News about Society

Benedikte Brincker has been appointed professor at the Department of Sociology

Rector has appointed Head of Department Benedikte Brincker as new professor at the Department of Sociology.

Jørgen Nyberget

The international regulation of plastic pollution

Researchers will enlighten us about insurance and pensions

With DKK 45 million (€6M) over the next 12 years, the University of Copenhagen has landed a historically large agreement for additional research and educational programming in the insurance and pension field that will…

Innovative union services and non-standard workers in Denmark

In a new report Trine P. Larsen and Anna Ilsøe takes a closer look at how new innovative trade union services can be a tool to reach groups on the edge of the Danish labor market

The School-Medicine-Theme Day – a new educational activity in primary schools

Can primary school children read and understand a patient information leaflet? Can they identify alternatives to medicine? Can they explain why some medications are formulated as tablets, while other medications only…

Healthy shopping peaks in January

Year after year, January is the month when we load our shopping baskets with the healthiest foods, according to new data from the University of Copenhagen. Is it because so many New Year's resolution makers are seeking…

New intervention to strengthen efforts against diabetes in Vietnam

As one of four new Danida-supported projects involving researchers from the Department of Anthropology, a collaborative health anthropological project addresses diabetes among pregnant women in Vietnam.

Will infants in sync with their parents develop better social skills?

In a new project funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, Psychology Professor Victoria Southgate will measure the synchrony of brain activity in parents and children while they interact.

After thousands of years, an iconic whale confronts a new enemy

The iconic tusked whale of the Arctic has a new enemy – noise. A unique study from the University of Copenhagen and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources shows that narwhals are highly affected by noise from ship…

Millions for research into green transition on the roads

The Independent Research Fund Denmark has allocated almost 12 million to the project GREENCAR, which will show the way to a green transformation of the car sector.

The effect of earmarked parental leave must be researched

The Carlsberg Foundation has granted Jakob Egholt Søgaard, assistant professor at the Department of Economics, 4.5 million DKK for a project that will expand our understanding of the interplay between gender norms and…

How do countries tackle cultural collisions with migrants?

A new project funded by the Carlsberg Foundation will investigate migration from non-western countries and how the host countries handle potential cultural clashes through national policies.

What can curious infants teach us about how we learn?

With a DKK 6.2 million grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark, Cognitive Neuroscientist Katarina Begus will be leading a research project on how infants use their curiosity to learn. The project aims to provide…

Research project will crack the code behind green neighbourhood communities

With support from THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS, new research anchored at the Department of Anthropology will examine how to create green neighbouring communities in housing associations.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen: We are living in an overheated world

The Norwegian social anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen has been proclaimed Honorary Doctor at UCPH. At the heart of his research is the 'overheated globalisation', which he explains here.

We prefer farmed salmon – as long as we don't know what we're eating

A blind taste test by University of Copenhagen researchers demonstrates that Danes prefer the taste of both conventionally and organically farmed smoked salmon over wild-caught salmon. However, the picture is turned…

Prize for best thesis in labour market economics

CEBI PhD Camilla Skovbo Christensen is honoured in the Ministry of Employment for her thesis, ”Retirement Policies and Private Savings Behavior: Evidence from a Reform of the Old-Age Pension Scheme” with co-author…

Schools managed to prevent increased learning gaps during the corona crisis

School closures during the corona crisis had little impact on the reading proficiency of Danish pupils, even when you factor social background into the equation, new analyses conclude.

Artificial intelligence favours white men under 40

Publicly available language models of the sort used for everything from Google and Siri, to insurance and legal casework systematically favour the language of young white men. At the same time, they discriminate in…

Living with chronic disease: Three questions that still need answering

We still lack knowledge on how best to help patients with chronic diseases. Ayo Wahlberg, who just completed a large-scale study on the everyday lives of people living with chronic disease, calls for new initiatives.

What role does music play in future psychedelic treatment?

Thanks to a grant from Independent Research Fund Denmark, psychologist Dea Siggaard Stenbæk will examine how listening to music affects healthy trial subjects whilst receiving treatment with the psychedelic drug…

Danes have reduced meat consumption – but we lag behind other Europeans

A major new survey on meat consumption in Europe reports that Europeans have a growing appetite for plant-based foods and that meat consumption has dipped. While this applies to Denmark as well, Danes lag behind the…

Our computers are sexist towards male and female politicians

Female politicians are often described as 'beautiful' or 'hysterical' in language models, while descriptors like ‘brave' and 'independent' are elicited for their male counterparts. A new analysis by researchers from th…

The gulf between rich and poor is increasing

The economic inequality is decreasing on a global scale, and the gulf between rich and poor is growing fast. This is the conclusion of an international research project with Danish participation.