In our previous issue we reported that the Nordic Council of Ministers (Education and Research Ministers) had decided that after the closing of NIF, The Nordic Institute of Folklore, “the Council of Ministers will support, during the period 1998-2002, with an annual grant of 1,000,000 DKK, a Nordic Network in Folkloristics. The network will be placed at Åbo Akademi and Bergen University, which will create a joint project. All Nordic institutions and researchers in folkloristics must have access to the network.”
This decision is presently being implemented. The work of NNF, the Nordic Network for Folklorists, is beginning, so we have been informed, on the basis of a clear division of labour between the two poles of cooperation, the Folklore Departments of the Åbo Akademi University in Turku and the University of Bergen. NNF/Bergen will coordinate research and pay special attention to the engagement of younger scholars in folkloristic research, including those preparing to write their doctoral dissertations. NNF/Åbo will be responsible for publication and information activities within the network.
NNF intends to expand the range of cooperation to include all institutions interested in folkloristic activities, including museums and archives of various kinds.
The two universities serving as host institutions of the network in the making have recognised the importance of support to the initiation of doctoral dissertations in the field. We have been told that both universities will announce a doctoral stipend for folklorists. The announcement by the Rector of Åbo Akademi specifies the two-year grant as 5,500 FIM per month for Masters of Art and 6,000 FIM for Licentiates of Philosophy. The grant, which may be prolonged, will link the recipient to Åbo Akademi (i.e. the resulting dissertation will be presented there). Applications, which must include a curriculum vitae and a plan of degrees and research, must reach Åbo Akademi by April 22, 1998.
(FFN 15, April 1998: 10)