New scholarship for thesis projects with environmental focus
Urban flooding, forest wildfires and soil contamination are just some of the degree project subjects chosen to receive a 50 000 SEK scholarship from Sveriges Ingenjörer. The group of twelve students were selected in hard competition, for projects that are particularly interesting from an environmental perspective.
In the very first selection of students who receive the newly established environmental scholarship from Sveriges Ingenjörer, we find a great variety of project interest, and almost as many nationalities. What unites this group of KTH students is notable research maturity and focus on sustainability.
KTH Climate Action Centre has helped to select the projects, with the criteria to use technology and physical applications to solve environmental problems. The Centre's Deputy Director, Karin Larsdotter, comments:
"We are really happy to be able to give the students this opportunity and follow them as they realise their projects. From their very first presentations, their potential was obvious. Of course, we are especially pleased to see their interest in climate action and environmental issues.
Climate adaption and industrial challenges
Some of the projects aim to strengthen society against the effects of climate change in various ways. Such as using machine learning to predict risk factors for forest wildfires, examining flooding risks in the Stockholm area and other urban catchments in the event of extreme precipitation, and analysing why a large proportion of proposed wind power projects in Sweden are rejected.
Other projects focus on industrial challenges whose solution can promote long-term sustainability. These include finding the most feasible locations for hydrogen production in northern Sweden, improving analysis methods for soil and groundwater contamination, and developing methods for sustainable hydrogen production in Europe, using biomass from Swedish forests.
A full schedule for spring
During the spring, the students will collaborate with companies, expand their network across KTH, attend tailored masterclasses, and be supported by the university’s own idea laboratory – KTH Innovation. There is also the possibility of spin-off and synergy projects, as the students find shared interests along the way.
”We hope that this pilot group will inspire more students to follow in their footsteps and work with climate action and sustainability,” says Karin Larsdotter.
As the semester concludes, the projects will be presented to a larger audience. Stay tuned to learn more about the contributions from this group of young researchers.
The scholarship, provided by Sveriges Ingenjörer and supported by Swedbank Humanfond, serves to bolster research in the field of environmental issues in Sweden. Every thesis project gets 50 000 SEK.
Text: Alexandra von Kern