Centers ask for more support

Wishes for continued support

A small sum to be able to keep the director, coordinator and communicator, that is what the UGOT centres want, now that the six-year central support is coming to an end. – We have good financing for our various projects. However, we cannot pay for the small group that holds the business together with external funds, so we need support there, says Kristina Snuttan Sundell, Director of SWEMARC.

– IF YOU THINK OF the university as one entity, and not as a collection of small units, research that transcends faculty boundaries is important. And a centre is a very good way to do this, instead of cramming everything into faculties and departments, explains

Ingmar Skoog, Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Centre for Ageing and Health (AgeCap). The centre was established in the spring of 2014, a few years before the major UGOT initiative. – At present, we have about thirty faculty-wide projects underway in collaborations between researchers that would never have met if it were not for the centre. But the advantage of the formation of a centre is also that we become a body that can cooperate with the rest of society and that we get exposure in the public discourse.

Researchers at AgeCap have, among other things, been invited to various committees and bodies on issues concerning the situation of the elderly, and have participated in several media to discuss topics such as, ageism, the pension system, and the concept of “capability”. The centre has also been visited by politicians, says Ingmar Skoog.

– AMONG THE slightly more unusual forums in which AgeCap has participated is a play and a TV series about four-year-olds. We have also published some excellent science in a number of areas. Among other things, we are in the process of conducting a new H 70 study on health and well-being in people born between 1952–1953.

Forte has contributed the lion's share of the exter-

Ingmar Skoog

Illustration: KRISTINA EDGREN

Wishes for continued support

Kristina Snuttan Sundell nal financing for AgeCap. The funds cover research for about one more year. However, Ingmar Skoog points out that it is difficult to use external funds to pay for a director, a coordinator, and a communicator for the coordination of the business. – If we do not receive a small amount of financial support from the University of Gothenburg, we do not know how we will be able to manage the situation.

KRISTINA SNUTTAN Sundell, Professor of Zoophysiology, is Director of the Swedish Mariculture Research Center (SWEMARC). She says that the centre now comprises about seventy researchers. SWEMARC has also become an important stakeholder in aquaculture, both nationally and in Europe. – Among other things, we act as an advisory body to both companies and authorities, such as the County Administrative Board of Västra Götaland, the Swedish Board of Agriculture and the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management. We also provide expertise, for example when it comes to directives for the European Commission. The reason we have become so important is precisely because of our interdisciplinary approach; we have experts in marine biology, oceanography, law, political science, marketing, and design. SWEMARC has also been particularly important when it comes to the increased interest in “blue food”. For instance fish, shellfish, and mussels, but also algae and sea cucumbers.

EVEN THOUGH THE centre has support from the Västra Götaland region and draws in a lot of external funds, it is difficult to use these funds to finance the ancillary activities that ties it all together, says Snuttan Sundell. – Of course, we realize that we will not be receiving another SEK 50 million from the vice-chancellor. But a small amount of support of maybe 2–3 million would mean a lot to us. Today, we have an executive group comprising a chairman, a communicator and two coordinators: one for research and one for education. It is this group that plans activities, both within the centre and with the wider community, organizes initiatives to increase knowledge and communicate externally, and supports both researchers and authorities in a variety of contexts. It is of course possible to make savings, but there is a critical point at which the business will no longer be able to function.

Sverker C. Jagers

SVERKER C. JAGERS, Professor of Political Science, is Director of the Centre for Collective Action Research (CeCAR). He points out that it takes time to build up interdisciplinary collaboration, and that it is only after a few years that the really interesting results start to emerge. – But CeCAR has really found its place. We have received money from VR, Forte and Mistra, among others, and our researchers have initiated strategic collaboration with, for example, the UN Development Programme Ï

Thomas Backhaus

and the World Bank. It would never have happened without the centre. We also recently learned that one of our articles has been accepted by the prestigious journal Nature Climate Change, which is quite unusual for social scientists.

CeCAR has external funding for several years to come, Sverker C. Jagers points out. – We can afford our annual summer conference and we have also set aside funds for our doctoral students to complete their studies. But we need additional funds for the small group that holds the business together.

SVERKER C. JAGERS envisages three possible future scenarios: – What we are hoping is that we get a small amount of funding of a couple of million so that we can continue operations as well as afford some guest researchers, for example. The second scenario would involve even less funding, but which nevertheless would provide an opportunity for some seminars as well as our winter workshop and summer conference.

The third scenario, no funding at all, would mean that CeCAR is transformed into a non-profit network only.

– A network without an organisation, however, risks falling apart. Given all the work that has been put into the UGOT initiative, which has subsequently become so successful, it would be a great waste not to take advantage of all the networks and all the knowledge that we have built up.

THOMAS BACKHAUS, Professor of Ecotoxicology and Director of the Centre for Future Chemical Risk Assessment and Management Strategies (FRAM). – The impact of chemicals on the environment is complex. For example, chemical mixtures can be toxic even if the ingredients are not. FRAM's mission is to balance our need for chemicals with consideration for the environment. These are complicated issues that we could hardly have worked on without the formation of an interdisciplinary centre.

Among the ongoing studies is one on chemical management in Sweden, Chile, and Kenya, where three different ecosystems in three different communities are compared. – Chile is also interesting because the country exports fruit to Europe, and the use of pesticides has to adapt to European regulations. However, that is not the case for fruit for domestic use, which is an example of the importance of international rules. FRAM therefore cooperates with the Swedish Chemicals Agency and the corresponding bodies within the EU and the OECD. Among other things, we have developed a "mixture assessment factor" (MAF), a practical tool for estimating the risks of chemical mixing. The European Commission is now proposing that MAF be used as an instrument for future chemical management.

ONE PROBLEM THAT FRAM addresses is that researchers and decision-makers rarely speak the same language, Thomas Backhaus states. – We would need an IPCC for chemical management, where researchers and politicians could meet. Some colleagues and I wrote an article about this that was published in the prestigious journal Science.

FRAM has funds for continued operations throughout 2022. What happens next, however, is unclear, says Thomas Backhaus. – We need a modest amount of funding to keep the centre together. I hope and believe that there is an interest in contributing, both at the faculty and at the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

“AN EXTREMELY impressive research centre with a significant international reputation and the potential to become a world leader” is one of the assessments of the Centre for Critical Cultural Heritage Studies (CCHS) in a recent evaluation. It also highlights an impressive level of productivity in terms of grant applications, publications, and public engagement. In addition to interdisciplinary collaboration with several of the University of Gothenburg's faculties, the centre also collaborates with University College London, which is represented on the board of CCHS. The Heritage Academy, a collaborative project between the University of Gothenburg and cultural heritage institutions in the Västra Götaland region, is also part of CCHS.

– OUR PLAN IS of course to continue to go forward, such a successful venture cannot just be abandoned, explains the Director, Ola Wetterberg, Professor of Conservation. The centre has several broad research areas, including cultural heritage in relation to health, the city and refuse. We also have a lot of external activities, for example in collaboration with the Museum of World Culture. But we also have activities in various social media.

Ola Wetterberg points out that CCHS has funding for this year and next year. But like other UGOT centres, they need a little supplemental funding. – The funds that the University of Gothenburg has invested in CCHS have given a good return: we have created great value for various cultural heritage institutions and have also worked with several authorities. Therefore, we are hoping for some kind of continued support. That CCHS might close down does not, however, enter into my thinking; in some way we will succeed in financing the business, although it is still unclear how.