The Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History (or The Donner Institute, ) is a private institute in Finland maintained by the

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Å ...

. The Institute was founded in 1959 with an extensive donation by Uno and Olly Donner. It hosts the largest special library on

Comparative Religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

, supports research in the area of the Institute through grants, and organizes conferences and seminars. It publishes the journal ''Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis''.

Award

In 2010 the Donner Institute established an annual prize for "outstanding research into religion conducted at a Nordic university" to researchers in the field of religious studies for a significant and relatively new published monograph. The recipients of this award have been: 2010:

Ferdinando Sardella Ferdinando Sardella, born July 16, 1960, in Vicenza, Italy, is an Italian scholar of the history of religions, Hinduism, and religious studies, the former director and coordinator of the Forum for South Asia Studies at Uppsala University. Academ ...

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...

, Sweden, for ''Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati: the context and significance of a modern Hindu personalist'' (2010) 2011: Olle Sundström of

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

, for ''"The Wild Reindeer is Itself the Same as a God": "Gods" and "Spirits" in Soviet Ethnographers' Descriptions of Samoyedic World Views'' (2008) 2012: Niklas Foxeus of

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

, Sweden, for '': The Buddhist World Emperor's Mission: Millenarian Buddhism in Postcolonial Burma'' (2011) 2013: Jessica Moberg of

Södertörn University Södertörn University (, abbreviated as SH), is a public university college () located in Flemingsberg in Huddinge Municipality, and the larger area called Södertörn, in Stockholm County, Sweden. In 2013, it had about 13,000 full-time and p ...

, Sweden, for ''Piety, Intimacy and Mobility. A Case Study of Charismatic Christianity in Present-day Stockholm'' (2013)

References

Schools of religion Research institutes in Finland Åbo Akademi University Research institutes established in 1959 1959 establishments in Finland {{Reli-studies-stub