The two winners will share the research scholarship of NOK 115,000 for their project «Islands Connected: Making Pacific Worlds».
This is an interdisciplinary project that aims to link researchers together to form a common platform. Friedman and Hviding’s project illustrates and documents the importance of contacts to several societies from prehistoric times to the present. This places today’s communication possibilities in an exciting historical perspective.
The award ceremony was followed by a seminar at Telenor Expo, where the prizewinners elaborated on their research project and Thor Heyerdahl gave a lecture on his research work in this connection.
The “No Barriers” research scholarship was presented for the first time in 1997 to Professor Hans Preus, University of Oslo. In 1998 the scholarship was awarded to Professor Matthew Spriggs, Australian National University, Canberra, and in 1999 it was awarded to Dr. Christopher Stevenson, Director of Obsidian Dating Laboratory, Archaeological Services Consultants, Columbus, Ohio.
The ”No Barriers” research scholarship is a joint venture by Telenor and the Kon-Tiki Museum that focuses on the importance of research across national borders, cultures and professional environments. The object of the scholarship is to stimulate further research and the startup of new research projects. This is the fourth year that the scholarship has been awarded, and it has helped put Norway on the map in several international research environments.