Research Dissemination Award to Victor Norman and Thore johnsen

A brand new award was presented during the celebration ceremony in the main hall on Wednesday 7 September. Starting this year, the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) will present a research dissemination award every third year to outstanding researchers who disseminate their research in a clear and unambiguous manner. This year, the award was presented to two high-profile NHH professors: Thore Johnsen and Victor Norman.

12.09.2011 - Espen Bolghaug

The NHH Special Award for Excellent Research Dissemination was presented by Deputy Rector Gunnar Christensen, with HM King Harald in attendance at the celebration ceremony in the main hall. The new honorary doctors were also conferred during the event.

Two awards

'We are presenting the award to two people who have demonstrated excellent dissemination skills over a long period of time. Their dissemination styles differ, but they both maintain their academic integrity at all times.' These were the words of Deputy Rector Gunnar Christensen when he presented the award to Victor D Norman and Thore Johnsen.

It was decided that, since the award was to be presented for the first time this year, there would be two awards. Not as a shared award, but to two independent winners who each receive NOK 40,000.

'There are many candidates for this award, but they had to pick someone,' says a humble Thore Johnsen. The professor is known for his contributions to public debates on financial issues, and for many years, NHH students at all levels have been fascinated by his lectures on finance.

'I think economics is fun and an interesting field, which makes it easier to disseminate information in an interesting manner,' says professor Johnsen.

The other winner of the new NHH award, Victor Norman, enjoys almost legendary status among NHH students. Subjects in the field of international trade have become particularly popular as a result of Victor Norman's crystal clear dissemination style.

'A common factor in Victor Norman's dissemination is his ability to see, and enable others to see, things in a different and new light,' commented Deputy Rector Christensen during the award ceremony.

Vodka and saunas

Awards were also presented for outstanding research. The awards went to professor Kurt Jörnsten and post-doctoral researcher Ingvild Almås.

Professor Jörnsten had prepared a speech of thanks, which unfortunately he did not have time to deliver during the celebration ceremony, but which Paraplyen can now quote from here.

'I would like to thank all the doctoral candidates I have supervised. They have given me many ideas through the years and have been a great source of inspiration.'

The Swedish NHH professor also has an unusual story in connection with his own approach to research.

'In the 1970s, I attended a researcher school in Finland, which involved a lot of vodka, saunas etc. I went down for breakfast one morning to find a Danish doctoral candidate sitting at the table. He put a slice of cheese on the table and then buttered the slice of cheese and put the bread on top. It was a strange spectacle, and I asked him why he did it like that. The answer he gave was that he had never done it like that before, but he wanted to see what it tasted like. Obviously, it tasted exactly the same as normal, but it illustrates that you sometimes have to test things that seem obvious, and that is also the case with research,' says professor Jörnsten.

In her colleague's footsteps

Ingvild Almås (33) was the youngest award winner, and it was the combination of her young age and the scope of her publications that led to her receiving the Ingvar Wedervang Award for Young Researchers.

'I'm delighted to have received the award. A lot of the work I did as a doctoral candidate, with Bertil Tungodden as my academic supervisor, formed the basis for why I was presented with the award today,' says Ingvild Almås.

When the award was last presented in 2006, Alexander Cappelen was the winner. He is part of the same research group as Ingvild Almås, and it is thereby the second time the group, which conducts research in the field of experimental economics, has been presented with this award.

'We are a very close-knit, good group and we work well together,' concludes post-doctoral researcher Almås.