History

The Wahlgren Foundation, carrying the name after the family who owned the Malmoe newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet between 1907 and 1987, was established in 1983. It has since financially supported academic research on the media in various forms. In 2007, the board decided to donate the sum of 12 million SEK, in order to sponsor five PhD-students in different disciplines within media research. The overall guideline was that each individual thesis should address the issue of "Media, Democracy and Globalization". Four of these positions were to be placed at Lund University, one at Malmoe University. The PhD-students are pursuing their media studies in different subjects: one in Political Science, one in Press Studies, one in Film Studies, and two in Media- and Communication Studies. They are expected to conclude their studies, successfully defending their doctoral theses after 2011.