GU-Journal 2–2022 by University of Gothenburg

INDEPENDENT STAFF MAGAZINE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG #2 MAY 2022

NEWS

Long process to find new vice chancellor NEWS

More collaboration with developing countries FOCUS

GU supports Ukraine

New migrants in Europe Andrea Spehar reflects that it is difficult to learn from history

Vice-Chancellor

Support for Ukraine becoming more substantial PRING IS ON its way, and for a moment it is possible to forget the unrest in the world, and instead enjoy a cup of coffee while leaning against a sun-warmed wall and look at the daffodils. Valborg is almost upon us, and after two years of the pandemic, I will once again be able to share the students’ joy in the Garden Association, what a privilege. As a university, we have an important role to play in helping to mitigate the effects of the war in Ukraine. Our support is becoming more substantial, and we will be able to make use of special provisions in order to offer visiting research places for those covered by the Temporary Protection Directive. We are also reviewing the possibility of expanding the number of places for at-risk researchers through the Scholars at Risk Network, as well as various ways of providing support for the students who are already here and have ended up in a vulnerable situation financially. The new Teaching

Time Agreement has also been signed, which is a historic milestone for the University of Gothenburg. Many years of work lie behind what may seem like just a paper product. But on the contrary, the agreement is an important piece of the puzzle for creating the right conditions for achieving education and research of the highest quality. In this context, I would like to thank everyone who contributed, but perhaps above all the trade unions. It is a mutual manifestation of the kind of university we want to be and how to jointly achieve our goals. Our academic ceremonies have been put on hold for a long time, and we will now catch up on almost everything during a festive spring with a string of familiar ceremonies – Zealous and Devoted Service Ceremony, Conferment of Doctoral Degrees, Diplomering Ceremony, Inauguration of New Professors and a Retirement Ceremony. There is a lot of planning and work behind all of them, let us enjoy these moments and appreciate any opportunity for celebration and togetherness.

Vice-Chancellor EVA WIBERG

Editor-in-chief: Allan Eriksson, phone: 031–786 10 21, e-mail: allan.eriksson@gu.se Editor: Eva Lundgren, phone:031–786 10 81, e-mail: eva.lundgren@gu.se Photographer: Johan Wingborg, phone: 070–595 38 01, e-mail: johan.wingborg@gu.se Layout: Anders Eurén, phone: 031–786 43 81, e-mail: anders.euren@gu.se Address: GU JOURNAL, University of Gothenburg Box 100, 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden E-mail: gu-journal@gu.se Internet: gu-journal.gu.se ISSN: 1402-9626 Translation: Språkservice Sverige AB The GU Journal has a free and independent position, and is made according to journalistic principles.

Contents

NEWS 04–21 04. Wanted: new vice chancellor. 05. Aims to cooperate with low income countries. 06. Increased interest in Open Access. 07. More researchers wanted to the SAID network. 08. Computors as human mirrors. PROFILE 10–13 10. Migration as a constant challenge. FOCUS 14–17 14. Europe divided once again. 16. Teaches medicin in a crisis. REPORT 18–21 18. The state is back! 20. Zakat in the Muslim world. PEOPLE 22–25 22. Hopes for a better Tanzania. 24. On the hunt for slimy creatures.

Allison Perrigo

Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

Masthead

Tremendous level of commitment to Ukraine VERY DAY, terrible news reaches us from the war in Ukraine, which only seems to get worse and worse. Many people, not least at the University of Gothenburg, are committed to helping those in need in various ways. Centrally, the university is planning various forms of support for vulnerable researchers and students, for example there will be a special visiting research programme. The international Scholars at Risk Network also has plans for initiatives aimed specifically at Ukrainian researchers. The invasion has also led to the largest influx of refugees across Europe since World War II. That people migrate and seek a better life in a new country is natural, but being forced to flee to an uncertain future is something else. The demands on refugees to adapt to the new society they find themselves in are tremendous, while at the same time they are often traumatized and miss their loved ones in their home country. This issue includes several articles on Ukraine but also on the difficulties migration can bring.

Global Sustainable Futures is a joint initiative of the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology with the aim to increase the research collaboration with partners in low- and middle income countries. Read more in this issue. We also write about a seminar with Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). She thinks that the pandemic, among other things, will lead to more friendshoring, i.e. more trading with friendly countries that are geographically close. We have also made an interview with Thabit Jacob, a Scholars at Risk- researcher from Tanzania, who sees hopeful signs for his country’s development. The editors would like to encourage our readers to make their own contributions to the discussion. Contact us if you would like to suggest any issues that you think we should address! Of course we also want to take the opportunity to wish you a wonderful spring! Allan Eriksson & Eva Lundgren

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News

Chairman of the University Board, Peter Larsson, explains that the Board will hire a consultant to help out with the recruitment of a new vice chancellor.

Long process to recruit new vice chancellor The recruitment of a vice chancellor is in full swing. According to the Chairman of the Board, Peter Larsson, there is a great deal of consensus about the continued process. The applicant profile must be ready by the summer. – It is important to get started well in advance. This is a long process and only later this autumn, in grey and chilly November, will we hopefully have selected some candidates. AT THE MEETING on March 24, 2022, a unanimous board decided to start a “comprehensive process in open competition for the recruitment of the vice chancellor". Since then, the recruitment group, led by Peter Larsson, has met a few times. – It's going well, he says. We have come a long way, and on April 28 we will present a proposal to the Board about the process and structure. We have also made progress in terms of the applicant profile, which will be ready by the spring. However, much of the process will take place this autumn.

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According to Peter Larsson, the group has also agreed to hire a recruitment consultant or someone similar. – It is not clear so far who that will be. But we need to bring in someone who has extensive experience of similar types of recruitment. That person should help us select candidates who have particularly good knowledge of the university and wider society. Peter Larsson says that it should be as open and transparent a process as possible. – It will not be submitted to interested parties for consultation, instead we will hold a hearing assembly. This matter is the responsibility of the Board, and it is important that the process is held together well and that everyone respects the order and schedule adopted by the Board.

Vice-Chancellor Eva Wiberg could, according to the Higher Education Act, remain in the position for another three years. Has she been asked to continue? – I have regular discussions with the vice-chancellor. The formal aspects of recruitment are determined by the Board, but whether Eva Wiberg will be available throughout the continued process will be her decision later in the process. The Board's teacher representatives are also satisfied with the group's work. – We have discussed the process, which has been very good. I appreciate that there are clear working methods and that the members of the recruitment group are full engaged. There is a good atmosphere in the group, says Professor Helle Wijk.

Why have you come to the conclusion that there should be open competition for the recruitment? – There were earnest requests from within the organization, not least in light of the experience from previous processes. In the recruitment group, it was considered important to have a strong collegial foundation.

PROFESSOR Olof Johansson-Stenman makes the same assessment. – We have mainly talked about the process itself, which includes the schedule and the work to develop a good applicant profile, as well as thoughts about possible help from recruitment companies. It is my understanding that there is a great deal of

It is my understanding that there is a great deal of consensus in the group on these issues. OLOF JOHANSSON-STENMAN

consensus in the group on these issues. It is the government that makes decisions about vice-chancellors at Swedish higher education institutions based on proposals from the board of the higher education institution. The requirement is that lecturers, employees and students be heard on the matter. At the University of Gothenburg, this is carried out by means of a so-called hearing assembly. Eva Wiberg is the nineteenth vice-chancellor if you count from the inception of the college in 1891, and the 10th vice-chancellor since the college became a university. Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg

Few joint publications from Developing Nations Between 2015 and 2020 University of Gothenburg researchers published over 30,000 articles. Only 200 of these constituted collaborations with researchers from low-income countries. The Global Sustainable Futures platform will change that. GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE (GSF)

was formed in 2020 on the initiative of the vice-chancellors of the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology with the aim of increasing collaboration with partners in low- and middle income countries. – It is a way to contribute to sustainable development globally. It is important and urgent, but it is also for our benefit. This is about a part of the world where many of our young people will live in the future, and where a lot of innovation and development will happen, says Director Magdalena Eriksson.

GSF HAS NOW completed the

first part of its mission and mapped out the collaboration activities and exchanges that the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology have with other countries. In line with expectations, the bibliometric compilation for the University of Gothenburg shows a low number of joint publications with researchers from 27 low-income countries as defined by the World Bank. Between 2015 and 2020, just over 200 articles with co-authors from countries such as Burkina Faso, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda, were published. There are more articles from

– GU and Chalmers aims to increase the collaboration with low- and middle income countries, says Magdalena Eriksson.

lower middle-income countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, India and Ukraine, and during the period they increased from just under 100 to almost 150 publications a year. – WE CAN SEE that this tracks

with our diplomatic contacts. Sweden has a greater presence in East Africa where we have more embassies, and where Sida has a greater commitment than in West Africa. We have no particular preferences about being in a certain place in the world, but instead we focus on what leads to interesting collaborations.

AND HOW DOES that work? How do you initiate collaborations in places where you have not been before? – It must be based on existing interests. GSF can help make contacts and bring parties together. We also try to

It is a way to contribute to sustainable development globally. MAGDALENA ERIKSSON

inspire and raise awareness. We network, have round-table talks and arrange webinars that address a current topic where a researcher from the University of Gothenburg and one from a low- or middle-income country participate and where their collaboration is described, says Magdalena Eriksson. A group of countries stand out in the GSF's compilation. Joint-publications with those defined as higher middle-income countries have doubled in five years – from just under 300 a year to just over 600.

– It primarily involves collaborations with the so-called BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. There are a lot of poor people in these countries, but also a fairly high level of development. Many researchers have established collaborations with China, and in South Africa there are many universities with which the University of Gothenburg collaborates. THE GSF STARTED up in the middle of the pandemic, which means that the work has really only just begun. A compilation of joint-publications will be completed again in a few years’ time. – Then, hopefully, we can look back and see that the situation has changed, says Magdalena Eriksson. Text: Lars Nicklason Photo: Annika Källvik

News

Increased interest in open access

THE LIBRARY HAS has its own agreements with journals as well as being part of the national agreements entered into by the BIBSAM consortium. The largest national agreement is with Elsevier and it has been in place since January 1, 2020. – Instead of having the departments pay to publish open access articles, the costs are covered by the University Library’s agreements. This does not always make it cheaper, but it makes it easier for the researchers. In certain cases, the agreements provide for an unlimited number of

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publications, and in other cases there may be a cap on the number of articles that University of Gothenburg researchers can publish without additional costs, Pauline Jönsson explains. AND A GROWING number of research funders are requiring open access publications. This may mean that only open access articles will be included when the researchers report their results. – Of course, it is reasonable that publicly funded research is not locked behind expensive paywalls, but are accessible to different professions, Pauline Jönsson points out. Today, there are reputable open access journals within more or less every scientific field. – However, the humanities has been something of a stumbling block, as these researchers traditionally write books or chapters of books, where the opportunities for open access publishing have historically been more limited than for articles. However, for a number of years, there has

Photo: PRIVAT

The number of open access publications has increased by 23 percent since 2016. This is what statistics from the University Library tells us. – One probable reason is the University Library’s new agre ement, which makes open access free of charge for researchers, says Pauline Jönsson, University Librarian at the UB digital services.

Of course, it is reasonable that publicly funded research is not locked behind expensive paywalls ... PAULINE JÖNSSON

Pauline Jönsson

been the Kriterium portal that publishes open access and scientifically reviewed books. Furthermore, some commercial publishers have improved the opportunity for open access publishing. Pauline Jönsson believes that the trend is moving towards even greater open access. –Publishing, in and of itself, is important for researchers' careers, so the large profit-driven publishers make money anyway.

Percentage of publications that were open access

2016: 52 % 2017: 54 % 2018: 60 % 2019: 65 % 2020: 74 % 2021: 75 % For more information: https://www.gu.se/forskning/publiceringsmonster-vid-goteborgs-universitet

Eva Lundgren GUJOURNAL MAY 2022

AI – more than computers and algorithms Medicine and technology, linguistics, law and ethics, these are some of the research collaborations within SAID, the University of Gothenburg's faculty-wide AI investment. The initiative has been up and running for four years and it is time for a summary. – A network must never be allowed to stagnate but must constantly develop. Therefore, we hope that more stakeholders will come in so as to expand the initiative further, explains coordinator Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin. IT WAS IN ASSOCIATION WITH the government's digitalization strategy in 2017 that management decided to investigate what is being done in the AI area at the University of Gothenburg. – But surveys quickly become outdated, especially within this area which is constantly developing. Therefore, we decided instead to hold a workshop, which we called #AI@GU, which was open to everyone who was interested, says the Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor, Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin. The level of interest was overwhelming. – So many people registered that we had to switch to a larger room and when that was also at full capacity we had to set up a waiting list. All this engagement was the starting point for the SAID network. AI and digitalization are often perceived as something that is mainly about technical gadgets, algorithms and mathematical models. – But we wanted to get away from that way of thinking, explains Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin. We wanted to get the entire uni-

versity involved, everyone who, in whatever way, were interested in what digital development can lead to. Therefore, we put together a group of members from all faculties and from the Grants and Innovation Office. We have subsequently had monthly meetings where all the participants report on what is going on in their area. These meetings as well as others have led to collaborations within law, linguistics, medicine and moral philosophy, as well as with external stakeholders such as AI Sweden. THE SAID NETWORK has now made a summary of the first four years in the form of a film, produced by the University of Gothenburg's Communication Unit, says Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin. – We didn't want to write a report that just ends up sitting on a bookshelf, but to do something that tells people about our initiative and inspires others. For now, SAID is in a new phase, which I

– The SAID has been around for just over four years and we now hope to broaden our activities.

hope involves further expansion. This is a network with nodes throughout the entire university that will continue to develop, both within the university and together with external parties. Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

FACTS This is a network with nodes through out the entire university that will continue to develop, both within the university and together with external parties. FREDRIKA LAGERGREN WAHLIN

The coordination group for artificial intelligence and digitalization (SAID) was formed in the autumn of 2017 and works across faculties with AI. The coordinator is Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin, Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor. They also collaborate with AI Sweden, which comprises Chalmers University of Technology, the Royal Institute of Technology and the Universities of Gothenburg, Lund, Linköping, Umeå and Örebro, as well as with AI Innovation of Sweden. Watch the film: AI at the University of Gothenburg here: www.gu.se/ saidfilm GUJOURNAL MAY 2022

News

Computers learn from us There is currently ongoing research at the University of Gothenburg in which computers learn human speech. Another project focuses on teaching artificial intelligence to recognise early symptoms of stroke. Both instances are about machine learning, where algorithms make use of large amounts of information to learn how to interpret patterns. This is precisely the type of research that the SAID network is designed to facilitate. HOWEVER, IT IS NOT entirely

true that computers are learning human speech, Simon Dobnik, Professor of Computational Linguistics, points out. – They do not have the same experience and knowledge of the world that we do. Instead the computer, in interaction with us, is trained to behave as if it understands language. It is not only that the language itself is complex. When we speak, we do so in a context, where we constantly adapt to our

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interlocutor and where much is implicit. For example, if I were to say: “It’s really warm”, you might respond by opening a window or asking if I would like a glass of water. There is nothing in the actual words or sentence structure that would make you respond like that, it is about understanding the entire situation. AND SPATIALITY IS also very

difficult for a computer. At the moment, Simon Dobnik is involved in a project where a robot, equipped with two sensors, is trained to understand for example that an object can be located in front of one person, but behind another, and that right and left may switch places

▲ – When something alarming happens, the system will react, says Helena Odenstedt Hergès.

depending on perspective. Another project involves the interpretation of images. – FOR EXAMPLE, if we have a

photo of a person riding a motorcycle leaning into a curve, we interpret that image as a motorcycle being driven at full speed, not as if it is about to fall over, Simon Dobnik explains. We are not interested in a few bushes in the background, but focus on the motorcycle. By having different people describe the photo, the computer can learn a reasonable interpretation. But you have to be careful: We humans have quite a few preconceived notions that might lead us to assume that the rider of the motorcycle is a

are affected by the brain, such as the heart and the heart rate. By gathering large amounts of physiological data that is time synchronised in a monitor, the idea is that an algorithm can be developed that may be able to learn to recognise early signs of stroke.

man. There is a risk that we pass on our prejudice to the computer. This is one reason why computational linguistics is such a complex field: computer scientists, linguists, psychologists, lawyers, and philosophers need to cooperate. THE HEALTHCARE services also use AI technology. For example, over the past couple of years, a unique project is underway where doctors collaborate with software engineers. The goal is to be able to monitor patients who are anaesthetised or unconscious, in order to discover early signs of impaired blood supply to the brain that may lead to a stroke. That is how Helena

Odenstedt Hergès explains it, Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, as well as the senior consultant at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital neurosurgical intensive care unit. – For example, patients who have suffered a cerebral haemorrhage risk having a new stroke as a complication, as the blood flow is impaired as a consequence of vascular cramp in the brain’s blood vessels. Examining the brain of a patient who is anaesthetised or unconscious is difficult, as the patient is unable to participate in a clinical examination. Instead, we can obtain information by studying signals from other organs that

When we speak, we do so in a context, where we constantly adapt to our interlocutor, and where much is implicit. SIMON DOBNIK

MIROSLAW STARON, Professor of Software Development, has never worked with so many medical researchers before. In order to learn more about what a stroke really is, how patients are monitored, and what goes on in an operating theatre, he spent three months at the neurosurgical intensive care unit. – The project involves data from both former neurology patients and from ongoing operations. However, creating a safe method is complex; each signal that is added increases reliability but also the risk of white noise, i.e. that the system responds to changes that are not relevant to the analysis. This is one of many challenges in the project. THE AIM IS TO develop a warning

system that does not require extra equipment, but receives signals from the existing monitoring equipment, Helena Odenstedt Hergès explains. – When something worrying happens to the patient, the system will emit an alarm so that actions can be taken, hopefully avoiding permanent brain damage. The SAID network has led to several partnerships, not least with AI Sweden, Miroslaw Staron points out. – AI is currently ubiquitous in society, in law, journalism, and medicine, and affects issues of democracy and freedom of speech. For this reason, there is a tremendous need for SAID and other collaborative initiatives.

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg GUJOURNAL MAY 2022

Profile

Migration as a constant challenge Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

Every refugee crisis has its own specific challenges. Andrea Spehar, Director of the Centre on Global Migration. – Therefore, it is difficult to draw any conclusions from history. But that coordination between all the parties involved is important is at least a lesson to be learned. 

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Profile

n the autumn of 1991, Andrea Spehar

was very happy; she had been granted a place at the University of Zagreb and was going to study political science. At the same time, she was concerned. She began her studies at the same time as the armed conflict in former Yugoslavia broke out – Admittedly, Zagreb was also subjected to a bomb attack, but neither myself nor my family were particularly affected by the war. However, the city was filled with refugees from other parts of Croatia as well as from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Injustice and people being treated badly have always upset Andrea Spehar. – For me, it does not matter much if it happens in other parts of the world or at home, it is just as awful wherever it takes place. Therefore, I became involved in anti-war and women's movements, which took up all my time and slowed down my university studies. It was love that made her move to Sweden in 1995, where she began studying political science two years later. – Coming to Sweden broadened my horizons, but was also hard work. As an immigrant, I was forced to think about my identity and sense of belonging, and learn to navigate a new social system. Andrea Spehar wrote her thesis on women's movements in post-communist Croatia and Slovenia. But she became increasingly interested in migration. – Migration is characterized by several paradoxes. For example, it raises concerns among some citizens and politicians, while others see it as a solution to future labour needs. A more restrictive migration policy, not least with regard to refugee immigration, has become a definite trend in today's Europe. Consideration for the inhabitants of one's own country has become more prominent, but there are also interesting differences between the policies of different countries.

Sweden and Germany are among the countries that

believe that the EU must have a supranational migration policy where the reception of refugees is shared fairly evenly between the countries. Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic believe instead that each nation must decide for itself how many people they can accept. Denmark is also against supranationalism. – I became interested in the difference between the EU's old and new Member States and in the principles and policies that govern their positions. One reason for Sweden's and Germany's more positive attitude is, among other things, that these countries have had fairly significant labour immigration since the 1970s. People are simply more accustomed to multiculturalism.

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Integrating into a new country is a long-term process, Andrea Spehar points out. – The Bosnian refugees have done well and have found ways to enter the Swedish labour market. This is partly due to the fact that Sweden is quite similar to Bosnia, for example when it comes to the education system. When they came here, however, they were not allowed to choose where they wanted to live, so many of them ended up in smaller towns. Like other migrants, most moved to the big cities as soon as they could. There they may have been forced to live in cramped conditions, but in the cities it is easier to both get an education and a job, as well as to meet people from their country of origin. I notice this myself; I live next to Kvilletorget on Hisingen, where there is a small Bosnian bakery, Leila’s, where I often go to buy bread and pastries that evoke memories of my childhood.

Living in a large city has advantages, but there is a

greater risk of ending up in a vulnerable situation: the suburbs are segregated, jobs are few and far between, contacts outside the family are difficult to initiate, and since many people have meagre financial resources, their room for manoeuvre is limited. – For many, moving to a new country entails a radical change that has significance for both their life and their identity. It takes time to become part of the day-to-day life that most natives take for granted. It involves a new language, a new political and economic system, as well as new social and cultural codes, while at the same time missing one's old homeland and the people there. – Many migrants are also suspicious of the authorities, which is due to negative experiences from their country of origin. This is also something I myself have experienced; it took me several years to realise that the Swedish Tax Agency and Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) can actually be trusted. In March 2017, the Centre on Global Migration (CGM) was inaugurated with Andrea Spehar as its Director. The Centre's task is to promote interdisciplinary research partnerships, both within the University of Gothenburg and with external partners, as well as to support education and collaboration on migration and integration. She is also the lead researcher for an EU project on housing and integration, as well as a research programme funded by the Swedish Research Council on the integration of Syrian refugees in Jordan, Sweden and Turkey. – The latter project is about how big cities in the three countries handle the fact that migration not only changes the social composition of different districts but also affects norms and behaviours. Andrea Spehar is also the coordinator of a ten-year national research programme within migration and

integration that the Swedish Research Council started in 2018. The aim was to make society better prepared for future migration challenges. That future is already here: just over 4 million people have fled Ukraine and about 7 million are internally displaced. Of the refugees who have left Ukraine, Poland has received about half, including about 700,000 schoolchildren, says Andrea Spehar.

– One reason why so many refugees went to Poland

is that it is a neighbouring country that is culturally and linguistically quite similar to Ukraine. But many Ukrainians also already have friends or acquaintances in Poland, as it is quite common to go there periodically to work, so-called circular migration. Many refugees therefore have somewhere to go, at least in the short term, even if the current situation is hardly sustainable in the long run. The war also means that the EU Temporary Protection Directive of 2001 has been activated, which gives refugees from Ukraine a temporary residence permit in the EU for at least one year, with the possibility of extension for another two years. Currently, about 4,000 Ukrainians are arriving in Sweden on a daily basis, and the Swedish Migration Agency estimates that the number will be around 76,000 before the end of June. – The experiences from 2015 have led to better coordination between municipalities, authorities and voluntary organizations. But around 2015, the Swedish Migration Agency had about 100,000 residential places, now it only has about 10,000. And it is a major challenge to organize all these activities relating to the refugees, which include schools for all the children. It is also important to be vigilant when it comes to disreputable organizations. After all, most Ukrainian refugees are women and children, and unfortunately there are several networks organized around trafficking, which our authorities need to be aware of.

Migration is an issue where political parties can win or lose voters. – A lot of focus is on the problems caused by large-scale immigration, and considerably less on how people from other countries benefit our country. It is a pity, because having access to more cultures and experiences than just one can be very enriching, both for individuals and for society as a whole. Andrea Spehar herself feels at home both in Gothenburg, where she works and has friends, and in Zagreb, where she also has friends and family. – I often go to Croatia on holidays. I particularly like the Istrian peninsula. It is incredibly beautiful, rich in cultural life and full of cosy restaurants and cafés. Taking walks by the Adriatic Sea, talking to friends and enjoying good food and drink, it doesn't get any better than that.

Having access to more cultures and experiences than just one can be very enriching …

Andrea Spehar Works as: Associate Professor in Political Science, Director of the Centre on Global Migration, Project Manager for Refugee Migration and Cities: Social Institutions, Political Governance and Integration in Jordan, Turkey and Sweden (SIPGI) (2019–2025) and Housing for immigrants and community integration in Europe and beyond: strategies, policies, dwellings and governance (MERGING) (2020–2023) as well as the Coordinator for a ten-year national research programme within migration and integration. Do you have a family? A partner, Tanja, and two bonus children. Where do you live? Hisingen. Do you have any pets? A Dalmatian. What was the last book you read? The Last Gift by Abdulrazak Gurnah. What was the last film you watched? Parallel Mothers by Pedro Almodóvar. What is your favourite food? Grilled seafood (with lots of olive oil). Hobbies: Travel, music, some sports, good food, conversations with family and friends.

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Focus | Ukraine

Photo: SHUTTERSTOCK

“We are at a turning point!” Zeitenwende is the German word used by Adrian Hyde-Price to describe what is currently happening in Europe. – We are at a turning point, a paradigm shift. Thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has invaded a neighbouring country, and “the West” is now back, united against an aggressive and ever more authoritarian Russia. However, the price being paid by Ukraine is horrifying.

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Den fullskaliga inThe full-scale invasion of Ukraine came as a surprise, even to Adrian Hyde-Price, Professor of Political Science and an expert in European security. – The intelligence services in the USA and Great Britain had warned of an invasion, and in hindsight, when I read Putin’s speech in Munich 2007 and the subsequent ever more aggressive statements, all the signs were there. But like most Europeans, I had hoped that this type of full-scale invasion would never again happen in Europe. What also surprises Adrian Hyde-Price is that the “special military operation” is so badly planned and implemented. – Putin seems to have envisioned a quick war of aggression, in which the

Ukrainian government would be toppled immediately. Instead, he was met by a people doing their utmost to defend their country, led by a former TV comedian who was transformed into an inspiring president who steadfastly remains at his post. The expression “cometh the hour, cometh the man” has rarely felt more fitting.

Instead, what Putin has succeeded in

doing is to engender unity within Ukraine, as well as a determination and a political awakening in Europe that has been lacking for decades, Adrian Hyde-Price argues. – Western democracies and a wide-ranging international community has demonstrated great unity and deter-

The prevailing notion, not least within academia, that global networks and mutual dependence will make war impossible, has turned out to be wrong. ADRIAN HYDE-PRICE

only add to the country’s other major challenges, such as the falling birth rate and the severe public health issues. There is an understandable fear that the invasion will lead to a new world war. However, at present it seems improbable. But regardless of what happens, the consequences will be severe, both for Europe and globally. – Russia could have chosen a different path, says Adrian Hyde-Price.

mination against Russia’s unprovoked aggression. Despite Brexit, we have seen how Great Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, recently participated in a meeting with the EU Foreign Affairs Council. Germany’s foreign policy has fundamentally changed, they are currently sending arms to Ukraine, as well as raising their defence budget to 2 percent of GDP. And the rest of the Western world, such as the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, even neutral Switzerland, are united behind the most comprehensive sanctions ever to have been imposed on another country. Perhaps we are also starting to realise the absurdity of being dependent on dictatorships for our energy supply, and that sustainable alternatives are important, including from a strategic and security perspective. February 24, 2022, will be remembered as the end of the post-cold-war era, Adrian Hyde-Price argues. – The prevailing notion, not least within academia, that global networks and mutual dependence will make war impossible, has turned out to be wrong. It is tragic, not least considering that developments in Russia could have gone in the opposite direction if Russia had attempted to develop cooperation and peaceful relations with their neighbours.

Ukraine’s closer relations with the EU could have acted as a bridge into Europe, for Russia as well. These hopes have now been shattered.

That Europe was so badly prepared for the war is basically due to the fact that two incompatible ways of looking at the world clashed, Adrian Hyde-Price points out. – On the one hand, we have the 1975 Helsinki Accords which established that the borders of individual countries must not be impacted by military threats. And on the other, the Yalta Conference in 1945, when the victorious powers of WWII divided the world into spheres of interest with no regard as to what the different countries thought of it. Of course, Europe adheres to the Helsinki Accord and we probably have difficulty understanding that Putin still adheres to the world view defined at Yalta. Putin’s view that the superpowers have divided the world means that he sees Ukraine’s democratic development and closer relations with the EU as a threat to Russia. The war has caused a humanitarian disaster and material devastation for Ukraine. For Russia, it will mean international isolation and an economic crisis that will

– Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of wheat and fertilizer, for example. If the harvests fail to materialize, food shortages await in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, with all the political upheaval that may follow. Russia will now have to rely on their good relations with a far more powerful China, and the question is how Putin will manage it. What the democratic world will have to do now is to increase support on all levels to Ukraine, Adrian Hyde-Price argues. – In 1989, I attended an international conference in Berlin and was part of a group that met with Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the Soviet Union. He gave the world a belief in a Soviet Union that had changed, and in a brighter future. At the moment it looks bleak, but my hope is that Russia will eventually have a new type of leader who wants to develop the country towards more freedom and democracy. This would be the best outcome for Russia, but also for the security of the entire world. However, in the near future that development is improbable. We are back in a Europe that will have to learn how to deal with an authoritarian, militaristic and vengeful superpower as its neighbour. Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg GUJOURNAL MAY 2022

Focus | Ukraine

Ukrainians learn to handle catastrophes As early as 2015–2016, employees at the Sahlgrenska Academy established courses in disaster medicine in Ukraine. They involve two models, a simpler one about organization, leadership and collaboration, and a more extensive one where healthcare professionals receive training in conjunction with medical decision-making. – According to the reports I have received from Ukraine, they are seeing significant benefits from the training now, explains Amir Khorram-Manesh, Associate Professor of Surgery with a focus on disaster medicine. It was in 2015, in connection with

Russia's annexation of Crimea, that an international group of experts commissioned by the EU went to Kyiv and Kharkiv to start a Ukrainian academy for crisis and disaster management. Among them was Amir Khorram-Manesh, Associate Professor of Surgery, who together with Swedish colleagues has implemented various training models in a number of countries. – We started by investigating what preparedness for disaster management was already in place and met with representatives of both the Ministry of Health and the hospitals. It turned out that there was no major collaboration between, for example, the healthcare sector, the emergency services, the police and the mili-

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tary. Corruption and the inability to use resources optimally created problems. The visit led to a two-year continuation of the work at the major universities in Kyjiv and Kharkiv, says Amir Khorram-Manesh. – One thing I learned during my many years as a doctor in international disaster medicine is not to issue dictates. Instead, we do training exercises where the participants themselves have to find out where the problems are, for example when it comes to logistics and coordination of ambulances. Since the end of 2016, there is also a master's programme in Kharkiv. Crisis management is taught according to two Swedish methods: a basic three-level collaboration model, developed by Eric Carlström at the University of Gothenburg, among others, and the more comprehensive MACSIM method developed by Sten Lennquist in Linköping. All the groups that have to work together in a disaster situation, from administrators to medical staff, participate to varying degrees.

Three things are important in a disas-

ter, Amir Khorram-Manesh points out. – Clear leadership, a safe place for staff to work, and the ability to prioritize. We Swedes have a hard time with the latter, we think that everyone has a right to medical care. But in war, the utilitarian principle applies, i.e. the greatest possible benefit for the largest number of patients. Even in ordinary medical care, it can be burdensome to think about whether you have really done the right thing; it is even worse in a disaster

Amir Khorram-Manesh has worked with disaster medicine in Ukraine.

situation where staff are constantly faced with the task of making decisions quickly despite insufficient resources and poor conditions. Amir Khorram-Manesh has some contact with his colleagues in Ukraine who believe that they have benefited greatly from the courses they have taken. – But it is distressing to see pictures of bomb-shattered neighbourhoods in Kharkiv and Kyjiv where I myself walked just a few years ago. And it is absolutely terrible that the Russians are conducting a hybrid war where the focus is on civilian targets

Amir KhorramManesh Amir Khorram-Manesh is an Associate Professor of Surgery with a focus on disaster medicine and trauma. Together with, among others, Eric Carlström, Professor of Health Care Sciences with a focus on leadership and organization, he has written about different methods for disaster and crisis management. The methods are described in the Handbook of Disaster and Emergency Management (2017, second edition 2021) which can be downloaded for free from the network. Amir has also participated in the development of MACSIM (Mass Casualty Simulation System), a scientifically-based simulation system with the goal of training people to take care of casualties in mass casualty situations. The initiator of the method is Sten Lennquist, Professor of Disaster Medicine, Linköping University.

Clear leadership, a safe place for staff to work, and the ability to prioritize. AMIR KHORRAM-MANESH

and infrastructure with no regard for human rights. But the Ukrainians are tenacious and accustomed to difficulties. Sweden was a pioneer in disaster medicine for a long time. But that is no longer the case, Amir Khorram-Manesh points out.

– We would like to think that nothing

terrible can happen in our safe country. But perhaps the pandemic has made us wake up. Risks change, crises happen sooner or later, and disaster medicine is important. Every hospital in the country

should devote at least a quarter-hour each month to issues relating to crisis management and preparedness; we need to stay up-to-date, we cannot rely on old plans that no one has reviewed in ten years. Of course, it is difficult to plan for things that you do not know anything about, but not being prepared is equivalent to preparing for failure.

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg GUJOURNAL MAY 2022

Report

Pandemic winners and losers – The state is back! These were the words of Beata Javorcik, Chief Economist at EBRD, spoken during a guest lecture at the School of Business, Economics and Law on what will happen to globalization after the pandemic. Beata Javorcik began by recalling

the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama's book The End of History. According to the book, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 meant that liberal democracies had once and for all won the battle for the development of society.

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– However, for several decades now we have seen something else: the number of people who are positive about state ownership is steadily increasing. This is especially true in the former Eastern Bloc, which is interesting given that the number of civil servants there has halved since the mid-1990s. So how will people think now after the pandemic? Many of the values we have throughout our life are founded early on: people who were young during the financial crisis in 2008, for example, are today more positive towards the state than those who grew up during a more stable period. So we can expect the pandemic to have a similar effect and increase young people's

interest in state influence on society. However, state ownership has its challenges, not least in the emerging economies that the EBRD supports, Beata Javorcik pointed out.

– In half of the countries we surveyed, it

is the state-owned companies themselves that determine the rules for the sectors in which they operate, and in 80 percent of cases, board members are appointed in a non-transparent manner. In most of the countries, there are also no regulations that prevent state-owned companies from competing with private companies. State-owned companies can also lead to attractive jobs being given to political

hima disaster, the ongoing trade war between the US and China, increasingly extreme weather phenomena, and the blocking of the Suez Canal in 2021. In addition, we have the war in Ukraine, which has already had consequences for the entire world. Ukraine and Russia together account for 30 percent of the world's wheat trade. Ukraine is also a major exporter of maize, barley and cooking oil.

– The regions most affected by the high

Beata Javorcik believes that the state and large companies are the winners of the pandemic.

allies, and the media developing into propaganda machines for the government. During the pandemic, many governments, not least in emerging economies, have provided financial support to their country's companies to help them stay afloat. This is another reason why people can feel grateful to the state.

– But when the financial support ends, we can expect more bankruptcies. We do not yet know what the pandemic will lead to in the long run for the economy. It is not just the pandemic that has affected international trade in the past decade, Beata Javorcik explained. – Other examples include the Fukus-

prices are the Middle East and North Africa. Importing from other countries is not a good alternative, as it will instead involve high transport costs. The price of wheat is even higher than in 2008, which at the time led to riots in about forty countries. To avoid political instability, these countries must subsidize wheat imports, while already being in debt after the pandemic. It is not unlikely that the situation will lead to increased repression. In addition to wheat, Russia is a major exporter of fertilizer. Furthermore, metals such as palladium, chromium and titanium are exported, all of which are important for a green transition, as well as nickel, which is used in batteries. The risk is not only that prices will go up but also that there will be a shortage of these metals, Beata Javorcik pointed out. – The war in Ukraine also affects countries that export using Russian transport systems and banks, such as Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. They will now have to find other ways to trade with the outside world.

Europe aims to become a world leader in green transition. Among other things, they have been at the forefront of a border adjustment mechanism: Companies that try to evade emissions regulations by placing production outside the EU will instead have to pay the carbon dioxide tax when importing into the EU. In emerging economies, it is mainly large, well-established foreign companies that invest in green energy, said Beata Javorcik. – When the EBRD asked why smaller domestic companies did not try to be more climate-friendly, the shocking answer was that it is not a priority area. So foreign investment may be needed to speed up a green transition. The fact that the pandemic has led to an increased familiarity with digital services means that it can also potentially

result in new job opportunities. – What worries me, however, is that especially older people with a lower level of education in emerging economies lack digital skills. They cannot take advantage of the digital development, which risks creating major disparities in the future. In conclusion, Beata Javorcik stated that state and multinational companies will be the winners in the pandemic. – I also think that we will see more friendshoring, i.e. that we trade with friendly countries that are geographically close; for example, German companies may prefer to import from the Balkans rather than from China. The world thus becomes more geopolitically divided.

Green companies will expand, not

only because of the EU but also because customers are increasingly demanding climate-friendly goods. And through digitalization, emerging economies will be able to compete in the service sector in a completely new way; it will simply be more common to live in Bucharest and work in Gothenburg. And that entails a very major change.

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

Facts Beata Javorcik äBeata Javorcik is Chief Economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The bank was established in 1991 to support the economic and democratic development of Central and Eastern Europe. Today, the bank also has operations in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Sweden is one of the bank's 78 shareholders. The EBRD's annual investments amount to approximately EUR 10 billion. It was recently decided that 2 billion will go directly to Ukraine, and to support refugee-receiving countries. The lecture Globalization after Covid: Business as usual or not? was held on April 6 at the School of Business, Economics and Law as a so-called Kapuscinski Development Lecture, a series of lectures named after the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński with the aim of spreading new thoughts and ideas. The organisers were the European Commission, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the School of Business, Economics and Law. Beata Javorcik's recommended reading: The Emperor (1978) by Ryszard Kapuściński. GUJOURNAL MAY 2022

Report

Facebook as a researcher’s dream He has written about radical anti-colonial and anti-fascist transnational organizations and networks during the interwar period, about Muslims in Ghana and the Swedish slave trade. Holger Weiss, Professor of General History at Åbo Akademi University, is a visiting professor at the University of Gothenburg and currently busy completing a book on almsgiving and NGOs in Ghana. Almsgiving, or zakat, is the third pillar of Islam, and something a Muslim is obliged to observe. Since 1999, Holger Weiss has been researching how this happens in Ghana, a mainly Christian West African country but where about 20 percent of the population is Muslim. On the one hand, there are large national organizations that engage in non-profit work, the largest of which is the Zakat and Sadaqa Trust Fund of Ghana, which started its operations in 2010. On the other, there are small private initiatives and these are what Holger Weiss has been interested in lately. – It was actually thanks to COVID-19 that I noticed these smaller movements, he says. Due to the pandemic, I was forced to cancel a planned research trip to Ghana and therefore started looking on the internet for other ways to continue my studies. Among other things, I researched social media and discovered that non-profit organizations are often on Facebook. It piqued my curiosity, and made me investigate more and more small organizations that I would never have discovered otherwise. Now I have studied 480 of them. What Holger Weiss discovered was that it is often young people who are behind the small and temporary non-profit organizations.

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– It frequently involves fundraisers in association with one of Islam's major festivals: "Eid al-Adha", i.e. the Feast of Sacrifice, or "Eid al-Fitr", the Feast of Breaking the Fast. The young people run campaigns on Facebook and hand out leaflets, and the money they receive goes mostly to something specific, for example to an orphanage or food for the poor. Charities based on people donating money or other gifts are often difficult to control. Can one really be sure that the do-

It is a dream for a historian to find such a living archive with pictures, statements and long stories of which to partake! HOLGER WEISS

nations will end up going to those in need? – That is why it is interesting that the Facebook groups I examined are so transparent and open. They publish lists of who has contributed and by how much, as well as posting videos of how far a project has come. It is a dream for a historian to find such a living archive with pictures, statements and long stories of which to partake!

One reason why Facebook campaigns

work is the mobile phone, Holger Weiss explains. – When I was in Ghana for the first time in 1999, it was still the case that you had to buy a phone card to make a call in a phone box. The internet was only available in special internet cafés. When I went there again the following year, everything had already changed: the

internet cafés had closed down and I was probably the only one who did not have a mobile phone! Developments in the country have been incredibly rapid economically as well. Today, Ghana is a middle-income country, which is hard to believe, because it was more or less bankrupt just forty years ago. However, I do not know how the pandemic has hit the country, only that it has led to major problems. Collecting money for a worthy cause is one thing. Maintaining important societal functions, such as schools and hospitals, requires something more, either public support or the support of a major charity. – Still, I think that these smaller initiatives are important, not least to make people feel that they themselves have the power to influence society and make it better.

In the spring, Holger Weiss will be a

visiting researcher at the Department of Historical Studies. He will contribute in a fairly wide-ranging way in terms of both research, education and popular science. Among other things, he has held a course on the global history of slavery, and lectured on the slave trade and slavery under the Swedish flag in the 18th and 19th centuries. – Since I am in Gothenburg, I also intend to take the opportunity to immerse myself in another event with which the public is quite unfamiliar: the sailors’ strike in 1933. It was triggered by dramatic wage cuts and led by internationally organized communists. The fact that it is not as well-known as the strike in Ådalen in 1931 is due to the fact that the police, on this occasion, kept a low profile. I will give a lecture on this in May, which is open to everyone who is interested.

Text: Eva Lundgren

Photo: Johan Wingborg

Facts Holger Weiss is a professor at Åbo Akademi University and in the spring of 2022 will hold the Waernska Professorship at the University of Gothenburg. He has also written the books, Slavhandel och slaveri under svensk flagg and A Global Radical Waterfront: The International Propaganda Committee of Transport Workers and the International of Seamen and Harbour Workers, 1921–1937.

Holger Weiss, visiting professor from Åbo Akademi, is interested in Muslim almsgiving.

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People

Hopeful about Tanzania – Tanzania is a country characterized by fear. Journalists are sent to prison, researchers are silenced. I am lucky to be able to work in Europe. But hopefully the country is changing, explains Thabit Jacob, who is here as a Scholars at Risk researcher. In the spring of 2017, Tanzania's Presi-

dent John Magufuli declared economic warfare on major foreign companies, which he believed were cheating the country out of its wealth in the form of coal and gas. – Before that, there had been a rather lively debate in Tanzania about what kind of energy we should invest in. We signed the Paris Agreement in 2015 and therefore many people thought that we should build solar and wind power plants. Others instead pointed out that Tanzania, which is a poor country where the majority of the population lacks electricity, has the right to exploit the huge deposits of coal and gas that had recently been discovered. However, when Magafuli became president in 2016, the debate was silenced. The government decided to invest in fos-

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sil fuels but also tax foreign companies to force them out of the country. Whether it really was such a wise policy could not be discussed. The struggle between private and state-owned companies and the increasingly nationalist view of energy sources is the starting point for Thabit Jacob's doctoral thesis. It is based, among other things, on field studies in the villages of Tanzania, where he investigated how people are affected by the investment in coal and gas. He did his doctoral studies in Denmark, and during his time there he was also a guest researcher at the University of Michigan and the University of Sheffield. In 2020, he defended his thesis at the Roskilde University. – As a researcher, I have a responsibility to look objectively at various issues, without taking sides. In Tanzania, however, one is seen as a traitor if one points out things that oppose the government's point of view. This makes it very difficult to discuss issues. But participating in the public discourse is an important role for a researcher. Therefore, Thabit Jacob has been interviewed by several international media over the years, including the BBC.

– Colleagues and friends in my home country often say that it is lucky that the interviews are in English so that people in Tanzania do not understand what I am saying. But I have done interviews in Swahili as well, and then they say that I have become too European and no longer understand how my country works.

A rather bizarre example of the Tan-

zanian government's need for control was when Thabit Jacob, together with a couple of colleagues, was invited to the University of Copenhagen two years ago. – I was to participate in a seminar on the upcoming elections in Tanzania. To my surprise, I was told that a couple of Tanzanians had been sent all the way from our embassy in Stockholm to record my lecture. My colleagues and I managed to prevent them from doing so, but the lecture was recorded anyway, probably on a mobile phone. After completing his PhD, Thabit Jones got a job at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen. He was also offered two postdoctoral positions, one in Toronto, Canada and one in Trier, Germany, which he turned down for various reasons.

 SAR-researcher Thabit Jacob has hopes that, with a new president, the future of Tanzania will be brighter.

– My friends in Denmark, who are more worried about my safety than I am, thought I should contact Scholars at Risk in New York. So I did, and after some discussion back and forth, it was decided that I would go to Gothenburg. So since August last year I have been here, which I'm very happy about; I like living in Scandinavia.

Before coming to Sweden, he was

granted funding for a project on policy and governance of renewable energy in Ghana and Tanzania. This is what he is now working on as a postdoctoral fellow at The Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD). – The postdoctoral position is for two years, but I do not know what will happen afterwards. I have moved around a lot in the past six years and it would be very nice to finally have a permanent place to live. I would like to continue working in academia, but it is a tough world and maybe I will have to get another job Thabit Jacob also hopes to eventually be able to return to Tanzania. – President John Magufuli died a year ago from COVID-19, a disease he ironically did not believe in. He was succeeded by Tanzania's first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan. She has very high hopes, perhaps too high, but she has made some unusual decisions that have raised expectations. Among other things, she appointed Zuhura Yunus, an outspoken reporter on the BBC's Swahili broadcasts, as her communications manager. She has interviewed me, which made the old Tanzanian regime call me the enemy of the state. My friends say she would probably like to hire me too. But, obviously, I know nothing about that.

Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg

Thabit Jacob Born in: Tanzania. Currently: Postdoctoral fellow at The Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD). Scholars at Risk researcher at the University of Gothenburg. Hobbies: Football, among other things. He supports Chelsea and IFK Göteborg.

SAR-researchers are a benefit for GU – Being a mentor is very much about introducing the SAR researchers to colleagues and potential partners. This means that the stay will benefit both the researcher and the receiving university. These are the words of Ellen Lust, Professor of Political Science, and Thabit Jacob’s mentor during his stay in Gothenburg. Thabit Jacobs postdoctoral

position is with the Programme on Governance and Local Development, whose founder and director is Ellen Lust. This is the first time she has mentored a SAR researcher. – There was quite a lot of paperwork to be completed before Thabit was able to come here. We also conducted an interview with him to see whether he would fit in with the work being conducted here. The SAR researcher can definitely have a different research focus than what the receiving university is involved in, but the fields must still have some kind of commonality. One important issue was the security situation in Tanzania. The country changed presidents six months before Thabit Jacob arrived in Sweden. However, eventually it became clear that this would not affect his being able to work and publish here.

– It is always rewarding being a mentor, but perhaps particularly important when it concerns researchers who, for various reasons, are in need of protection. I am very proud of the University of Gothenburg, which takes on so much responsibility concerning SAR, and I am happy to be able to be a part of it and provide support.

Facts Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of higher education institutions that work to safeguard academic freedom, and to provide protection to vulnerable researchers. The University of Gothenburg is the coordinator for the Swedish section, and Karolina Catoni at the International Centre is our contact.

– The fact that Thabit also has a

degree from a prominent university further facilitated matters. Furthermore, he is a very open and committed individual, and eager to meet new research groups. For example, I introduced him to the Centre for Collective Action Research, CeCAR. Being a mentor to a SAR researcher is a beneficial experience, Ellen Lust argues.

Ellen Lust is Professor of Political Science

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People

On the hunt for slime moulds Allison Perrigo, Director of the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre (GGBC), loves slime moulds. And when out in nature, her friends think she is too slow as she constantly stops to study life on the ground with all its wonderful species. New Year's Eve 2015, Allison Perrigo was sitting on an airplane. Her apartment in Uppsala was rented out and the furniture had been sold. Everything she needed was in a 52-litre rucksack. After a bachelor's degree in ecology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, a doctoral degree in systematics and a postdoctoral position at Uppsala University, it was time to do something completely different. – I was tired of research and academia. It had been one thing after another, and now I didn’t know when I would be back. It felt fantastic to let go and take that step towards freedom, says Allison Perrigo. For two and a half years she was travelling in Southeast Asia and Central America, in countries such as Cambodia and Indonesia. In the meantime, she supported herself as a freelance research editor and worked as a diving guide on the side. – Sometimes I worked on land and sometimes in the water, she says as we sit in the small meeting room at Bioteket, where GGBC is located. Before embarking on her long journey, Uppsala University was her base. It was there that she obtained her doctorate in systematics and was in the middle of a postdoc when she decided to step down. She had the opportunity to start her own company and freelance as an editor,

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working for other researchers whose first language was not English and who wanted someone to review and edit their writing. – During my doctoral studies, I often stepped in and helped my colleagues with English-language text. They used to buy me a bottle of wine as a thank you. After a while, I realized that I could get paid in cash instead, she says. When Allison heard that Alexandre Antonelli and his staff were about to start a new centre for biodiversity, she was immediately interested. – The main reason why I came back was that I saw the opportunity to have an impact thorough research.

Finding and naming newly discovered

species and understanding where different species occur and why, has been her main focus for many years. Of the earth's 8.7 million species, only 1.2 million have so far been described by science, she explains. Two years ago, she took over as director of the GGBC, as her predecessor, Alexandre Antonelli, was appointed Director of Science at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London. Today, she has moved away from research to focusing more on collaboration and communication. – I have realized that we must reach out and communicate how important it is to protect diversity and species richness before it dies out. If we have to wait until we have found all the different species, we will have to wait an extremely long time. Then it will be too late. Allison Perrigo's interest in nature and the environment began early in life. As a child at home in Seattle on the North American west coast, she spent a lot of

time exploring the sand on the beaches and the soil in the forest. – My father was a palaeontologist. When I was growing up, he and my mother ran a family business that cleaned up the land on old industrial sites. All of our free time was spent out in nature, sometimes high up in the mountains or on the beach, digging for fossils. But also in more hazardous places, such as next to major roads where excavators had dug through several rock layers.

On the other side of the American bor-

der, less than three hours from Seattle by car, is the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. It was there that Allison applied after upper-secondary school and completed her undergraduate degree in ecology. After a year as an exchange student, she applied for a doctoral position at the University of Gothenburg to start a dissertation on slime moulds. – Slime moulds are part of an extremely complex system. In total, there are estimated to be many thousands of species of slime mould, but only a few hundred have been scientifically documented. She is interested in slime moulds and their life in the soil, how they relate to each other and why they exist.

– They move around and consume food they find in the soil, divide and feed on bacteria. And the first one that fails to find any bacteria, sends out a chemical “shout”. Then they all move towards one another and form a clump. Some form into a kind of snail shape, which then becomes worm-like and protrudes ever so slightly above the surface of the soil, she says and gesticulates enthusiastically. Together with her colleague Harith Farooq and a group of students, she also

 Allison Perrigo is fascinated by everything she sees in nature.

had a major impact last year with the study Extinct or just shy, in which they discovered the T-Rex-like lizard species montane skink, which has not been seen for over a hundred years. – It's so cute! With its little short legs and lizard body. The studies that she works with mainly use data collection. She can really miss the field studies, she says. To make up for it, she still spends a lot of time out in nature. She does a lot of hiking and camping, both by herself and with friends, even if they complain that she is too slow.

tradition of outdoor life. You get in your car and go somewhere. Few people are knowledgeable about species, animals and plants. Here, most people know the names of at least a couple of mushrooms and know that white anemones bloom in spring.

– I have always been like that. Ever since my Dad and I first went out in nature. I look down at the ground and get caught up in what I see. There are so many interesting things to look at. When you look really closely at a flower, you can see an enormous amount of detail. Twelve years after moving to Sweden, she feels at home here and enjoys watching the deer walk by outside the kitchen window when she is eating breakfast. Moreover, she appreciates the relationship Swedes have with nature. – In the US, there is not the same

Born: 1986, in Washington, USA. Grew up in Seattle.

Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre (GGBC)

Title: Doctor of Biology with a major in systematics, Director of the Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre (GGBC) and Project Manager at the Antonelli Lab group.

GGBC consists of seventeen partner organizations from western Sweden, all of which work with biological diversity. The members of GGBC are employees of these organizations and form the foundation for GGBC's activities.

Text: Hanna Jedvik Photo: Johan Wingborg

Allison Linnea Perrigo

Hobbies: Outdoor activities, diving, hiking and mushroom picking.

Among the member organizations are Universeum and Nordens Ark. The Botanical Garden and Slottsskogen.

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