Democracy is after all something that most people want...
GUJournal ANNA LÃœHRMANN PAGE 20
INDEPENDENT JOURNAL FOR THE STAFF AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG #2 MAY 2019
NEWS
Fewer doctorate degrees REPORT
Plan S creates new problems REPORT
Digital conferences are the future
STONES TELLING STORIES
BETTINA SCHULZ PAULSSON ABOUT MEGALITHS IN EUROPE
VICE-CHANCELLOR Sustainability, quality and rankings PRIL BEGAN WITH a focus on matters
of quality. For a week, more than 130 international experts have visited the university in order to evaluate our research and research environments. The evaluation, in the form of interviews with employees and management, was the culmination of what we call RED19 Research Evaluation for Development 2019. The aim is to identify conditions and strategies that create good research environments and high-quality research. The week concluded with the management team receiving initial feedback from the experts who said that RED19 is an ambitious process and that, in general, all their visits to the University of Gothenburg were positive. Their initial observations indicate that we should strengthen the strategic role at the faculty level and review the scope of doctoral education. A complete report will be submitted at the end of April. I am convinced that the results of the RED19 project will strengthen and hopefully make future work on our vision more effective. AT THE SAME TIME, there are rumours about a
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
new evaluation by the ranking company, Times Higher Education (THE). As it transpired, the University of Gothenburg had secured sixth place when THE ranked the higher education institutions of the world based on the sustainable development goals. And irrespective of what your opinion is of these rankings, I allow myself to take pride in this one. The sceptics among us may object that this is a new ranking, that only 462 higher education institutions chose to participate and that the only Swedish universities ta-
king part were ourselves and the Royal Institute of Technology. On the other hand, I think that this is the result of many years of working with sustainability at the University of Gothenburg. I consider this to be a very interesting evaluation, which we will continue to monitor. I hope that more Swedish higher education institutions, and international ones as well, choose to participate in the sustainability ranking in the future, making it more competitive. AND SPEAKING OF sustainability – mark March
28, 2020 in your calendar. In partnership with Chalmers and the Royal Institute of Technology, we will take over the baton and organise the next conference on universities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. At the end of March, around one hundred employees and students from the University of Gothenburg attended the conference at the Royal Institute of Technology on how universities can be even better at turning their attention towards the Global Goals. One sign of spring to look forward to is the professorial inauguration on May 10. All employees are welcome to attend and welcome our new professors. You can read more about the inauguration in an advertisement in this journal. This year, short films describing their research will be screened – something that I am very much looking forward to.
EVA WIBERG
MASTHEAD Many people upset over Plan S NO-ONE COULD have failed to notice the criticism levelled at the University of Gothenburg concerning two high-profile fraud cases. As you may know, neither the Swedish Higher Education Authority nor the National Disciplinary Offence Board have taken a position on the point in question. However, they do argue that there have been shortcomings in the University of Gothenburg’s administration in a number of instances. In this issue, we cover Professor Michael Olausson’s request for instituting a re-examination (recently, Professor Suchitra Holgersson has also submitted a similar applica-
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tion), which we do for a number of reasons, such as the fact that it concerns due process and the grey area between healthcare and medical research. THE THEME OF this issue is Plan S, which is about making all publicly funded research open and accessible. At first glance, it may sound like an excellent idea, but it clashes with how researchers are credited. Young researchers need to publish in reputable journals, and they are rarely open access. Understandably, many people are upset. At the same time, the problem persists that
journals are so expensive that universities cannot afford to buy back their own research. Lately, many people at the University of Gothenburg have received hate mail and threats, particularly on social media. The fact that people are getting involved is of course important in a democratic society, but threats are never acceptable. Instead, energy should be directed at trying to change the legislation and investing more in alternatives to animal testing.
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Bettina Schulz Paulsson searching for our past.
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
CONTENTS NEWS 04–17
FOCUS 14–18
PROFILE 08–13
20. Setback for global democracy building. 22. Sweden better than Germany for parents.
04. Fewer PhDs. 06. Review of doctorate salary structure underway. 08. EfD gets their own unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law. 18. She brings forth the past.
24. Problems not solved with Plan S.
REPORT 20–23
PEOPLE 24–31
24. Sixten Heyman´s prize to cloud research. 26. Focusing on fatherhood. 28. JMG develops conferences for the future. 30. Trip to America yielded good results.
MOMENT 32
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NEWS
Substantially fewer doctorates The number of doctorates at the University of Gothenburg has fallen by a quarter since 2014. This is according to figures in the latest annual report. And the number of new doctoral students has also fallen over a number of years. “But this is not a problem that is exclusive to the University of Gothenburg. The share of the population that embarks on a doctorate has actually halved in 10 years”, says Ingela Dahllöf, Pro Dean at the Faculty of Science.
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THERE ARE SEVERAL explana-
tions behind the falling number of doctorates. It is partly due to lower numbers of students, the booming economy and the fact that higher education is not always financially beneficial. This is the explanation put forward by Annika Lantz-Andersson, Vice Dean at the Faculty of Education and Vice Chair of the University Board of Education’s Committee for Third-cycle Education. “Fewer people with doctorates is not a problem for the higher education institutions, but for society as a whole. A doctorate engenders a fundamental ability to investigate and clarify various issues, which is required in a number of fields. Of course the situation varies between different faculties but when it comes to education, the market is crying
Total number of doctoral degrees
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
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Ingela Dahllöf
out for people with doctorates and our doctors get jobs, not only in schools, but also in municipalities. This is happening at the same time as Swedish universities need more doctorates in teacher training.” THE BOARD OF Education has ap-
pointed a special team, led by Annika Lantz-Andersson, to investigate what the scope of third-cycle education should be. Their remit includes investigating the ratio between the number of other research staff, i.e. lecturers and professors, and the number of doctoral students. “It is difficult though to say at what point education will suffer, but the quality of courses and seminars will of course be impacted if the number of participants is very low. The competence of the supervisors
needs to be maintained through continuous supervision.” Ingela Dahllöf, Pro Dean at the Faculty of Science, is also a member of the Board of Education team. “In addition, it is important to look into the potential scope, but it is not possible to say anything in general about what the optimum number of doctoral students really is. Researchers and institutions see the need for a critical mass to be able to conduct research and have living research environments; but what is appropriate in relation to the labour market or Sweden’s national needs is more difficult to ascertain.” In any case, a recent report from the Swedish Higher Education Authority shows that the number of doctoral students in the country has fallen fairly drastically. Of people born in 1978, 1.6 percent had begun a doctorate by the age of 30, compared to people born ten years later, where only 0.8 percent had begun doctoral studies. What will this mean in terms of the view of Sweden as a knowledge nation? At the University of Gothenburg, the number of doctorates has fallen by around 25% in five years. However, the figures need to be interpreted with some caution, argues Ingela Dahllöf. “The fact that the number of doctorates fluctuate from one year to the next can have many different causes, not all of which relate to education. And at the Faculty of Science, we have actually managed to increase the number of active
2014
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doctoral students over the past few years, and are now at the same level as in 2014, i.e. 160 doctoral students. That is relatively high, even though we would like to have had more. According to our alumni surveys, our students also get good jobs.” IT COSTS MONEY to employ doctoral
Fewer eople with p doctorates is a problem ... for society as a whole. ANNIKA LANTZ-ANDERSSON
students. “One way of reducing that cost is if the doctoral student is employed for instance in the municipality”, Annika Lantz-Andersson point out. That form of cooperation can be very beneficial, but is also complex. At the moment, the Swedish Research Council has announced a research school for teacher trainers and that may be seen as an example of more attention being paid to the importance of research in society.
EVA LUNDGREN
Facts The negotiations on doctoral students were concluded at the end of January. That means that the salary structure will be amended upwards by 2.01 percent, an increase that is to be paid retroactively from October 1, 2018. The highest salaries will be paid to doctoral students at Sahlgrenska Academy, where licensed physicians receive a starting salary of almost
SEK 37,000. They are followed by doctoral students of physics or maths who receive close to SEK 30,000. The reason for this is that they work in joint departments with Chalmers, where the salaries are significantly higher. This also applies to doctoral students at the IT faculty. The starting salary for most doctoral students is SEK 26,175.
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NEWS
Fair salaries wanted The doctoral students’ new salaries have been set. This spring, a review will be made of the doctoral salary structure. The University of Gothenburg Doctoral Students Committee (GUDK) is currently discussing removing the penultimate level of the salary structure in order to make it fairer, but the issue divides the doctoral students at the university. “IT IS IMPORTANT that the salary does not govern the choice of PhD subject. A doctoral student of physics makes almost SEK 3,000 more than doctoral students doing chemistry, and that is not fair. It is not uncommon for these students to share offices at the department”, says Malin Podlevskikh Carlström, chair of the University of Gothenburg Doctoral Students Committee (GUDK). THE UPCOMING REVIEW of the salary
structure for the doctoral students is being welcomed by the union organisations as well as the committee. Recently, Chalmers introduced a two-step model, where they significantly increased the salary at halftime. The salary structure at the University of Gothenburg is currently divided into four levels that correspond to 0, 50, 80 and 100 percent
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of a completed degree. Doctoral students of medicine, IT and certain science disciplines have higher starting salaries in order to attract doctoral students. Salaries are increasing across all disciplines, depending on how far you have come in your degree. However, the major point at issue is not the salary, says Malin Podlevskikh Carlström. “Many people are dissatisfied with the implementation of the Malin Podlevskikh salary structure and the salary Carlström levels within certain disciplines. In general, there is nothing odd about certain doctoral students making more than others, as it depends on the labour market. I would hardly have considered getting a PhD in physics just because the salary is higher than for Russian.” GUDK argues that the salary levels should be applied equally across the entire university and be
equal within the faculties. But the source of most of the controversy is the 80-percent level. “According to the doctorate regulations, the salary structure is based on performance, not time. But in practice, most departments use time because it is easier to handle.” THE HALF-TIME LEVEL seems to be uncontroversial for most people. But it seems to be more difficult to agree on when the 80-percent level should apply, and what you need to have achieved to be eligible. It is not uncommon for doctoral students who work quickly to run into obstacles. “There is disagreement because the conditions vary between faculties, but now it seems as if we will propose abolishing the 80-percent level and raise the half-time salary instead. All in all, it would mean the same amount of money over time, but this is a matter that we will continue to discuss at the faculties”, says Malin Podlevskikh Carlström, who argues that if the agreement remains unchanged, the doctoral students must be given better information about what the agreement and the regulations dictate. “There are doctoral students who are concerned that a conflict with a supervisor may lead to difficulties in getting a pay rise. That is why the requirements should be clear in the individual syllabus.” Mikael Brisslert, chair of the Swedish Confederation of Professional Associations, emphasises that the faculties operate under different circumstances. Within Sahlgrenska Academy, science and IT, it is fairly difficult to recruit doctoral students,
“The University of Gothenburg must centrally allocate more funds for doctoral studies.
Mikael Brisslert points out that the faculties operate under different circumstances.
particularly physicians. So they use higher starting salaries in order to attract these students. “We would like to avoid creating a system of rich and poor doctoral students, but we cannot ignore the fact that doctoral students in science, IT and medicine are in a distinct salary category. This is problematic, but the University of Gothenburg must be able to compete with other universities in recruiting high-quality doctoral students”, says Mikael Brisslert. The same argument is voiced by Peter Brandt, chair of the Public Employees’ Negotiation Council (Union of Civil Servants), which organises around 100 doctoral stu-
dents at the university. “To us, the salary of doctoral students is a crucial matter and it is important to have an unambiguous and fair salary structure. The fact that recruitment to doctoral studies continues to fall is a cause for concern”, Mikael Brisslert argues. “The University of Gothenburg must centrally allocate more funds for doctoral studies. Many people would prefer to employ a finished postdoc, as a doctoral student is an expensive investment, but I think we need to think more long-term.”
ALLAN ERIKSSON
Facts The negotiations on doctoral students were concluded at the end of January. That means that the salary structure will be amended upwards by 2.01 percent, an increase that is to be paid retroactively from October 1, 2018. The highest salaries will be paid to doctoral students at Sahlgrenska Academy, where licensed physicians receive a starting salary of almost SEK 37,000. They are followed by doctoral students of physics or maths who receive close to SEK 30,000. The reason for this is that they work in joint departments with Chalmers, where the salaries are significantly higher. This also applies to doctoral students at the IT faculty. The starting salary for most doctoral students is SEK 26,175. MAY 2019 GUJOURNAL
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NEWS
Environment for Development gets their own unit Since January 1, following a year of preparation, EfD, the Environment for Development initiative, has its own unit at the School of Business, Economics and Law. “This means significantly improved visibility and entirely new opportunities. I wake up in awe every morning,” explains Director Gunnar Köhlin. THE EFD NETWORK was started in 2007 by Gunnar Köhlin, Associate Professor of Economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law. The aim was to train environmental economists and to create more collaboration around environmental issues for researchers and politicians by starting centres at universities in the Global South. EfD is now operating at 15 locations around the world. “We collaborate with the top universities, such as Peking University, University of Cape Town and Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. And we keep pointing out the importance of integrating the research teams with whom we collaborate into the existing structures at their universities, rather than being separate projects. That is why it has been problematic not having a more independent status ourselves. But
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now we have settled in, and we have received terrific support from everyone involved, not least from Dean Per Cramér and Head of department Måns Söderbom at the Department of Economics where we have been up until now.” Gunnar Köhlin points out that the organisational change also means that he has better operational control and greater opportunities to develop EfD’s in-house research. “OPPORTUNITIES HAVE opened up that I previously thought impossible and we are able to recruit in a way that is truly appropriate to our needs. The next step will be to appoint a board with representatives from the University of Gothenburg, the School of Business, Economics and Law as well as our international partners.” One of the first things that EfD will initiate is an evaluation of the
Opportunities have opened up that I previously thought impossible and we are able to recruit in a way that is truly appropriate to our needs GUNNAR KÖHLIN
programme before negotiating a new agreement with Sida, which funds the majority of the operations. In addition, preparations are ongoing for EfD’s annual meeting, which will be held in Bogotá in November. “But together with researchers at Chalmers, we are also hard at work developing our courses, such as a new international Master’s programme for managing climate change”, says Gunnar Köhlin. “We want to combine pioneering research with the best educational models, in order to educate the leaders of tomorrow about the climate. EfD will act as a hub in the degree programme, but we will only represent a small part of the operations. Instead, the idea is that all participating partners contribute, such as by using a global classroom where students from different countries can learn from one another in joint cross-border exerci-
ses. One pilot exercise that has just started is about the fair allocation of greenhouse gas emissions, where the students switch roles with one another in order to really delve into the complexity and the challenges of the issue.” Gunnar Köhlin points out that universities are fairly inert organisations where international collaboration frequently takes a long time to develop. “EfD has invested a lot in creating a platform for global partnership. It could be used even more extensively, not only by environmental economists and climate experts, but also by other researchers who collaborate with developing countries, preferably through a combination of research and student exchanges. Quite frankly, the potential of our platform could be utilized more. Currently, we are hoping to develop a partnership with the UGOT centres, several of which already have connections to the School of Business, Economics and Law.”S. Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
Facts EfD, Environment for Development, är ett forskningsnätverk för miljöekonomer som den 1 januari 2019 blev en egen enhet vid Handelshögskolan. EfD har samarbetspartner i Etiopien, Kenya, Sydafrika, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Indien, Kina, Vietnam, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, USA och Sverige. 3CDE, The Collaborative Program in Climate Change and Development Economics, är ett program med målet att skapa ett globalt klassrum kring klimatförändringar och utvecklingsekonomi.
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PROFILE
Rocking anc history Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
“I love rocks,” Bettina Schulz Paulsson proffers as an explanation for having spent the past decade studying megalithic graves all around Europe. In February, she published an article in the prestigious journal, PNAS, which argued that these massive structures originated in Brittany around 6,500 years ago. Since then, she has barely had a moment’s peace.
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PROFILE
With new technology the painting can be seen again. WE ARE HEADING towards the rock painting in Tumle-
hed at Hisingen. After climbing through wet brushwood and over slippery rocks, we suddenly catch sight of it: a rust-coloured stag on the rock face. Bettina Schulz Paulsson has brought a picture of the painting, where she has used DStretch technology to highlight colours that would otherwise be difficult to discern. The more we compare her picture with the actual painting, the more we discover: boats, fish, seals, three human figures and wave patterns. Why were these images made? Where were the artists from, were they here temporarily or did they live in the area? The figures give rise to many questions, most of which will never be answered. But modern technology provides us with new possibilities for penetrating ancient enigmas. Carbon dating, laser scanning, DStretch, Structure from Motion and X-ray fluorescence, or XRF, are the technologies used by Bettina Schulz Paulsson, and of course – in instances where there are human remains – DNA analysis. “Previously, we were not certain of the date of this
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particular rock painting. But using new technology, I have recently established that it must be between 4,200 and 2,500 years old. So the sign next to it needs to be amended.” Ancient art is one of Bettina Schulz Paulsson’s passions. But what has caused her phone to ring incessantly and emails to flood her inbox over the past few weeks, is her research into megalithic graves. “There are at least 35,000 megaliths in Europe, ancient monuments built from rocks that may entail enormous structures, but may also consist of merely a few blocks. Most of them are found along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. A hundred years ago, we thought that the custom had begun at one single place in the Middle East, and then spread outwards. In the seventies, a hypothesis emerged that the graves began being constructed at five different places in Europe independently of each other, and that has since been the generally accepted view. But now, I am proposing a new theory, which is something of a cross between the two previous ones: the megalithic graves began being constructed in one single place, not several, but this place was located in Europe, or more precisely in Brittany.” FROM THERE, the custom spread in three phases to
various coastal areas, both northward and southward. The article quickly garnered international attention. When the phone started ringing, Bettina Schulz Paulsson was on holiday at her parents’ home in Switzerland. “First, there was a journalist from the New York Times who wanted an interview, then I got calls from other newspapers, radio and TV. In the subsequent weeks, I gave around 50 interviews and featured in some 550 articles. The interest was amazing, even though a few misunderstandings were also published:
When I started my project, I was told that it was impossible for an individual researcher ...
no, I have never claimed that Stonehenge was built by French sailors – that was fake news by Fox News.” THE SURVEY CONDUCTED by Bettina Schulz Paulsson
involved a nearly incomprehensibly extensive amount of work. She studied more than 2,400 carbon datings from megalithic, pre-megalithic and non-megalithic sites that she, together with her family, visited all over Europe over the course of 11–12 years. She has combed through literature in eleven languages and carried out statistical analyses. “When I started my project, I was told that it was impossible for an individual researcher to handle such a massive project, but that did not stop me. I was able to do what I always most wanted to do: research and travel. Sometimes, it was a little dangerous, like
when we were chased by bulls during an expedition in Scotland. But in general, being an archaeologist is just wonderful. As my husband is also an archaeologist, we frequently travel together, and as often as possible, our children, colleagues and friends tag along. So we may have a group of perhaps 10 people in total, who spend a few weeks together, working, cooking and studying. We visit places we would never have otherwise seen, such as the Ring of Brodgar in the Orkney Islands, Dolmen di Sa Coveccada in Sardinia and megalithic temples in Malta. The massive megalithic grave Cairn de Barnenez in Brittany is 72 metres long, 8 metres high and consists of around 14,000 tonnes of rock. And then the megalithic grave in St. Michel in Carnac, which is so large that when I first saw it, I did not really understand what I was looking at: the structure is no less than 125 metres long, 50 metres wide and 10 metres high. Today, there is a church on top of it, so it has been a place of worship for more than 6,000 years.” WHEN TRAVELLING, the children help out as well, for example by taking photos of things that the parents have difficulties reaching. “Our son more or less grew up around megalithic graves. Now he is 18 and taller than me, so I can no longer send him into confined spaces; I sometimes have to ask our daughter to take photos instead.” Bettina Schulz Paulsson’s survey not only provides new insights into the origins of megaliths, it also paints a more complex picture of how people lived 6,000 years ago. Among other things, they were probably far better seafarers than researchers have previously believed. Many boulders have been transported long distances, such as the Stonehenge bluestone, which was transported 260 kilometres. There also appears to have been a trade route along the Atlantic coast for several thousand years, as things like greenstone and copper from Andalusia, which have been mined during
Bettina Schulz Paulsson Current project: Has published an article in PNAS (the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) that argues that the preliminary stages of European megalithic graves started being built in Brittany 7,000 years ago, and that the first real megaliths were built there around 6,500 years ago. The custom later spread across Europe in three phases.
Current position: Researcher at the Department of Historical Studies on a Marie Sklodowska-Curie scholarship. Background: Born in Switzerland, studied in Berlin and Kiel. In 2017, she published the book Time and Stone: The Emergence of Megaliths and Megalithic Societies in Europe by Archaeopress/Oxford. Lives in: Lindome.
Paulsson, archaeologist, and their children Jonathan, 18, and Serafine, 6. Has most recently read: Thomas Mann: Der Zauberberg. Has most recently watched: The Party with Peter Sellers. Interests, besides r esearch: Literature, music, concerts, cooking.
Family: Husband Jonas MAY 2019 GUJOURNAL
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PROFILE
Dolmen de Sa Coveccada on Sardinia and the Ring of Brodgar on the Orkney Islands.
different periods, have been found in England. “Several megaliths display pictures of animals, carts, boats and square human figures, but also abstract motifs, such as zig-zag patterns, triangles and spirals. A dozen or so of these were found on grave after grave at different geographic locations. However, we have no key to help us decipher what the symbols once meant. Many pictures have also been misinterpreted, as they have eroded over time. It is then that modern technology, such as laser scanning and DStretch, comes to our aid: It is almost like a mystical experience when something that has been impossible to see for thousands of years, suddenly emerges. The technology has also led to several reinterpretations, such as a picture that was previously thought to depict an axe, instead turned out to be a sperm whale with water spurting from its head. The fact that we have discovered so many sperm whales in rock paintings makes me suspect that the people of that era were engaged in whaling with spears, just like they still do in Indonesia.” BETTINA SCHULZ PAULSSON’S next project involves creating a database with all the thousands of images she has collected from megalithic graves. She also has plenty of other material to go through. “But you do not have to travel very far to find ama-
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Photo: PRIVATE
zing ancient monuments. One of my favourite outings is to the Lökeberg rock carvings in the municipality of Munkedal. And the rock painting in Tumlehed is also interesting.” While we climb down through the brush, Bettina Schulz Paulsson tells me that it is unique in Sweden. “ROCK PAINTINGS are usually quite chaotic, but the figures in this painting are lined up in three rows. It also contains several boats with moose figureheads and pictures of porpoises, which have not been found anywhere else in the country. The sea level was so much higher here 3,000 years ago, so the rock painting was created in an area close to what was the beach back then. The province of Bohuslän had a wealth of marine fauna, so they must have led a good life here. This particular painting was discovered in 1974 by a young boy out bird-watching, which is an example of how many ancient monuments are found by accident. It leads me to suspect that there are many interesting monuments still to be found all over Europe. That is why I am planning to go on a three-week trip to Spain and Portugal in the near future, together with my family, and once again go on the hunt for rock paintings and megaliths.” ■
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FOCUS
Problems not solved “The current system is not good. But that does not mean that it can be replaced by just any other system.” Mia Liinason, Staffan I. Lindberg and Sebastian Westenhoff, the University’s members of the Young Academy of Sweden, comment in the wake of the much discussed Plan S. Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
PLAN S WAS INITIATED last autumn by ERC, the European Research Council, and is a reaction to the rising cost of scientific journals. According to the original plan all publicly funded research would be published in open access journals from January 1, 2020. In place of subscription fees, these journals are financed by the researchers paying to have their articles published. The plan has created intense debate and was therefore sent on a round of consultations at the beginning of the year. “Open access is an important matter that all researchers support in principle”, says Mia Liinason, Professor of Gender Science. “The criticism is partly about the tight schedule, and partly about the fact that Plan S will have an adverse impact mostly on young researchers. Currently, you earn your credits by being published in prestigious journals, which in itself comes with its own problems. But if Plan S is implemented in accordance with the original proposal, researchers must send their articles to journals that are worse, according to our method of assessment, and they will consequently get less credit. This leads to a system that is not cohesive
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and young researchers will bear the brunt of it: They are robbed of the opportunity to gain credits, but must still compete with senior researchers who have gained their credits in accordance with the old system.” International partnerships are also threatened if the conditions for publishing are completely different in different countries”, Mia Liinason point out. “HOW WILL A Swedish researcher applying for a position in the USA, for example, be able to compete if they cannot get published in leading American journals? Instead of Plan S, the researchers should be involved in the design of a system that considers the differences between subjects: in some disciplines it is important to know who will be reviewing your text and in others, peer review will be anonymous. Within the humanities, the seminars are more important and you write monographs rather than articles – an evaluation system should take all those differences into consideration.” Plan S may also lead to a deterioration in the quality of the research”, argues Sebastian Westenhoff,
with Plan S Illustration: MARIA KÄLLSTRÖM
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FOCUS
and Perspectives on Politics. These journals do charge a fee, but the surplus goes back into the organisation. These are a type of journals that could really put pressure on the market.” The consortium backing Plan S is called Coalition S and comprises an international group of financiers, among them Forte and Formas.
Staffan I. Lindberg
Professor of Biophysical Chemistry. “A journal that makes money from the number of published articles, instead of from the number of subscriptions, would probably want to publish as much as possible, maybe with no peer review at all. We already have plenty of journals like that. It will lead to poorer quality, while any savings might very well fail to materialize; the costs still exist and could very well rise, just like subscription costs have.” IN ADDITION, many disciplines
already have the opportunity to publish in open access, systems initiated by the researchers themselves. One such example is Arxiv, where physics, mathematics and computer science researchers upload manuscripts before they are sent for review, Sebastian Westenhoff explains. “The manuscripts are free and can be read by anyone. In addition, ArXiv is highly respected and is also accepted by Nature and Science as long as you do not upload their edited version. And in other fields as well, we see a similar trend, such as BioRxiv within the field of biology.” Another way of publishing is called green open access, which means that the author publishes their article in a traditional journal but after a certain period of time, frequently
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6–12 months, they are free to publish it in open access as well. Gold open access is yet another option where the author can pay a fee, albeit a rather high one, in order to make their article available immediately in open access.” SEBASTIAN WESTENHOFF argues that the systems that have already been developed by the scientific community should be used in more constructive ways. “For example, if the Swedish Research Council requested that researchers publish in databases such as ArXiv, the material would be available in open access, while retaining the system of peer reviewed articles in highly ranked journals. And if the scientific community jointly opposes publishers that charge exorbitant fees, it will force prices down. For example, I would not want to buy shares in Elsevier now that the University of California, which represents around 10 percent of the world’s research, has cancelled their agreement.”
MIa Liinason
Plan S will have an adverse impact on young researchers. MIA LIINASON
IN ADDITION, many leading journals
are owned by professional bodies”, explains Staffan I. Lindberg, Professor of Political Science. “For example, the American Political Science Association owns American Political Science Review
Sebastian Westenhoff
“IT MAY SOUND reassuring but according to our estimates, only around 3–5 percent of the world’s researchers support the plan”, says Staffan I. Lindberg. “The question is also how the plan would work in practice: if we assume that a researcher receives 40 percent funding from the ERC and the rest from, say, the Swedish Research Council, who does not accept Plan S. The researcher may then choose to send less interesting results to an open access journal and the really important findings to the prestigious journal, which will earn them credit. How will the ERC handle that?” Even if scientific journals cost a lot for Swedish higher education institutions today, it only constitutes around one percent of the cost of research”, Staffan I. Lindberg points out. “AND TO ENCOURAGE researchers to publish their work in less reputable open access journals may lead to unintended consequences. For example, we are currently concerned about fake news. What will happen if thousands of less selective journals start publishing fake science? Of course sensational scientific results may be correct, but most of the time they are not. How will journalists and politicians be able to ascertain what is reliable if the articles being published are found in what are ostensibly scientific journals, when those journals do not have some sort of certification?”
Stressful system with no time for reflection Plan S changes the conditions on one half of the playing field, but not the other. Hence the strong reaction. This is the argument put forward by Marica Ericson and Lena Lindgren, who hope that the debate will lead to something positive: that academics start thinking about why they write – and why they read. IN 2011, Lena Lindgren, Professor at the School of Public Administration, conducted a survey to investigate what is so unique about researchers that are frequently cited within a certain field. Are citation rates only linked to the quality of the research or do other factors also play a role, such as country of publication, method, study design or the gender of the researcher? “I concluded that the most important factor for citations is whether the researcher is a celebrity. To put it another way, if Robert Merton said it, it must be true.” Robert Merton’s article The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action from 1936 was the most cited article in Lena Lindgren’s survey. “IT MAY NOT seem very strange that
such an old study has received quite frequent attention, but of the 806 citations I noticed, 300 had been added since 2009 – in only two years. Merton’s entirely theoretical study of the industrial system of the Soviet Union is also frequently cited as if it was based on empirical data. Of course, the title of the study is interesting and may be a factor
Marica Ericson says that researchers ought to consider themselves as writers.
contributing to its popularity.” Another frequently cited researcher is Peter Smith who, in a study from 1993, conducted interviews about infant mortality with ten heads of different maternity clinics in Manchester, says Lena Lindgren. “That is a very small survey, but it is still cited in one article after another.” MARICA ERICSON, Professor of Physi-
cal Chemistry and member of the management team of ASK, the Unit for Academic Language, argues that researchers are mostly critical when evaluating research applications, but less careful about relating critically to articles that have already been published.
“There used to be more of a dialogue structure in the scientific articles, you could even criticise someone else’s text in your own article. But since scientists today are judged by how much they publish, you have to keep writing. The mass production of articles makes it impossible to keep track of everything that is being published, even within your own field. Instead of reading yourself and making your own assessments, researchers are forced to rely on other people’s assessments, such as relying on the prestigious journals actually containing the most interesting research. Naturally, this means that you risk missing something significant.” The system keeps driving itself MAY 2019 GUJOURNAL
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FOCUS onwards at an ever-increasing pace”, Marica Ericson points out. “The rush to publish means that there is a growing focus on writing about new discoveries, rather than reproducing and verifying previous findings. I myself have not been believed when I have published results that have been contrary to established concepts. So show me where I am wrong”, I asked, “but it seems it is difficult to change things that are generally perceived to be true, even though there may be no evidence.” THE EXTREME FOCUS on being
published also leads to researchers concentrating on ever narrower fields and expressing themselves in a more and more specialised, nominal language with no discernible agent”, says Lena Lindgren. “We get what political scientist Li Bennich-Björkman and sociologist Valter Korpi call pegasuses, i.e. unearthly creatures that fly at unimagined speeds somewhere high above our heads. As we ground-dwellers only catch a glimpse of the pegasuses’ tangled tails, a number of pegasus groomers have developed a tool, discourse, to unravel the tangled strands. Another important analytical term is “tower polishers”, people who polish their own little ivory towers so frantically that they fail to notice the other towers all around them.” The system has made researchers perceive writing as a product, rather than a creative process, Marica Ericson points out.
“RESEARCHERS, particularly those
within the science subjects, should start admitting that we are actually writers. When I write, whether it is a scientific article, a research application or a short comment to a student, the actual task of putting things into words leads to a structuring of my thoughts, enabling new ideas to emerge. That is important even in the most abstract of subjects. For example, I recently read a quantum mechanics textbook and was really happy to see that the language was so agreeable. The philosopher Jonna Bornemark talks about the ratio of reason, which
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The most important factor for citations is whether the researcher is a celebrity. LENA LINDGREN
Facts Are you interested in why we write? Maybe you should attend the seminar series, The Political Economy of Academic Writing. The next seminar will take place on May 28 from 12.00–14.00, in room H525 at Humanisten. For more details, in Swedish: https://sprak. gu.se/forskning/ forskningsomraden/sprak-isamhallskontext/ det-akademiska-skrivandetspolitiska-ekonomi
”Why not give credit to interacting with society?” says Lena Lindgren.
focuses on the quantifiable, and intellectus, which is the more searching and reflective aspect of reason. What we need is balance; measuring is good for preventing arbitrariness, but the foundation must be intellectual reasoning.” THE FACT THAT articles in highly ranked journals give researchers credit and departments money is not an implacable law, Lena Lindgren points out.
“We think that we exist in a panopticon, that is a prison where the prisoners must behave impeccably as they do not know when they are being monitored. But actually, we are free to decide that other things are more important than contributing to the mass production of articles. For instance, we could be given credit for interacting with society at large or because our courses lead to good jobs for students ...”
Post doctor Hülya Arik enjoys her stay in Gothenburg and her research at the Department of Cultural Sciences.
Global welcoming to all international guests Some 90 international researchers were present when Welcome Services arranged the International evening at Ågrenska villan for the eleventh year in a row. A welcome speech, music, food and mingle were on the program. For Hülya Arik, postdoctoral fellow in gender science, it was an opportunity to meet colleagues from different parts of the university. HÜLYA ARIK is originally from Turkey but has spent ten years in Canada. Four years ago, she defended her thesis at York University in Toronto. In Gothenburg she participates in the project Spaces of Resistance. “My research is about the rapidly growing Islamic art scene in Istanbul, with a focus
on female artists. This means quite a lot of field work. Among other things, these artists devote themselves to calligraphy, copying texts from the Quran, and painting miniatures. What interests me is how cultural policy and religion mingle in complicated ways and how these women manage to navigate in a patriarchal, conservative society. THE UNIVERSITY of Gothenburg was not Hülya Arik’s first choice for postdoctoral research. “No, I had some other universities higher up the list. But now that I have been here for four months, I really love both the city, despite darkness and rain, and the university. I am also happy to part of a very exciting research group at the Department of Cultural Sciences. The international evening is arranged each spring – in
I am also happy to be part of a very exciting research group ... HÜLYA ARIK
world that was best represented was of course Europe. “We have a world map in the foyer where everyone can mark their country of origin”, explained Birgitta Karlén at the Welcome Services. “All parts of the world are represented, but most pins have been placed in Germany and Italy.” Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: ALLAN ERIKSSON
the autumn the event is called Global evening. “WHY ONE IS international
and the other global I have not been able to figure out, but both events attract a lot of people and is always great fun,” explained Nils Pasi Näver in his welcoming speech. So, where did all the guests come from? The part of the
Facts On February 21, for the eleventh time Welcome Services at GU arranged an international evening at Ågrenska villan for guest researchers and GU staff. The musicians who entertained were the exchange students Robin Elsmoortel from Belgium and Aleksis Liukko from Finland. MAY 2019 GUJOURNAL
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Small steps towards One third of the world’s population live in countries that have declined in terms of democratic development over the last ten years. That is the result of a brand new research report at the V-Dem Institute. “Previously, a revolution or military coup was required to make a democracy go down. In recent years, a more authoritarian rule is taking over, but one step at a time,” explains researcher Anna Lührmann
AT THE END OF January, the V-Dem Institute presented the world’s first long-term study since 1900 regarding countries’ development towards a more authoritarian and less democratic government. Behind the study is Anna Lührmann and Staffan I. Lindberg. The study’s results are worrying. ”More than half of the world’s countries are today democracies, which in a longer perspective of course is very promising,” explains Anna Lührmann. “But the tendency towards more authoritarian rule can be found across the world, for example in the US. Added to this is increased repression in, for example, Russia and Turkey. Today, there are just as many countries developing backwards that are moving forward in terms of democracy, 24 countries in each direction. The only region where democracy generally increases, though moderately, is sub-Saharan Africa.” AMONG THE NATIONS that have become more authoritarian are several of the world’s most populous: India, the United States, Brazil and Russia. ”Unlike in earlier history, these countries have a long democratic tradition or, at least, as in the case of Russia, have been on the road to more openness. When a relatively democratic country changes, it goes rather slowly, for instance through attacks against the free press and against opposition parties, and the leader often motivates his actions by arguing that he is only following the will of the people. One example is Venezuela, which for a long time seemed stable and prosperous, but which is now in a state of chaos, another the relatively democratic Turkey that has evolved into an authoritarian regime with strong elements of Islamist nationalism.”
Anna Lûhrmann explains that authoritarian rulers take over, step by step.
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IT WAS BY ANNOUNCING a state of emergency after the coup attempt in 2016 that Erdogan strengthened his power. Since then, more than 40,000 people have been imprisoned, accused of joining the coup, 140,000 people have lost their jobs and the press freedom has been strangled, Anna Lührmann points out. “A new study, which I did with Bryan Rooney at the Instituto Carlos III-Juan March in Madrid, shows that in countries announcing a state of emergeny the riks of authoritarian rule increases by as much as 60 percent. The fact that President Donald Trump declared an emergency state for the border with Mexico on February 15 is therefore extremely worrying. However,
less freedom The deeper color, the more democratic societies.
When a relatively democratic country changes, it goes rather slowly. ULRIKA HOLMBERG
the reactions in the US have been strong, which, of course, is a good sign. But the overall development in the US is not very promising; In 2015, the country was ranked seventh among the world’s democracies, 2017 it had dropped to place 31, partly because of the government’s reduced respect for the constitution and for the judiciary. Polarization has also increased in the US, more and more Americans say, for example, that they do not want their children to marry a person who sympathizes with a party other than themselves.” ANTI-DEMOCRATIC FORCES are also on the increase within the EU. For example, the Slovak prime minister was forced to resign last year because of the murder of an investigative journalist and the extreme right-wing party Vox has entered the Andalusian Parliament. In Hungary, the independence of the courts, media and universities has greatly deteriorated, which has led to Viktor Orbán’s party, Fidesz, being excluded from the European Parliament’s largest group, the EPP. Hungary, but also Poland, has also been the subject of the EU’s Article 7 procedure, since the countries are considered to be seriously at risk of overriding the Union’s values.
Facts According to Harvard researcher Samuel P. Huntington, the world has experienced three waves of democratization: the beginning of the 20th century, the postwar period, and the 1970s–80s. The world has also been involved in two authoritarian periods: the 1930s and the 1960s. According to Staffan I. Lindberg and Anna Lührmann, director and vice-director of the V-dem Institute, the world is now facing a third wave of authorization. Read the report:www.tandfonline.com/doi/fu ll/10.1080/1351034 7.2019.1582029.
But authoritarian-leaning forces are also growing in the rest of the EU, Anna Lührmann points out. “The German Alternative für Deutschland is a rightwing populist party, which would never admit to being against democratic values. But they say things like, for instance, Nazism can be waved away from the glorious German history, much like bird droppings on the jacket.” But there is also a strong opposition to the authoritarian development, for example in Poland. “There will be parliamentary elections in the autumn and presidential elections in the spring of 2020, and it is not at all certain that the current government will remain.” A SIMPLE REASON FOR the negative development, such as poor finances or large refugee flows, cannot be pointed out, says Anna Lührmann. “But the established parties have a great responsibility when it comes to resisting populism and simplified explanations for complex problems, their actions will have great significance for future development.” So, is this a serious crisis for democracy? Anna Lührmann does not want to exaggerate the development. ”w, not least the many migrants in the world who mainly seek out free and open societies. That can, of course, be because democratic countries are more prosperous and successful than authoritarian states. But for whatever reason, the libertarian countries are attracting. The ongoing development shows, though, t hat our freedoms and rights can never be taken for granted.” Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
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Sweden family-friendly “Without my husband’s support, I would never have made it so far in an academic career,” says Alesia Tietze, one of the new young researchers at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology and WCMTM, She is a mother of two from Germany, where research and family life often entail a difficult balancing act. three years upon positive evaluation. As a mother with a small son, that security was very important.”
BEING A RESEARCHER in Germany
is quite different from working in Sweden, explains Alesia Tietze, who at the end of last year was recruited as an associate senior lecturer in medical chemistry at WCMTM, the Wallenberg centre for molecular and translational medicine. “Germany, for example, just recently started to establish a significant tenure track system, that is, a distinct career path for researchers. You get by on different scholarships and hope to eventually be recruited to a permanent job. Fortunately, after a year as postdoctoral fellow at Iowa State University in the US, I received a come-back scholarship from Technische Universität Darmstadt, which was specifically targeted at perspective women in science. After that I was selected to obtain a three-year Liebig scholarship from the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie, intended to help the careers of prospective university teachers in the chemical sector with the possibility to prolong for further
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FOR TWO YEARS she was also
It might just as well be about getting time over for aged parents ... ALESIA TIETZE
selected for the special mentoring program ProProfessur of the Universities in Hessen aiming at promoting young female professors. “On paper there seems to be done quite a lot to support female researchers,” says Alesia Tietze. “For example, TU Darmstadt markets itself as family-friendly, partly because there are some opportunities for childcare. But there are around 80 places, which is not nearly enough for a campus about the same size as the University of Gothenburg. The children must also be picked up no later than 4 pm, however there are possibilities for ad-hoc child care. The Department of Biology has taken this into consideration when planning seminars and other meetings; they usually take place during lunch time. Together with the administration at
the Department of Chemistry, I therefore participated in making a list of which family-friendly measures could be carried out for our staff, for example stop having colloquia at 5 pm. However, nothing has happened so far and our influential professors point out that the colloquiums have always been in the late afternoon, and that I am the only one dissatisfied with it, which was not reflected by looking at the participation activity during late-evening seminars.” Creating a family-friendly university, however, is not only about making it easier for parents of young children, explains Alesia Tietze. “IT MIGHT JUST as well be about getting time over for aged parents or for a family member with disabilities. The older professors have never had to worry about such things, because housewives who take care of everything concerning the family are still so common in west Germany. We are at least 20 years after Sweden when it comes to gender equality;
Alesia A. Tietze Works as: Associate senior lecturer in medical chemistry at the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology/ Wallenberg centre for molecular and translational medicine. Family: Husband Daniel and two sons, 7 and 2 years old. Lives: In Gothenburg. Interests (apart from science): Mountain biking, jogging and travelling activities with the kids.
things are slowly changing though.” Without a supportive husband, Alesia Tietze believes that she had not been able to get very far in her career. “WHEN MY ELDEST son was born,
I was on parental leave for a year. With my second son, my Liebig scholarship only allowed for three months leave. There is a possibility to stop the scholarship during parental leave, but since it is a taxfree scholarship, you are not part of the German social security system. This means that you do not get
unemployment compensation and only a minimum of 350 Euro parental leave support. Since our parents and other relatives live far from us, we could not get any support there. So my husband, who is also a junior research group leader, managed to reduce his working hours, and we took care of our children together.” Since December the family lives in Gothenburg. “We had decided already many years ago that if one of us gets a secure job somewhere, we will move there together, regardless of which
one of us it is, says Alesia Tietze. So now my husband is looking for a job in the industry. We really enjoy Sweden, and I am constantly surprised by how family friendly everything is here is with parental support and open preschool. And the fact that my department plans activities so that they will fit leave and pick up at kindergartens, that is really fantastic!”
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SIXTEN HEYMAN’S PRIZE
Research on small airborne particles The air we breathe contains aerosols, particles that are dispersed naturally, as well as through man-made pollution. Aerosols play an important role in cloud formation, but can also be harmful. It is because of her research into these small particles that Ilona Riipinen was awarded the 2019 Sixten Heymans Prize. THERE ARE MANY interesting aspects to the aerosols in
the air: they diffuse and absorb sunlight for example, and therefore impact climate change. They are also important in cloud formation, which affects the self-purification of the air, explains Ilona Riipinen. “It is easy to think that it is water vapour we see when we look at the fluffy white clouds in the sky. But what we are seeing is rather more like droplets of water in liquid form. Aerosol particles are essential for the water to cling to, enabling it to condense into droplets. When the drops subsequently fall as rain, the particles follow, thus purifying the air.” But the aerosols can also be harmful, to our health as well as to the environment. “You might not think about it in Sweden, but from a global perspective, air pollution is actually one of the greatest environmental health risks. A number of
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the particles that we inhale accumulate in our lungs throughout our life.” One prerequisite for understanding how man-made emissions impact the environment is to first learn about how natural processes work”, Ilona Riipinen explains. “My research team is working with theoretical models, but we collaborate with researchers at weather stations and in laboratories to obtain data. It is basic research, but it has practical applications, which I think is fairly amazing.” THE SIXTEN HEYMAN´ S Prize is unusual, in that it is awarded every three years and alternates between writers and scientists. “There is an interesting concept behind that combination, the scientific process is very reminiscent of the artistic one. It would be interesting if more writers could write about researchers and research, and if researchers could get better at communicating, with the public of course, but also with one another. Doing that requires a sensitivity that may be similar to the artist’s approach.”
Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY
Ilona Riipinen Works as: Professor at the Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University. In 2017, at barely 35 years of age, she was one of the youngest researchers to be given a professorship at Stockholm University. Background: She received her PhD at the University of Helsinki in 2008, had a postdoctoral position at the Carnegie Mellon University, USA, 2009–2011, received the ERC Starting Grant and is also a Wallenberg Academy Fellow. The Sixten Heymans Prize: Awarded every three years, alternating between writers and scientists. The prize this year was SEK 325,000. Ilona Riipinen will hold an open lecture on May 2 at 17:00 in the Torgny Segerstedt Hall, in the university’s main building in Vasaparken.
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With a focus on the father role He will be 69 this year, but he has no plans to stop working. With several research grants secured, Psychology Professor Philip Hwang can spend his time doing what he wants – researching and supervising. A few weeks ago, his latest findings attracted a lot of attention. “FATHERS WORKING in the private sector have greater difficulty taking parental leave – despite Sweden’s generous rules, informal workplace culture gets in the way”. At the beginning of February, this news was all over the broadsheets, tabloids, trade press and radio. Behind the headlines was a study by Philip Hwang and his colleague Linda Haas, Professor of Sociology at Indiana University in the USA. It showed that fewer fathers take parental leave in the private sector, where 80 percent of Swedish men of working age are employed, compared to the public sector. “For businesses, the ideal employee is a person who prioritises work before children and family. What is so depressing is that the employees see it in the same light, they do not expect the businesses to offer anything different. They play the game from on both sides. Interestingly, the unions do not seem to
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consider this an important matter, even though families are tying themselves in knots, attempting to achieve work-life balance”, says Philip Hwang. HWANG AND HAAS have conducted several studies that focus on paternity leave and equality in parenting. The first one was published as early as 1993. Have things improved since then? “You can see a slight improvement, but that is often based on what the businesses communicate officially. We are now at a stage where you need to do a little more digging to find out whether it is really true.” But conducting research on fathers, parental leave and businesses is not altogether easy. “It is an extremely cross-disciplinary subject and unlike some other countries, there is no real niche for it in Sweden. I have received a lot of funding from several different research funding bodies, so I am in no position to complain, but I do notice that it is currently more difficult to obtain grants for things that span several fields.” BUT THINGS ARE changing. When
At 69 Philip Hwang still continues with his work.
Philip Hwang began studying psychology in 1971, they warned students that the labour market for psychologists was poor – today, on
THE UNION FOR EVERYONE! Welcome to the Union of Civil Servants at the University of Gothenburg! We are convinced that together we are stronger! All employees are welcome as members, regardless of their duties, positions or education. We are active within the entire university and can help you with wage negotiations, work environment issues and other questions related to your employment. We also arrange different kinds of activities. Many of these are open to non-members. For example, on April 25, we organize a highly topical seminar on how to counteract sexual harassment at work.
We also arrange different kinds of activities. Many of these are open to non-members. We also arrange regular activities such as Fika with the Union, where we answer all kinds of questions regarding your employment terms. In addition, we participate in all introduction days for new employees and arrange special meetings for work environment representatives and doctoral students. You can find dates, times and more information about our events at our website: st.org/goteborgsuniversitet.
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the other hand, it is excellent, and the psychology programme is one of the programmes with the highest number of applicants. Philip Hwang’s own parenting (he and his wife have seven children, four of whom are his own) has taken up a lot of his time, not only privately but also professionally, as part of his work. “My research has tracked the ages of my children. My oldest son is 37, and I am still working on the Gothenburg Longitudinal Study of Development (GoLD), a study in which we tracked individuals from the age of one or two, to their current age of 37. But I think that is true for most people; parenthood, or rather your life, will affect what you choose to do. For example, our own vice-chancellor has spent part of her childhood at the Swedish Institute in Rome, and she is a Professor of Italian.
“For businesses, the ideal employee is a person who prioritises work. PHILIP HWANG
Philip Hwang and his wife, Ann Frisén who is also a Professor of Psychology at the University of Gothenburg, spent February working at the Swedish Institute – she has been doing research and he has been supervising and writing two books. “One of them is about developmental psychology, which is my original field, the other one is about young people and identity. My wife and myself collaborated on that.” HE HAS A LOT of irons in the fire. In
addition to having research grants – both at the University of Gothenburg, where he is employed as a senior researcher and at University West, where he has a chair (30 percent) – he spends part of his time as an employee of the University of Gothenburg Special Council for Investigations of Suspected Research Misconduct. “I still find my work very interesting
and cannot imagine throwing in the towel just like that. I cannot claim to have a hobby, I am not a model railway enthusiast or a philatelist. My job and my family have always been the most important things”, says Philip Hwang. Text: LARS NICKLASON Photo: ANNA VON BRÖMSSEN
Facts Philip Hwang is one Sweden’s foremost researchers in developmental psychology, with a particular focus on the development and life of children, adolescents and young adults. He is also involved in research on parenting, in particular the role of the father in child development. He has published around 20 books in both Swedish and English, as well as close to 200 scientific articles.
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Green light for sustainable conferen Digital meetings are the future. Besides the obvious environmental benefits, there are major educational and scientific advantages. JMG has developed a platform for digital conferences that they would like the university to take over and develop. HOW COME SO few scientific conferences are held online, even though the possibilities of digitalisation have never been greater? That is what Mats Ekström, Professor and Deputy Head of Department, and his colleagues asked themselves a few years ago. “You would think that academia would lead by example and be at the forefront of sustainability. Despite knowing about the adverse environmental impact, air travel has incre-
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discovered that there were few international examples and not very good digital resources to do what we wanted, i.e., a conference with a coherent digital concept,” she says.
ased significantly over the past few years while, at the same time, the university emphasizes sustainable development as part of its image. It is no longer sufficient to say that there are conflicting objectives and not do anything. Do we want to counter this trend? And if so, how?” NO SOONER SAID than done. Mats Ekström put together a small team and applied for funding from the University of Gothenburg Climate Fund to hold a fully digital international pilot conference. The project was granted a quarter of a million krona and shortly afterwards, at the beginning of 2017, doctoral student Amanda Waldenström was called in to conduct research on available digital resources and to investigate whether anything similar had been done elsewhere in the world. “Somewhat surprisingly, I
MATS EKSTRÖM POINTS out that
Somewhat surprisingly, I discovered that there were few international examples ... AMANDA WALDENSTRÖM
more and more conferences are being held, and that we need to change our ingrained routines and patterns of behaviour. “Within academia, there are incentives and qualification systems that reward active participation in conferences. You go to a location to meet and briefly present a paper, which, on a good day, you get two or three dutiful questions about. The problem is that doctoral students are socialised into this and encouraged to go to conferences without considering the climate aspects. Established researchers frequently feel that they have to participate in
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“We need to question whether more air travel is really required to achieve the goal of increased internationalisation”. MATS EKSTRÖM
nces order not to fall behind.” But instead of copying a regular conference format, we spent a lot of time developing the educational aspects,” says Mats Ekström. “Instead of having short presentations of the research, we wanted to have longer, thematic and probing discussions with researchers from different parts of the world. The participants were very appreciative and one major benefit was that they saved both time and money.” SOMETHING THAT IS often pointed out is: but what will happen to the social aspects? But Mats Ekström argues that there are no barriers to including social activities at their own departments in connection with the conference. “No, you cannot have a beer in the bar at the same time, but there are undreamt-of opportunities to
connect to several social media; they are designed for networking.” The conference last year was organised around four activities and lasted two weeks. 1. Thematic live sessions were held, where all participants met in a digital room, which were recorded and posted on the website. 2. A number of pre-recorded keynotes were posted in advance. 3. There were opportunities for making personal video contributions associated with different themes. All you had to do was talk into your computer. 4. Everybody’s contributions were published in advance on the website and the participants could comment on the different reports whenever they wished. “Of course, there were a few technical glitches, but nothing that could not be solved then and there,” says Amanda Waldenström. “We tried to prevent all kinds of technical problems. The system was tested several times beforehand. We invested a lot in providing tangible and comprehensive information to the participants. It is about making it as easy as possible, but saying that it was difficult is not true. We even had one researcher who used their mobile phone from a beach in Tasmania.” There are obvious limits to how many participants there can be in a digital room. “It is difficult to have a proper round-table talk with more than 20–25 people, but that is no different from a regular conference,” says Mats Ekström. Currently, there are plans for
yet another conference in 2019, but nothing has been finalised yet. JMG, who owns the platform, wants to share it with more departments at the University of Gothenburg. “We would prefer it if the university takes over and develops the platform, enabling more people to benefit from it,” says Mats Ekström, who stresses that it is not about stopping air travel, but rather about offering an alternative. “IT IS A SMALL part of the whole thing, but an important one. We have to be more sustainable and change our routines. Maybe have the courage to ask the question: Why do we need people to fly in to sit on a grading committee for two hours? All these initiatives need to be integrated into a new policy that leads to actual change. Not least our international students expect that we put sustainability on the agenda, and not just include it in our operating plans. You would expect a university to lead the way,” adds Waldenström. Text: ALLAN ERIKSSON Photo: CAJSA MALMSTRÖM
Facts Mats Ekström
Amanda Waldenström
The conference, which was held in February 2018, was centred around the theme: Truth, facts and fake: the shifting epistemologies of news in a digital age. A total of 25 researchers from different parts of the world were invited to participate in an online conference that lasted for two weeks. The participants could access the platform through a web interface, without having to download any plug-ins. Amanda Waldenström and Oscar Westlund, Professor of Journalism, were also part of the team. The platform (which can be downloaded from the department website) is based on Wordpress, which was developed by Andreas Wieslander at the Communication Unit. The reference group included Magnus Fredriksson, Nicklas Håkansson, Annika Bergström, Heikki Jalakas (all from the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication), as well as Pontus Fagerström at Media Technology and Mattias von Feilitzen at the Department of Applied Information Technology.
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A large delegation from GU visited the US in February.
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A fruitful trip to the US Text: HANNA WEDEL Photo: PRIVATE
An intense week on the American east coast resulted in a cross-disciplinary exchange agreement, affiliated agreements and plenty of new ideas and contacts. DURING THE WINTER BREAK, a delegation from the University of Gothenburg travelled to the embassy in Washington and to the two new partner universities in North Carolina and South Carolina. The aim of the trip was to promote Swedish education and research in the United States, as well as to improve the opportunities for students and staff from the University of Gothenburg to attend exchange programmes in North America. Therefore, one of the high points of the trip was when the new cross-disciplinary agreement with the University of South Carolina was signed, says Hans Abelius, Head of the International Centre. THE DELEGATION INCLUDED deans and pro deans from the faculties of Art, Science and Social Sciences, Sahlgrenska Academy, the School of Business, Economics and Law as well as Vice-Chancellor Eva Wiberg. “The fact that the delegation was more widely representative this time was clearly successful. In addition to overarching partnership agreements, I know that there need to be discussions between the sibling faculties in order to create more extensive and productive collaborations”, she says.
The faculty representatives had individual meetings with their counterparts at the American universities. For Agneta Holmäng, Dean at Sahlgrenska Academy, the meetings paid off from the start. “The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are very interested in establishing international contacts and the visit immediately resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding with their School of Dentistry”, she says. THE DRAFT AGREEMENT will now be
signed and subsequently, the work will begin on drawing up detailed plans for student exchanges. Exchange agreements with the School of Pharmacy and the Medical School at both Chapel Hill and the University of South Carolina are also in the works. All participating faculties claim that the trip yielded tangible results. The Faculty of Social Sciences, with the Programme in European Studies, is the faculty that spearheaded the partnership with Chapel Hill and paved the way for a cross-disciplinary exchange agreement. While in the US, the faculty further developed their contacts with Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work and will now discuss additional forms of collaboration.
THE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, Economics and Law is in the process of negotiating student and lecturer exchanges with the Chapel Hill Law School and the Kenan-Flagler Business School. The Faculty of Science, which already has agreements with
Discussions revolved around lifelong learning and the universities’ impact on economic growth. EVA WIBERG
the universities that the delegation visited, focused on finding new opportunities for collaboration. One thing that they launched on the trip was the concept of “Teacher Swapping” for simple lecturer exchanges with no need for temps. The representative from the Faculty of Arts was Pro Dean Göran Larsson. He came back with several new ideas. “For example, we saw how you can create multidisciplinary, creative environments. The Faculty of Arts is in the final stages of its refurbishment and we now have new ideas about how to build creative areas and places on the premises”, he says. THE FACULTY WILL review its range of courses and consider whether anything needs changing to make the programmes more attractive to international students. The delegation spent three days in Washington, where the universities of Uppsala, Lund, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Umeå were jointly presented to the American audience. Eva Wiberg felt it was very successful. “The primary purpose of this trip was to present Swedish higher education and research, with the support of the embassy in Washington. Discussions revolved around lifelong learning and the universities’ impact on economic growth in our countries. We got a good impression of the current conditions for American universities”, she says. ■ MAY 2019 GUJOURNAL
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THE MOMENT On March 10, Artisten received a visit from Zohra, Afghanistan’s first orchestra for women, which also has the country’s first woman conductor, 22-year-old Negin Khpalwak. The concert was a mixture of classic western music, works by contemporary composers, Afghan music and ABBA. “How can you ban music, like the Taliban did under their regime?” asked the opening speaker, Ahmad
Naser Sarmast, who in 2010 founded ANIM, The Afghanistan National Institute of Music, which Zohra is part of. “Music is a universal language with the power to change lives. When our school opened, we had only one female student, now they make up one third of our students. We teach all subjects, but music in particular is very important for boosting the confidence of young students, creating harmony
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and helping them to forget all the evil that has befallen our country.” Zohra performed together with the Dream Orchestra, comprising children and young adults from 16 different nations, many of them from Afghanistan as well. Students from the Academy of Music and Drama also participated. ANIM was one of the recipients of the 2018 Polar Music Prize. Photo: Johan Wingborg
GUJournal EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Allan Eriksson 031–786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eva Lundgren 031–786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se
PHOTOGRAPHER Johan Wingborg 070–595 38 01 johan.wingborg@gu.se
LAYOUT Anders Eurén 031–786 43 81 anders.euren@gu.se
Address: GU Journal, University of Gothenburg, Box 100, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden E-mail: gu-journalen@gu.se Web address: gu-journalen.gu.se ISSN: 1402-9626 Please feel free to quote but give us credit. Translation: Hero Tolk.