Along with the three other French Institutes in the Nordic region (Denmark, Finland and Norway), the French Institute in Sweden awards the French Institute Nordic Award (FINA) in order to recognize the quality of the work carried out by young researchers established in a Swedish research institution. FINA aims to promote cultural and scientific cooperation between France and Sweden by participating in the funding of research mobilities in France.

The theme for 2024 is “Digital Health“. Applications will open shortly and can be submitted via the dedicated page.

Past projects :

• 2023 edition

The 2023 FINA theme was “Circular economy”, with a special focus on food, waste management, textiles, biobased materials, recycling, and development of new crops.

The Swedish winner of the 2023 edition was Pierre Oesterle, PhD researcher in Environmental Chemistry at Umeå University in Sweden. His PhD project focuses on removing contaminants such as antibiotics, drinking coffee… from water with adsorbents made of biobased waste materials, and assessing the impact of the use of these adsorbents. 

Alongside the other five laureates, Pierre Oesterle was awarded a joint research mobility to France in September 2023 within the framework of the FINA award, where they met and exchanged with researchers and staff in Clermont-Ferrand at CERDI (Center of Studies and Research on International Development), Valtom (a Waste Management Infrastructure for Organic Waste and Energy production), FRE (Federation of Environmental Studies) and the Research Lab at the top of Puy-de-Dôme. They travelled to Lyon and the Ecole Normale Supérieure, the Catholic University and various laboratories (CP2M, LAGEPP, IMP, ICBMS, IRCELYON) at the University Lyon I.

• 2022 edition

The 2022 FINA theme was “Oceans”.

The Swedish winner of this edition was Anna Lunde Hermansson, PhD student of the Department of Mechanics and Maritime Sciences at Chalmers University of Technology. Anna Lunde Hermansson is a marine chemist whose research focuses on marine environmental effects from shipping, with a main focus on exhaust gas cleaning systems.

Along with the three other Nordic winners, Anna Lunde Hermansson was awarded a one-week mobility trip to Brest and Paris during the first week of October 2022 in order to discover French marine scientific research and meet peers. During the mobility, the four laureates visited laboratories such as IFREMER, the European Institute of the Sea, the World Sea Campus and the Roscoff Biological Station. A day had been planned in Paris in order to meet researchers from Sorbonne University and IRIS, and representatives of the French Minister of the Sea.

• 2020 edition

Launched in 2020, the first FINA theme was “Youth and green innovation”.

The Swedish winner of this edition was Justine Ramage, research fellow at Nordregio. Justine is a physical geographer, with a specialization in polar environments. She is particularly interested in the interaction between people living in the Arctic and their changing environment. She also has a background in cartography, data and spatial analysis.

Unfortunately, only the Swedish winner was able to conduct the scientific mobility. Justine Ramage did a mobility trip to Marseille in september 2021 in order to attend the IUCN Congress (3-11 September 2021) and participate to Nature Generation Areas (Espaces Génération Nature). During this conference, Justine Ramage had the opportunity to present her research, meet other researchers and discuss the dynamics of geodiversity and biodiversity, the impact of climate change on landscapes and populations, the safeguarding of genetics and the links between nature conservation and international cooperation.

A podcast about Justine Ramage’s experience of this mobility can be found here.