Project Support: Sweden

Alison Chan is the 2026 Project Support Sweden awardee. Her research works to answer the question: “How does culture influence the way we interpret biological data, define progress, and assign meaning to illness?” Throughout the research process, she has come to appreciate that understanding disease often requires more than biochemistry alone. Using Lois Roth support […]

Nicole is currently pursuing graduate education at Stanford University. She aims to contribute to the development of ethical AI through her project, “Design of Artificial Intelligence Systems through Gender and Intersectionality.” Nicole’s research investigates the historical and modern discrimination faced by the Sámi people, with a focus on privacy and data. Nicole will use the

A graduate of Rutgers University, artist Serafina is collaborating with the Glass Factory in Boda Glasbruk to master Graal, a traditional Swedish glassblowing technique. Her project, “The Natural World through Allemansrätten, Graal, and Drawing,” is inspired by Sweden’s landscapes and the “Freedom to Roam” law (Allemansrätten). She is creating an extraordinary series of ink drawings

Cassandra Alvariño will use this award to support her research on Sweden’s bid to join NATO in association with the Department of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg as part of her dual Master’s degree in European Studies and Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She plans to pursue

Jen Shaneberger is conducting research for her PhD in International Relations/Comparative Politics with the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. This award will support her research on how political rhetoric impacts migrants’ ability to find and maintain employment in association with Linköping University. She plans to defend her dissertation in November 2024 and submit a chapter for publication

Although his Fulbright research is focused on Capturing Neuroscience on the Nanoscale, Max will use the Sweden Project Support Award to support an exchange between artists at the Royal Institute of Art and scientists at SciLifeLab that will result in an exhibition “Scientific Research through an Artist’s Lens”. After completing his Fulbright research, he plans

Michael Monzon is currently working on his PhD in Entomology at Rutgers. His Fulbright research is focused on the application of Insect Science to Archaeology. The Sweden Project Support Award will support expanding the scope of his original Fulbright project beyond archaeological entomology to incorporate lithic analysis of stone tools produced in northern Sweden, an

Radhika will use the Roth-Thomson Award for conducting research on maternal health among immigrant populations in Sweden. Her goal is to apply the research that she does in Sweden and intervention strategies that have been effective there to help women in the United States. Upon her return to the United States, she plans to enroll

Hannah Ritchey is conducting research on Muslim immigration and integration in Sweden. She will use the Roth-Thomson Award for translation and interpretation services and travel to conduct interviews. She plans to pursue a career advising non-governmental organizations on how to care for migrants and assist their acclimation to their new community, while celebrating their history

Ben Orozco (University of Wisconsin, Madison), an artist specializing in neon and glasswork,is studying under Tommy Gustafsschiöld, Sweden’s only neon craftsman at The Glass Factory in Boda Glasbruk. Ben will use the Roth-Thomson Award to acquire the supplies, materials and tools needed for a solo exhibition that will highlight American neon and Swedish glass techniques

MaryClaire (Indiana University, Bloomington) is writing a dissertation on the Swedish avant garde movement. She will use the Roth-Thomson Award to extend her research to include the contributions of female artists that have been largely overlooked. Upon returning to the U.S., MaryClaire plans to expand her dissertation into a book to highlight the contributions of

Caitlin Vitale-Sullivan, of Idaho State University, is studying kulning, a type of traditional Swedish folk music used to call cattle and communicate over long distances. She is interested specifically in the interaction between landscape and sound, and the resulting potential to combine landscape sounds with vocal and instrumental music to create an ensemble. Funds from

Elise Kolle, of the New England Conservatory of Music, is conducting research on the historical harps housed at the Nydahl Collection in Stockholm. Elise is investigating the history of two nineteenth-century harps while learning about museum work from the Collection’s curators. Funds from the Roth Foundation will allow Elise to perform a series of lectures

Elizabeth Doe Stone, of the University of Virginia, explored fin-de-siècle artistic and social connections between the US artist John Singer Sargent and Swedish painter Anders Zorn. Her award allowed her to expand her archival research in Sweden and Denmark.

Svea Larsen, of Pacific University, conducted research that explores how the return of Swedish immigrants in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries influenced Swedish rural society. Her awarded funded and exhibition on the movement of immigrants between Sweden and the U.S.

Kathleen Ernst, of the University of Tennessee, undertook research into the strengthening of climate services and social planning in Sweden. Through several case studies, she explored options for bridging the growing gap between the scientific community’s knowledge about climate change and the practical use of that information to plan for and adapt to the changing

Kirsten Santos Rutschman, of Duke University, conducted research on the concept of “folk” in 19th century Swedish music. During this century, Sweden’s boundaries changed dramatically, leading to a crisis of national identity. Rutschman’s research links this questioning of what it meant to be Swedish with the incorporation of folk melodies into various forms of music,

Theresa Kutasz Christensen, of the Pennsylvania State University, used her Fulbright Fellowship to situate the collections of Queen Christina of Sweden within the broader antiquarian markets of 17th-century Europe. By broadening our knowledge of this subject, Theresa sought to illuminate the significance of art collecting as a sign of power and social status as well

A photographer interested in the intersections of art and science, Clare Benson (Central Michigan University) worked with Sámi filmmaker Hans-Olof Utsi and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics—both in Kiruna, Sweden—in exploring the intersection of current astronomical investigations and ancient traditions and mythologies of indigenous Sámi culture. With her award she developed an inclusive event

Aronson went to Sweden to create a social documentary film about Syrian refugees. By the time she applied for our support in fall 2014, Sweden had become the largest host country of Syrian and Syrian-Palestinian refugees outside of the Middle East and the only country to promise permanent residency to all Syrians seeking asylum. A

Political scientist Jeffrey Ziegler (University of Wisconsin-Madison), in Sweden to study electoral and party finance reform, was based at Umea University; he used his award to travel to Stockholm to interview civil servants, collect documents and attend conferences.

Evelyn Ansel spent her Fulbright year at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, where she brought her unique skills in museum studies, art conservation and boatbuilding to their collection of 17th-century shipbuilding tools. Her Roth Foundation award allowed her to travel to, photograph and blog about shipyards, mills and metal shops elsewhere in Europe.