Astrid Linder is Adjunct Professor of Injury Prevention at Chalmers University of Technology and Research Director at the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI). She realized at an early stage of her research that women run a considerably higher risk than men of being affected by whiplash in the neck, and that there was no model for an average woman which could be used to test and develop car safety.
Astrid Linder became head of the project which developed a female crash dummy to improve the protection of all passengers in vehicles. She’s glad that her and Mats Svensson's collaboration is honoured in this way.
"In times when it’s difficult to find funding for the research that needs to be performed, a scholarship could encourage continued efforts", says Astrid Linder.
Mats Svensson is Professor of Injury Prevention at Chalmers and leader of SAFER’s (Vehicle and Traffic Safety Center at Chalmers) Competence Area for biomechanical and protection systems. His research into whiplash has led, for example, to the development of the BioRID whiplash crash test dummy, which has now become a global standard. He’s happy to be noticed along with Astrid Linder for the work they have done. He believes that it gives significant attention to the difficult whiplash injuries which involves long periods of pain.
"These types of injuries are by far our most costly injuries in traffic accidents and a particular risk for women. We have always had a strong support from Volvo and this is one of the areas where Volvo are pioneers and has gained a world-leading position", says Mats Svensson.
”Astrid Linder and Mats Svensson have contributed vital efforts to developing biomechanical research for the benefit of the Swedish automotive industry. Moreover, the implications of this research have led to a drastic reduction in human suffering”, the Scientific Council outlines in its motivation.
The scholarship will be awarded by the Håkan Frisinger Foundation at a seminar held in the afternoon on April 6, 2016 in the Virtual Development Laboratory at Chalmers University of Technology. Volvo Research & Educational Foundations (VREF), the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers will organize a seminar in connection with the scholarship award ceremony.
For more information and to register for the seminar, contact Moa Persson, [email protected]Registration on Volvo Research & Educational Foundations website: www.vref.se
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
