with uhu's University's Award for best PhD dissertation in the humanities with a number of substantial post-doctoral grants and most recently with an Inga Lemon Grant to establish a research group entitled the science of fiction how fiction shaped science and science shaped fiction much of chatterbag Nielsen's scholarly work has centered around the concept of fictionality and its various implications and manifestations unlike the term literariness which has been important in demarcating the specificity of literature and its expressiveness fictionality has in recent scholarship come to designate the relation of literature to lived reality the world of individual and social experiences this entails that fictionality exists in dialectical relation to factuality Nielsen has fruitfully explored the ways in which the concept has been applied by her predecessors and she has wielded it masterfully in her own studies of both individual texts and larger corpuses most notably the 18th century Danish novel in its entirety she has also approached the concept theoretically analyzing its rhetorical communicative aspects and its pragmatic context-dependent relevance fictionality as she points out is not limited to literary discourse for it plays a vital role in everyday conversation and she is now turning her attention to the ways in which it pertains to science the broad relevance of her impressive scholarship is highlighted by one of the key predicaments of our times the unreliability of Mankind's ever broadening technical modes of communication for all the reasons stated Simona settebeck Nielsen is a most worthy recipient of the 2023 Nils claim price the whole big price on this outstanding scientific work in the field of humanities social sciences law and theology this year we annoyed John Martinez alier from the University of autonoma De Barcelona Dear Professor Martinez congratulations to you on your great achievements the Hallberg price is a celebration of you as a scholar and of the whole field of ecological economics political ecology and environmental justice I would also like to congratulate Nielsen at audience University in Denmark on the Nils clean price for her outstanding work on the history of the Danish novel Norway is a knowledge Nation but most of the challenges we face as a society are Global we depend on research-based knowledge and experience to understand and resolve these challenges the Holberg price is important to celebrate excellence in research on behalf of the Norwegian government congratulations as the Hallberg price and Nils clean price laureates for 2023 and welcome to Bergen and Norway in June hmm [Music] thank you [Music] foreign foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Applause] for presenting the committee's review thank you to the ministry for his greeting to the Holberg price Laureate and last but not least thank you to turu Bulldog for having provided us with two beautiful musical pieces today first we heard Le Colin de anacapri by Debussy and just now we enjoyed Greg's Summer's Eve or some raftan as it's called in Norwegian we now move on in our program and I'm happy to be able to welcome you all to a brief conversation about our two Prize winners for this purpose I would like to welcome onto the stage Professor Jurgen sales and Professor welcome both of you please join me foreign I think in order to make this a nice conversation we could start with talking a bit about the Holberg price winner first and in that regard I'm very happy to have with me on stage here professor four star is a professor of geography here at University of Bergen and he has particularly worked with social change climate politics and sustainability he has worked both in Latin America and in European contexts and is currently the director of the center for climate and energy transformation here at uib so welcome let me start s with you who are asking as we also heard from the committee the Holberg price winner is an outstanding scholar in his field or more perhaps or more correctly we could say fields in the plural could you provide us with a bit of more in-depth knowledge as to what his feel is and his research is about sure well let me first say I'm extremely excited about this year's award I think in racism really important critical questions and I really look forward to June when we will have him here and be able to discuss these things uh with him so as we heard from the committee he is one of the sort of founding figures of this field called ecological economics so he's been trained in economics but has taken a quite critical view um of that field he has also taken input from anthropology and other social sciences and Humanities and and really try to sort of situate the economy try to understand the economy as part of through the larger ecological socioecological system of the world so his critique against mainstream economics is basically that it's it's sort of too narrow just looking at the things we can measure in price while he's really interested in in um uh how does this try to understand the economy as to sort of a subfield of the larger system and how can we shape reshape the economy so it doesn't go sort of beyond the planetary boundaries that's an extremely important question how would you say that um Joanne Martinez has has shaped changed or redirected that particular field or field I mean how to put differently how does political ecology for instance how has political ecology changed after his research or after his research contributions so I would say it's um so he early in his career he was part of a really poor figure in establishing this field of ecological economics and this field has sort of grown and spawned different directions in particular political ecology which today is an enormous field has big conferences to lots of people in Norway who who are taking part in in this field and organized conferences Etc um so that's sort of one of the main influences how this was developed into Political ecology but it's also feeding into a really big debate that we're seeing emerging now both within Academia and without Academia which I would call the the D growth debate or the d-growth movement which is taking many of his ideas and using them to to sort of critique and question sort of the the main economic model that we operate under today and primarily and I would say this is uh the price Winner's critique is that it assumes that we can keep growing the economy um you can keep producing Goods we can keep producing resources and Martinez concepts are really trying to to show that this is not in line with ecological boundaries so we need to find other models so they are looking to to social justice movements his his book The environmentalism of the poor was a huge influence in trying to sort of show how important these environmental struggles around the world are and how they're interconnected um and try to really discuss what sort of other institutions can we come up with how can we change the existing institutions in order to to challenge this growth Paradigm that we are in at the moment and he works globally in a sense yes yeah so it's really important that he's trying he's trying to I think I think scholars in the past I mean I've I've worked on Latin America and then you kind of communicate with other Latin American Scholars but he's really shown how you can connect these environmental justice movements from one continent into other continents like Latin America of course but he's also been very inspired by movements in India for example and in other places um and in recent years he's been very important in creating this environmental justice Atlas which um is mapping environmental conflicts all over the world including several here uh in in Norway in what ways would you say that the research of the holdback price winner Juan Martinez alieres significant for the whole range of the Holberg price as you know this price covers research within the Sciences Humanities the law and theology I mean is he singling out a single discipline in a sense or does he work very broadly I mean you've answered a part of it but uh yeah would you elaborate he's very Broad and and um I mean the word transdisciplinary is very often used to describe his work he was also used by by the committee and that means he is really I mean he's trained in a discipline right and he uses the tools of his discipline economics but he's also sort of taking a step outside of that drawing influences from other fields um which makes him I would say interdisciplinary but also working with the non-academics to understand these environmental justice issues he's working with activists from different places in the world and trying to to bring their ideas into uh his scholarships it's really uh and a transdisciplinary scholar and I think we see that in how his work has inspired and been used and across many different disciplines so in a sense his work would also then be from what you say a work of translation in a sense from from actually ongoing conflicts that he identify and and to translate them into an academic uh setting or analysis or language yes absolutely and I think it's a really good example of how you can use sort of theoretical and conceptual work which is what a lot of his work is he has he's using or developing Concepts like social metabolism or energy return on investment so Concepts that we if you try to analyze the economy through these sorts of Concepts you get a kind of a different picture of the economy then what you would use from what I would call a sort of mainstream economics so it's it's a lot about conceptual development but also about linking it to sort of real world practice and I would say I mean my impression of of his environmentalism of the poor is that it's really a scholar who has been sort of traveling around and talking to activists and then try to sort of think with their ideas and try to bring their ideas into dialogue with this academic sort of more sort of conceptual theoretical Concepts that we're using so it's really um I think sometimes we we tend to sort of either work theoretically or we work with sort of outside Society but this is I think a really good example of how you can how you can link the two I think many of the um laureates we've had with the holdback price have been daring or they have broken new ground some have been uh also deemed as somewhat controversial in their fields how would you how would you situate Joanne Martinez in that kind of trajectory of Holberg price laureates in a sense well I mean the the idea that that's sort of emerging now from his work and he's also engaging with the idea of degrowth um is of course Very controversial and very um daring in a sense and I I'm really looking forward to the debates that we can have around this in June I mean the idea is that we need to to shift away from this model that we have now of continuous economic growth but if you look around I've seen I've seen like I've seen that seems like you know a political proposal but if you look around a lot of our institutions or maybe all of our institutions in the current economic model are built up around this idea that we need continuous growth and he's very critical of that and that also means he's critical of the idea of sustainable development I mean he critiques the Brenton commission uh for his assumption that we can have you know green growth um he he's quite critical that that's possible within sort of the current way that we organize the economy he's also critical of the ipcc the United Nations climate panel um for not really taking this degrowth ideas into account so it's really um so that part of his work is really sort of questioning some of the fundamental structures of our society um and I think that challenges uh I look forward to challenging him on sort of how do we concretely move forward with this what sort of limitations the weaknesses the CC with this kind of idea and what are kind of the promising Pathways for moving forward with this idea but I think it's um it's uh in in the sense that the Holberg price wants to be daring and and controversial um I I think um this year uh this year's price really really does that opens up for some really important questions I was going to ask you as a final question what's the broader societal significance of his uh of his uh work but I can see lots of uses for that but would you like to just add a few uh other points well it's basically how do we survive as a species and I think that's that's a pretty important question I think we would all agree with that thank you very much we now move on to the second panelists here Professor Jurgen Sayer stats uh Jurgen says that is the professor of Scandinavian literature at University of Bergen and he has particularly worked on Nordic literature his research focuses for instance on literature from around the 1700s in the Nordic countries and Professor sayas that is an expert on Ludwig kolberg this is of course particularly apt today as the 2023 Nils claim price winners work includes that of Ludwick Goldberg so welcome Jurgen thank you and I will start in the same way as I started with horva as we've also heard from the committee the Nils climb price winner is an outstanding young scholar in her field could you provide us with a more in-depth knowledge as to what that field and research is as you see it yes thank you well first I'd like to say also I think it's a very good choice from the committee and um well the field of study two fields in a way you have the theory of fictionality which is uh which is uh you know the modern theoretical discussion about what fictionality is and then fictionality as a phenomenon not only in fiction but also in non-fiction so you can have sort of intro textual rhetorical fictionality certain movements in the language which signals you're moving from a representational reality to a representation of fictionality kind of dictionary so that's that's a study it can be like it can be like metaphors or examples or hypotheticals what might have been what might be conjectures and of course the movements of the narrator so you have different sort of rhetorical tools for fictionality occurring in non-fiction also as well as infection and also you have an extra textual kinds of signaling fictionality so that is when this is the theoretical discussion about fictionality as us too and then on the other hand what is in my opinion you know what is close to my own research area is her research on the the 18th century novel and of course the 18th century novelist is sort of the period of the birth of the modern novel and the authors in the 18th century they're really struggling or playing around with this fictionality and the representation reality and representation of fictionality it's a lot of discussion and uncertainty about that so there's a close connection of course between her empirical studies of the history of literature and the novel you know dating century and she really brings for some some very interesting texts which I think have been completely forgotten Danish novels nobody has read them in 100 years or much less done research on them but she really manages to make them relevant and interesting and part of that discussion of what are you know the the rhetoric and the elements of fictionality so in that way she brings a historical momentum or the historicity of the rhetoric of fictionality and she establishes that I think in a very nice way so so it's it's very interesting and it's groundbreaking I think within within the the history of literature thank you and following up on that I mean all the Nils claim price winners we've had they have of course gone on to have a very impressive academic careers and they've already at uh at a young age or being juniors in their field they've already started shaping that field and changing its direction in a way how would you say that this year's uh Nils Clem price winner does that yeah well she's uh she's she's writing writing publishing a lot and and she is you know already co-working with you know prominent scholars in the field co-authoring with Catherine Gallagher or Berkeley and other prominent Scholars so she's part of that is also part of a century in all his study of fictionality Center there and so she's part of that and I think that one of the things that she really brings to the table there is is exactly these these novels you know the new material new new empirical material for investigation that differs a bit because when you establish sort of the the history of fictionality and you're very often in international research you use you know the established Canon some Works everybody or all the researchers but you always find the same works but now she's bringing in some new works and and they are they're a bit different you know it's a lot of invention of the fantasy a lot of different aspects actually of fictionality so I think she she broadens sort of the material the empiric material and basis for the study of the the historical emergence of the rhetorical fictionality and the discussion of functionality so I think it's um yes it's fascinating actually [Music] in the field of dissemination as the committee said and I think I think it should be under underlined that she is she's great at the seminar and writing about this in a very clear understandable interdisciplinary way in Danish and and also being part of the international uh you know front research so she combines that in a very impressive way I think very good I mean the Holberg price covers these four Fields Humanities social sciences law and theology would you say that she relates um in a way to to all of these fields or is she highly specialized well I think the basis in in this not very well-known works of the 18th century that's highly specialized in a way but uh of course when she uses that as a basis for analyzing uh fictionality as on the rhetorical fictionality that is also as as I said in non-fictional in non-fiction and and that of course is very relevant to you know the I think well it's the area of literature and law when you study you know elements of functionality in Texas of law where it's very important of course that they they they represent reality but then you will have some elements of fictionality which you can identify and analyze and that pertains I think to all kinds of non-fiction and of course social sciences and and Theology and as I I hear now she's establishing A Center for Science and and fictionality and of course also in science so not only these areas of the price but I think in in all the areas of uh of research and science all kinds of texts we have these elements of fictionality and it's important to identify the man to analyze them and to use them as basis for discussion and Consciousness about fictionality and critique perhaps so in a sense she she incorporates the kind of broad interdisciplinary might not be the right term but the broad approach of Holberg in a sense there absolutely but as I said with the basis in a very sort of specialized empirical study yeah would you say that the uh this year's name price render is already a distinctive researcher within her field of research as I mean actually gaining recognition yes as we heard I think yes already has won many prizes and she's establishing her own Center so she is recognized in in her field but I think in in the humanities we should we should be better at acknowledging each other and prices like this they they uh they attribute contribute to that so so I think it's very well discerned and important yeah excellent um you mentioned it already I mean she she works on fiction and she works on on fiction as or fictionality in relation to or in country distinction to literariness but she also takes on science and the kind of fiction needed in order for the facts to be clarified in a sense yeah if I understood this uh correctly so so what I mean in light of that in light of her broad Horizon in a sense in her approach to her field what would you say is that the societals the significance in a sense of her of her work well I think the societal if you big words you know yes but but I think that well if we left behind sort of what many people thought about post-modernism sort of merging of reality and fictionality you can't say what's what so so this is this is another way of of posting that question the opposite in a way because you see there are elements of fictionality in all kinds of representations of reality but they can be identified and they can be as I said discussed and we should be aware of them and we should be conscious about it and about the historicity of of this course the historicity of how we speak not as something incomprehensible or impenetrable but something that can be identified and analyzed and I think that's that's very important for uh for uh for everybody for society and the way we understand ourselves and the way we represent reality to each other and it demonstrate the broad significance of the humanities for also other sciences and our contemporary Society I would say thank you for that year again I would like to thank both panelists for having shared considerable more light on the academic contributions of Juan Martinez alier and Simona setterberg Nielsen please give them a round of applause foreign let me remind the audience that the awards ceremonies and other events related to the Holberg prize will take place here in Bergen from the 6th to the 8th of June and in Oslo on the 9th of June this year so please join us then to conclude and on behalf of the Hallberg board I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Professor Juan Martinez alier and associate professor Simona setterberg Nielsen on being awarded their respective prices congratulations thank you all also around the world for showing your interest by watching this event today and thank you to those in the audience for having joined us here thank you [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Holberg Prize

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Keywords: Humanities, Social Sciences, Holberg Prize, Award, Research, University, Law, Theology

Id: Ia2QD0R5Ig8

Length: 53min 0sec (3180 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 14 2023