Previous scholarship holders

The Donner Institute has awarded research scholarships, mainly for doctoral students, but also for postdoctoral researchers within the fields of religion and culture at irregular intervals since the early 1960s. The scholarships are one of our most important forms of supporting research in our field and a significant way for the institute to realise its purpose.

Among the scholarship holders in recent years, the following recipients and research topics are found:

2023

John Björkman, MA, Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled “On paths between hideous rocks and boulders, one may sometimes see strange things” Mapping revered sites of vernacular belief in the spatial order of 18th-19th century village landscapes

Katarina Johansson, MA, Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Mystiska erfarenheter och meningsskapande i samtiden

Ossi Korpi, MA, University of Turku: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Historiska mot-narrativ i modern finländsk andlighet

Lina Langby, MT, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled God and the World: pragmatic and epistemic arguments for panentheistic and pantheistic conceptions of the God-world relationship

Milena Parland, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Challenges in interreligious coexistence and dialogue in school and how dialogue can be promoted

2022

Tero Heinonen, MT, Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Kirtan i Finland: Hängivenhet, bön och rolltagande

Natalie Lantz, MT, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled The Hypertemple in Mind – Experiencing Templespace through Ezekiel, The Temple Scroll and Middot

Arwen Meereboer, MA, Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Ethical Ecologies: What can Tove Jansson and Sven Nordqvist tell us about ethical relationships to matter?

Pekka Pitkälä, MA, University of Turku: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Sigurd Wettenhovi-Aspas (1870–1946) esoteriska uppfattningar om språk och historia

Mudar Shakra, LLM, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled The Acculturative Stress of Syrian Migrants in Sweden: Caught between Secular and Religious Parenting Systems: Working at the Intersection between Psychology of Religion and Law Studies

2021

Sagy Watemberg Izraeli, BA, Bar-Ilan University and Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled A Multicultural Theory of Legitimacy

Sawsan Kheir, MA, Åbo Akademi University and University of Haifa: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Value profiles and religiosities among Druze and Muslim students in Israel – a study of contemporary negotiations of modernization

Joel Mansikka, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Studying Religion in Narrative Videogames: Towards a New Analytic and Methodological Framework

Anoo Niskanen, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Identitetsprocesser hos sverigefinska gammallaestadianer

Mattias Rosenfeldt, MA, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Progressive Islam in Europe: Theology and Practice

2020

Clara Marlijn Meijer, MA, Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Sexuality, stigma and religion: the negotiation of sexuality and religion among sexual minorities in Ghana

Mercédesz Czimbalmos, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Intermarriage and Conversion in Finnish Jewish Communities

Victor Dudas, MTh, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Skolans roll i unga assyriers/syrianers identitetsformande

Ingrid Malm Lindberg, BTh, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled The cognitive role of imagination in science and religion: A critical examination of its possible epistemic, creative, and meaning making functions

Ella Poutiainen, MA, University of Turku: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Feminismin henki. Naisten voimaantuminen ja yhteiskunnallinen muutos 2000-luvun uushenkisyydessä. (Feminismens anda. Kvinnors emancipation och samhällelig förändring i 2000-talets nyandlighet)

2019

Karoliina Dahl, MA, Åbo Akademi University: twelve months for a doctoral thesis entitled Continuity and Change in Finnish University Students’ Life-views

Maximilian Broberg, M.Ed., Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled ‘Stay Awhile and Listen’ – Understanding the Dynamics of Mediatization, Authority, and Literacy in Swedish Religious Education

Ernils Larsson, MA, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Rituals of a Secular Nation: Shinto Normativity and the Separation of Religion and State in Postwar Japan

Karen Swartz, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Corporate Storytelling in the Anthroposophical Society: narratives of decline, change, and renewal

Laura Wickström, MA, M.P.S., Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis on Islam and ecology

2018

Mercédesz Czimbalmos, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Intermarriages and Jewish Identity in Finnish Jewish Communities

Robin Isomaa, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled YouTube Atheists: A Discourse-Analytic Study of Atheist Identity, Community, and Personae Online

Suvi Karila, MA, University of Turku: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled “Your God is no longer mine” – Lived Unbelief of Four Women in the Nineteenth- Century United States

Inka Rantakallio, MA, University of Turku: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Authenticity, Spirituality, and Atheism in Contemporary Finnish Underground Rap

Rune Hjarnø Rasmussen, MA, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Technologies of Dividuation in Brazilian Candomblé

Tora Wall, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Trolska skogen: en studie av narrativ och nutida föreställningsvärld inom turismens ramar

2017

Malin Fredriksson, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Negotiations of Racist Hate Crime in the Criminal Justice System in Finland.

Vanja Mosbach, MA, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Making Space Public: Purpose-Built Mosques and the Renegotiation of Borders and Identities in Sweden.

2015

Magnus Hedelind, MA, Uppsala University: five months for a doctoral thesis entitled Religion and Other Superstitions. Connected Humanist Ideological History and Social Relevance, 1979–2014.

Jakob Löfgren, MA, Åbo Akademi University: five months for a doctoral thesis entitled It was the night before Hogswatch.

Matti Rautaniemi, MA, Åbo Akademi University: nine months for a doctoral thesis entitled The History of Yoga in Finland.

Karen Swartz Larsson, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Refashioning Anthroposophy: A Study Regarding Renewal, Tradition, and Authority.

2014

Linda Annunen, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral dissertation entitled Förtrollade ljud – Ritualteoretiska perspektiv på trumcirklar i Finland.

Nana Blomqvist, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Free to Love, Touch and Pray: A Critical Analysis of Freedom and Happiness within the Consumerist Conceptual Scheme.

Jakob Löfgren, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled It was the night before Hogswatch. Folklore, Fantasy and Fandom in the Wincanton Hogswatch Celebration.

Karen Swartz, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Reinventing Anthroposophy: A Study Regarding Change, Tradition, and Authority.

Annie Woube, MA, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral dissertation entitled Finding One’s Place – To Create Belonging in a Transnational Context among Swedish Lifestyle Migrants on Costa del Sol, Spain.

2013

Patricia Aelbrect, FL, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Den stora resan

Nina Björkman, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral dissertation on the theme of Da’wa in three Muslim movements

Sara Duppils, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis on apprehensions of spirits in contemporary Sweden

Madeleine Guillo, MA, Uppsala University: six months for a doctoral dissertation entitled Fanns Gud i Auschwitz?

Karen Swartz, MA, Åbo Akademi University: six months for a doctoral thesis entitled Reinventing Anthroposophy: A Study Regarding Change, Tradition, and Authority