This is the first newsletter from Sten K Johnson Foundation. You will receive a newsletter every year so you can keep up with what’s happening with our scholarship projects. In the newsletter we will summarize the past year and highlight some of our fellows as examples.
The Scholarship award ceremony 2014
On the 17th of June 2014, 61 happy fellows receive their scholarships at Lund School of Economics. As in 2013, there were many different scholarships, ranging from ”Making arias of modern hits” ”Electronic guide paths” for the blind, ”Self-supporting nurseries”, ”New cardiovascular instruments”, ”Portable fashion” and different book and photo projects.
Follow-up of the scholarships from 2013
During the fall (2014), we did a follow-up on the scholarships that we awarded in 2013. It was very exciting to see how the various projects have developed. In summary, 60% completed their projects and the rest follow their plans, but are more or less delayed relative to the original time plan.
To us in Sten K Johnson Foundation it is a great pleasure to see how our fellows have succeeded so well with their projects.
Quite a few of our fellows from both 2013 and 2014, has appeared in the press and some have received awards of various kinds. Below you can read about some of the 2013 Scholarships.
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Scholarships in Culture
In the area ”Culture” ”The projecthe Hidden female power – 500 years at Skarhult Castle” was very successful. The exhibition had as a target to attract 20,000 visitors, of which 4,000 students. The result was 32,000 visitors of which 7000 students. Alexandra von Schwerin, who created the exhibition, received Eslöv’s Culture Prize.
”The tree of knowledge – a pod radio series in ten parts” has had 1,300 visits per month. Listen to the series at www.kunskapenstrad.se
In the project ”Malmö – The True story”, the foundation ”Framtidsgenerationen” has interviewed 5,000 high school students. The students have been sharing their stories, see more on www.vimeo.com/malmothetruestory. The result is a play, “Wishing Well” performed at ”Hipp” in Malmö during the autumn and a comic book “In the heart of Malmö.” The book has been distributed to all high school students in Malmö.
Scholarships in Entrepreneurship
The scholarships in Entrepreneurship have developed well. The film “Lost in Stångby” is one of 120 that have a chance to be nominated for an Oscar for short films.
The project ”Multi Culti Catering”, who wants to give immigrant women in Lund an opportunity to have their own income by cooking their native country food, now has a professional kitchen. Ten women from Eritrea, Iraq and Iran are cooking food from their respective home countries. We can, all of us, order catering when we have an event that includes food of any kind.
”The Paper Bicycle helmet” is a helmet you will be able to buy when you rent a bike in town. The helmet can withstand rain for six hours and can be recycled. The project is now a short step from production.
The project ”Innovation in the countryside – Locally owned assisted living” is ready to test the model ”in real life”.
Xenofilia, the compound that will rebuild Botildenborg in Rosengård to create a knowledge centre for diversity, has all the architectural drawings ready and is now looking for funding to start the rebuilding process.
Markus Wiklander, who wants to democratize the live music industry by letting the public decide what we all want to see or hear by making local reservations of concerts, are busy in Malmö and has now begun initiating partnerships in Uppsala, Stockholm and Gothenburg.
The project “Tapasin and its regulation of MHC class I” has proceeded well and the applicability has turned out to be wider than the researchers believed in the beginning of the project.
”The Development and patent application of a new medicine against blood poisoning (sepsis)” has developed in the right direction and the findings are published in a scientific journal.
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Scholarships in Literature
In the area ”Literature” four books have been published and three are under way. The first book that was published was “Can art contribute to increased health awareness.” The Österlen Academy has been using the book as a gateway to support the different municipalities on Österlen and the industries in medicine, healthy living, occupational psychology, art, music and literature.
The book “The dream of a Child”, by Tobias Åkerman, describes in a nice way a mans experiences of what it is like to lose a child through miscarriage. The book has received considerable attention. Tobias presented the book at the Gothenburg Book Fair during the fall and, among others, the ”National Federation of involuntarily childless” and different adoption centres will use the book in their respective organizations.
Another book that has also received a lot of attention and was presented at the Gothenburg book fair is Susanne Brannebo Anvell’s book “What should I think about?” The book consists of small mind exercises with imaginative illustrations – a method Susanne made use of when her husband was seriously ill with cancer and her young daughters were concerned in the evenings when they were going to sleep. The book is now in use at the palliative care unit at SUS and also used by counsellors in their businesses. Families have contacted Susanne and told her that the book has helped troubled children.
”Enjoysweden – Photo book” had their first show in January 2013 at Landskrona Art Gallery. The book is crowdsourced from Instagram. On the theme of “Sweden” 61,744 images were tagged over a year. The book is a selection of these images. Through a partnership with the Swedish Institute, the exhibition has been made available to Swedish missions abroad and is now showed in Qatar. New shows are planned in Russia, Canada and Egypt.
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Scholarships in Medicine
Our projects in Medicine are often over long periods of time and mostly apply for scholarships for subprojects. Charles Walter has invented a new method, an instrument, for safer and easier cancer diagnosis, “Endodrill”. The Instrument has successfully begun to be used on patients. Many doctors in Lund are involved and Charles Walter has now started a “registry-study” where two multinational companies are involved. Endodrill was one of three nominees for PWC’s Innovation Award in the fall.
A different project in medicine is the project “The nurse car keeps on driving”. The experienced nurse Kerstin Nilsson drives home to people that are not feeling well to make a medical assessment and provide advice on the level of care required. Nine out of ten do not need to visit the emergency room at the hospital, but get the help they need at home. The scholarship has been used to market the service that is growing and now includes collaboration with a physician who has an Internet Hospital. Read more www.systerbilen.se
Another of our fellows was nominated for the same price as Charles Walter, and also won, Stefan Hansson, with his project “Pre-eclampsia: a new prediction test”. With the current diagnostic methods Pre-ecalmpsia cannot be detected in early pregnancy. Stefan Hansson’s approach will mean that potentially all pregnant women can be screened.
Alexandra Vasquez has with her project “A living antiseptic formulation as an alternative treatment of chronic wounds” demonstrated that bacteria from honey, lactic acid bacteria, can heal wounds. The researchers now hope that this can become an alternative to antibiotics in the future.
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Scholarships in Music
”The New Circus Opera – Night and Day” with Palestra Vocal Ensemble, the Bastard Baroque Orchestra and three circus performers had its world premiere at Stenkrossen in Lund during the autumn. Four sold out shows was the result of this ”cross functional” production.
A music scholarship will each year go to Skåne Hunting Horn, Sten K Johnson himself was a talented hunting horn player. The project “Parforce S tone hunters” is targeting young people to secure the growth of the hunting horn blowing.
”The Gala concerts with Lundalands Filharmoniker in Jakriborg and Center Syd were a great success. The aim is to move classical music to places where it is not normally located. More concerts are planned for children and families.
”Chamber Music at Saltimporten” is a project in the same spirit, to move the chamber music from the salons to different premises. In the autumn four concerts were given and more will be produced in the spring of 2015.
”The St John Passion in the church of South Mellby” brought the whole village together around a common project. The aim was to reach new groups of people and this was realized more than enough. One goal was that the project would lay the foundation for future sets. And after Christmas, in the spring of 2015, there will be a new production.
The CD recording of Skåne baroque music – Buxtehudekantaterna – will be completed in February 2015. The purpose of the recording is to establish the singers ”Vox Scaniensis” but also to recall the baroque composer Dietrich Buxtehude’s Skåne roots.
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Scholarships within Technology
An example of scholarships in technology is a ”Pulse bracelet” which is a project in mHealth and sports / health. The vision is to manufacture a fitness tracking product that simplifies for sports enthusiasts to measure their health and motivate a healthier lifestyle. The project has developed in the right direction and will now continue to develop, among other things, a motion sensor.
”The intelligent panic alarm”, another awarded project, is a platform for personal security. This is a physical accessory for a cell phone that enables the user to, with a simple a hand movement, quickly trigger an alarm. The prototype is tested and the entrepreneurs are now presenting their product to potential investors and customers.
Another interesting project, “ULOCS”, is developing a platform that helps users to understand their movement patterns over daily, weekly and monthly cycles. To collect large amounts of data in this way can help us understand how we can improve our wellbeing, our health and our environment and thereby prevent injury and wear. The project is proceeding according to plan
The project “ABBA – Enrichment of bacteria and bio particles using acoustophoresis” is a project that through a multidisciplinary approach shortens analysis times of disease-carrying bacteria. The status is that the researcher Maria Nordin has shown that it is possible to use the technology to enrich bacteria. The next step is to try to increase the rapidity of the process. If the analysis time is shortened from the current 2-4 days to maybe an hour, the right treatment can be initiated much earlier and thus save lives.
Scholarships in Education
Many of the projects in education are addressed, not surprisingly, to children and adolescents. ”Drivkraft Malmö” has developed a “Mentorship Program for young people in Malmö.” The program is aimed at students and their families in grades 6-8 with an offer of a sponsor for the individual student and a mentor for the whole family. With the help of the scholarship from Sten K Johnson Foundation Drivkraft Malmö has been able to hire a coach part time to help the sponsors to better perform their work.
“House Research Project in Schools”, run by schools through ”Research Skåne”, wants to strengthen the relationship between schools and research with the aim to increase students’ scientific understanding and ability. During the year, the project successfully implemented an eye-tracking project for high school students at St.Peter’s School in Malmö, together with the Humanities Lab at Lund University.
In Seved the organization Hidde Iyo Dhaqan received a scholarship to develop urban beekeeping and pedagogy in their local environment. The organization was one of the first to try urban farming and has now supplemented this with beekeeping. During the year, they met and worked with five kindergartens and three elementary schools, grade 1-3.
”Didici – Collaboration Learning”, is a method and an approach to learning where internal motivation and curiosity are the key drivers and where the emphasis is on a self-directed and collective learning. The idea of Collaboration Learning is that the study of a subject is enhanced by the exchange of thoughts and ideas between students. A program was implemented in a seventh and a ninth grade in mathematics at Apelgårdsskolan in Rosengård. The students showed stronger confidence in their studies and a change in attitude towards a more positive view of cooperation. The project has led to an on-going investigation by Region Skåne for a potentially bigger structural scaling at a regional level. Didici has continued its operations in Rosengård from 5th to 8th grade. Johan Fredriksson, who is the initiator of the project, was named one of 15 young Change makers by the world’s largest organization for social entrepreneurship.
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Application period 2015
The application period for 2015 is January 17th to February 16th. The award ceremony will be held in June before Midsummer.
Very welcome with your application!