Millions of kroner for humanistic research

The VELUX Foundation supports nationwide research programme with CBS and Aarhus University in front

Health sciences are no longer just about medicine, but also life style and food culture. Correspondingly, politics are not just about the division of economic goods, but also culture, religion and public acknowledgement. Production and value creation are increasingly becoming a question of proper leadership of independent people. Relating to environmental issues and sustainability not only requires insight into technology and natural science, it also requires insight into the human modes of thought and behaviour patterns.

Therefore humanism has become a decisive factor to society and science, but why and how? These questions are the focus of the research programme, which is supported by the VELUX Foundation with DKK 5.6 million.

The humanities are becoming increasingly valuable

Four universities are part of the nationwide research programme HUMAN, den Humane Vending (the human turn). The University of Copenhagen, the University of Southern Denmark, Aarhus University and CBS.

- When humanism becomes so significant in our jobs, politics, nature and science in general, the humanities and the humanistic approaches become far more valuable and central to our society, which is why we see the humanities playing a far more forward role in society's labour market and knowledge production, says Sverre Raffnsøe, Professor from CBS, who is in charge of the programme together with Associate Professor Morten Raffnsøe-Møller from Aarhus University.

The research programme is initiated on 1 January 2012 and the six projects will be completed in 2015.

The six projects of the programme

Professor Kirsten Hastrup, the University of Copenhagen (Project: The human turn within natural science, climate and environment)

Professor Anne-Marie Mai, the Southern University of Denmark (Project: The human turn within welfare state research and social sciences)

Professor Uffe Juul Jensen, Aarhus University (Project: The human turn within medicine and life science)

Professor Sverre Raffnsøe, CBS (Project: The human turn within business economics, management and value creation)

Associate Professor Morten Raffnsøe-Møller, Aarhus University (Project: The human turn within political science and theory)

Assistant Professor X, CBS (Project: The human turn within psychiatry and natural science)