Stockholm (AINA) -- An Assyrian scholar in Sweden is one of five researchers selected to the Pro Futura Scientia Fellowship program of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies (SCAS). Dr. Aryo Makko, who is lecturer at the History Department at Stockholm University, was nominated by his university. He and Linguist Julia Uddén are two of the five young researchers chosen from Stockholm University.

The prestigious fellowship program was established by SCAS and the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences in 1999 as a cutting-edge research program for especially promising researchers in the humanities and social sciences. It includes five to seven years of funding and a tenure-track position at the nominating university.

In total 27 scholars, affiliated to 21 universities/research institutes in nine countries, were nominated to this year's round of the program. After a rigorous selection procedure, the decision was formally made by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, at the recommendation of the SCAS Pro Futura Scientia Program Selection Committee, based on criteria such as excellent research profiles and the ability to work independently and with ground-breaking results. In addition to nominations by eight Swedish universities, candidates were also nominated by the Universities of Cambridge, Copenhagen and Tartu.

Dr. Makko specializes in nineteenth twentieth century international history, nationalism and diaspora with particular focus on Europe and the Middle East. He is co-editor of Assyrian Heritage: Threads of Continuity and Influence, an anthology on Assyrian history and identity published in 2012, and is also a founding and board member of the Modern Assyrian Research Archive.