The Johan Skytte Prize annually recognizes the most valuable contribution to the field of Political Science. This year’s prize is awarded to Professor Jon Elster, Robert K. Merton Professor in Social Sciences at Columbia University and titular professor at College de France, Paris.
Experiencing a traumatic event can cause life-long anxiety problems, called posttraumatic stress disorder. Swedish researchers from Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet now show that people with posttraumatic stress disorder have an imbalance between two neurochemical systems in the brain, serotonin and substance P. The greater the imbalance, the more serious the symptoms patients have.
The press release "Posttraumatic stress disorder reveals an imbalance between signalling systems in the brain" is cancelled. Embargo until December 1st at 9.00 GMT
Using mathematical modeling and field data, researchers at the mathematics department at Uppsala University have found the basic rules that allow ants to build efficient and low cost transport networks without discarding robustness. The study is now published in the Royal Society journal Interface.
In June, Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) reported that the number of fatalities in armed conflict has increased substantially in recent years, and that 2014 was the most violent year since the end of the Cold War. New data show that also the other two types of violence analyzed by the UCDP – conflict between non-state actors and violence targeting civilians – increased substantially in 2014.
40 armed conflicts were active in 2014, the highest number of conflicts since 1999 and an increase of 18% when compared to the 34 conflicts active in 2013. New data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) shows an increase in both the number of active conflicts but also in the number of battle-related deaths in these conflicts.
An Uppsala Antibiotics Centre is to be created at Uppsala University. This was announced by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg at today’s opening of the Uppsala Health Summit conference. The goal is for this interdisciplinary centre to be a regional, national and international knowledge resource and forum in the area of antibiotic resistance.
In a new article published in the Journal of Eurasian Geography and Economics Mikhail Suslov, researcher at Uppsala University, analyzes how the annexation of Crimea in March 2014 has been represented and discussed on Russian-language social networks. The article discusses the paradox of ’digital disempowerment’ but also how no state can control digital irony.
Francis Fukuyama, Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford University, is awarded the 2015 Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. He receives it for having with “breath-taking learnedness, clarity and courage thrown new light over the growth of modern political order.”
Fathers in Sweden are not provided with the same opportunities as mothers when it comes to learning about how to take care and raise their children.
Why do some countries seem to develop quickly while others remain poor? This question is at the heart of the so-called poverty or development trap problem. Using mathematics on open data sets researchers now present new insights into this issue, and also suggest which countries can be expected to develop faster. The paper is published in the open access journal Big Data.
The effect of Internet on our lives and society is a constant topic of interest for politicians, business leaders, the media and the general public, an interest that has generated a substantial body of research on the use of ICT. In a newly published dissertation, ICT researcher Håkan Selg highlights the need for theoretical awareness to strengthen the role of research as a source of knowledge.
By providing the infrastructure that connects global flows and financial systems, major cities have increased their political power alongside the nation-states. In some cases, they are pursuing their own foreign policy in several areas. In her PhD thesis Kristin Ljungkvist, at Uppsala University, has studied the effects of this development and argues that certain risks should be heeded.
At 33, conflicts in the world last year increased by one compared to 2012. This is reported by peace researchers at Uppsala University’s Conflict Data Program. The number has remained stable over the past decade. However, 2012 saw an increase in the number of battle-related deaths and two out of five people dying in battles, died in Syria.
The energy issue, specifically trade in natural gas, has affected the conflict and developments in Ukraine and Russia more than is generally known. This is the view of Stefan Hedlund, a researcher at the Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden, who has just published a book that addresses the very core of this highly topical subject.
Professor David Collier at the University of California, Berkeley, is this year’s winner of the Johan Skytte Prize in political science. He has been awarded the prize for ‘his contributions to concept development in political science and the development of methods for qualitative analysis’. The Johan Skytte Prize is one of the greatest and most prestigious awards in political science.
Although a greater proportion of teenage boys than girls watch and fantasise about sex they have seen in pornography, there are no differences between the sexes when it comes to what types of sex they fantasise about. This is shown in a new study from Uppsala University that is published in Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.
In a new study a team of researchers lead from Uppsala University show how lactase persistence variants tell the story about the ancestry of the Khoe people in southern Africa. The team concludes that pastoralist practices were brought to southern Africa by a small group of migrants from eastern Africa. The study is now published in Current Biology.
Punk as a subculture does not emerge as a revolt against injustices but is rather created and defined from the inside, regardless of what the world looks like. This is established in a new dissertation from Uppsala University that investigates Swedish and Indonesian punks’ view of themselves and society.
An international conference on antiziganism in Europe takes place at Uppsala University on 23–25 October. The purpose of the conference is to contribute to a clearer picture of the phenomenon of antiziganism, both historically and in our own time. The stated ambition is to considerably improve the state of knowledge in an area where systematic research was scarce before the year 2000.