from Guri Rørtveit …
Dear all at IGS,
I am really happy to inform you that two of our applications for a new Centre of Excellence (SFF) have passed the first round! Congratulations to PIs Tone Bjørge and Ole Frithjof Norheim – and to their teams!
Getting to the next stage is a big achievement. Out of 161 applications, 36 are invited to the next round. At the end around 11 centres will be established:
Furthermore, IGS has been awarded two of the Faculty prizes for 2020:
The PhD dissertation of the year: Nicolas Pejovic at CIH.
Nicolas started his PhD at UiB in 2016 with Thorkild Tylleskär as supervisor. The study is an RCT in Uganda. Although dealing with huge logistic challenges, the study was performed as planned with high quality data, resulting in three papers. One is published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and was awarded Publication of the Year at IGS. Congratulations!
The Communication Prize for 2020 goes to Ole Frithjof Norheim at ETØK
Ole Frithjof is a role model in communicating research-based knowledge nationally and internationally. He gave numerous interviews in 2020, not the least about ethics and priorities for vaccine distribution, and he has his own column In Morgenbladet on the same topic. He was interviewed by Nature in a series about his research on vaccines during the pandemic. He is also the leader of Bioteknologirådet, which is involved in topics where the public debate may reach high tension. Just to mention a few examples. Congratulations!
I think these examples should inspire all of us: What we do at IGS is important, and it is recognized by the world outside our department.
The success of these outstanding colleagues is based on the collaboration with people inside and outside IGS, and we may all take pride in this!
Best wishes,
Guri