19 November 2025

Nine young researchers will share almost SEK 18 million from Catharina Högbom’s and Michael Cocozza’s Foundation for research and culture. The money is to fund research at Linköping University.

Amal Kanzari photographed from below.
Amal Kanzari is one of nine fellows. Photographer: Charlotte Perhammar

Stipendierna är på tre år och riktar sig till postdoktorer och deras forskning. Årets stipendiater finns inom företagsekonomi, modern historia, nationalekonomi, språk och kultur samt statsvetenskap.

En av mottagarna är Amal Kanzari som idag är doktorand vid Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, IEI. Att få stipendiet betyder mycket för henne.

Amal Kanzari tittar rakt in i kameran.Fotograf: Charlotte Perhammar
Amal Kanzari is interested in sustainability issues.
“This allows me to focus on moving my research forward and contributing in a meaningful way to my field of study. It’s also a strong source of motivation to achieve results that can make a positive and lasting difference,” she says.

A profitable sustainability

Amal Kanzari graduated from IHEC (Hautes Études Commerciales) in Tunisia, and then worked in the banking sector. But her interest in academia led her to Sweden and Linköping in 2017, to study business administration, among other things. She is currently in the final phase of her doctoral thesis, which investigates how conventional profitability calculations affect companies’ willingness to invest in ideas supporting the transition to more sustainable solutions, and whether it is possible to adapt their calculations so as not to miss promising eco-innovations.

But in order to achieve sustainability, it is not enough that individual companies transition, according to Amal Kanzari. It would require all actors – suppliers, customers, policymakers and others – to cooperate. The scholarship money, almost SEK two million, will enable her to do more research on how this can be achieved.

“As a mother of two, and as someone who likes to spend a lot of time outdoors, I have a strong personal connection to sustainability issues. It constantly reminds me of the importance of protecting our environment and developing responsible business practices that support future generations,” she says.

Here are all the scholarship recipients:

Amal Kanzari, Business Administration – doctoral student at Linköping University conducting research primarily in eco-innovations and calculus practices.
Julia Falk
, Modern History - PhD in History of Ideas at Umeå University in 2024. Currently working as associate professor of History of Ideas at Södertörn University.
Pontus Larsen,
Modern History - PhD in the field of Pedagogic Practices at Linköping University in 2025.
Axel Hedström,
Economics - PhD from Linköping University in 2023, active in economic history with a special focus on energy finance and institutional change.
Lina Koppel,
Economics - PhD in Medical Sciences from Linköping University in 2021. Has since established herself as an internationally recognised researcher in economic psychology and meta-science.
Lisa Grahn,
Language and Culture - PhD in Literature from Uppsala University in 2022.
Isak Lidstrom,
Modern History, PhD in 2021 at Malmö University in 2021. Conducts research primarily in sports history and currently works as associate professor at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences in Stockholm.
Helena Iacobaeus,
Political Science - PhD in Political Science, Linköping University in 2025. Has researched e.g. the role of libraries for democracy and education in the digital society.
Nora Anter,
Political Science - will defend her PhD thesis at the Department of Government at Uppsala University in 2025. Her thesis deals with the effects of politicised officials on the quality of public administration through quantitative analyses of register data.

Facts:

Catharina Högbom’s and Michael Cocozza’s foundation for research and culture in Linköping municipality

Founded in 2022 with the aim of supporting research in the humanities, social sciences and medicine at Linköping University, the foundation is also to promote cultural purposes in Linköping municipality.

To date, the foundation has funded four professorships in modern history and local history and one each in political science, economics, economic history and art history , as well as several postdoctoral fellows in behavioural science, political science, economics and literary studies.

In 2025, the foundation’s capital was roughly SEK 370 million and the intention is for it to have an unlimited life span.

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