GUJournal
INDEPENDENT JOURNAL FOR THE STAFF AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG #4 OCTOBER 2021
News
Eroded allocations threaten quality News
A shift in leadership Report
Small steps to improve health
ACT AND LEARN LENA PARETO WORKS TOGETHER WITH UNIVERSEUM
Vice-Chancellor
Gradual return during the autumn NEW SEMESTER is here and for
the second year in a row, the start of the academic year has not been what it is usually like. A certain amount of restrictiveness in welcoming new students has continued to be necessary, and I want to thank all of you who do a fantastic job of finding solutions to providing a warm welcome, albeit in a different way. But now the situation is starting to look brighter. The information from the government and the Public Health Agency in recent weeks, about a significant easing of the restrictions on September 29, means that we can continue with the gradual return to workplaces and campuses. This is well in line with our plan to open up the university that was announced before the summer, and on the basis of which we have formulated decisions and planning. This means that we will gradually step up our physical presence this autumn, based on the needs and circumstances of each activity. As for our European University Alliance, EUTOPIA, the latest good news is that we have expanded to include no less than three universities – one Italian, one German and one Portuguese. It now includes a total of nine European universities, and four partner universities
globally. The aim is that more students, researchers, lecturers and other staff will now have international opportunities. I hope you follow the work and get involved where you feel that you can contribute and benefit from increased exchange – culturally as well as from a research and skills perspective. This new international area of collaboration is well in line with the internationalization strategy that is now in place and which you can find out more about in this issue. I WOULD ALSO LIKE to mention that there have
been some changes in the university management both before and after the summer. Two new deputy vice-chancellors and an acting pro vice-chancellor have been appointed, and another deputy vice-chancellor in education will soon assume their role. All of them not only bring solid experience and expertise to the university management, but also enthusiasm and new ways of thinking. With all this news, I look forward to an energetic autumn and, little by little, precious reunions on campus and in corridors!
Vice-Chancellor EVA WIBERG
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
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-post: 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 journal has a free and independent position, and is made according to journalistic principles.
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Contents
NEWS 04–20 04. Increasing costs without compensation hollow out education. 07. Mette Sandoff – new Pro-Vice-Chancellor. 08. Infrastructure – an important issue for Carina Mallard. 10. With a focus on digital development. 11. New policy for internationalization. 12. Outreach, one of the University’s most important tasks. 14. More than 180 students at digital summer school. 17. Cooperation with Open University. 17. Extra academic ceremonies next year. PROFILE 18–21 18. Mathematics as beautiful reality. REPORT 22–25 22 . Changing your life, step by step. 24. 50 million missing women in India. PEOPLE 26 26. The Moment
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ou Wants more reach.
t-
New Deputy Vice-Chancellor Torbjörn Lundh.
Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
Masthead
Small steps towards a better life ECENTLY, THERE have been many changes in the management of the university: we have a new pro vice-chancellor and two new deputy vice-chancellors. You can read about them in this issue where we also publish an interview with Vice-Chancellor Eva Wiberg. “Internationalisation is not a goal in itself, but a means of attaining the best possible education and research”, is one of her comments regarding a new strategy for internationalisation. We also write about how increasing costs erode basic education, which of course affects the quality of teaching. This summer the University held its first digital international Summer School for Sustainability. The event was a great success with over 180 students from more than 20 countries studying together. Read more about the occasion in this issue. We have also made an interview
with Lena Pareto who will lead new projects within the university’s collaboration with Universeum. You cannot always influence illness yourself, but most people can probably take small health-promoting steps to improve their everyday life. That is the goal of the new research project Lifestyle Tool that Anders Rosengren has been involved in and developed. IN MANY PARTS of the world, female foetuses are aborted because girls are considered a burden on the family. A new research project on gendercide aims to investigate how attitudes and deep-rooted notions can be changed. In Sweden, of course, the situation is radically different, but even here women have had to fight for their rights, as documented in a new book about women’s liberation in Gothenburg. And there is still much left to do. Allan Eriksson & Eva Lundgren
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News
Eroded allocations threaten
quality Constantly increasing costs and no compensation for actual wage increases. This erodes basic education, which affects the quality of teaching. – It feels like being part of a Thelma & Louise film, where you accelerate towards an abyss at full speed, says Henrik Agndal, Head of the Department of Business Administration.
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SINCE 2018, the LKP or löne
kostnadspåslaget (social insurance contributions, insurance and pension payments) has increased every year and for 2022, a further increase of 1.5 percent was announced. The numbers speak for themselves. Between 2019 and 2020, salary costs at the University of Gothenburg increased by 3.7 percent – including contractual wage increases, new recruitments and promotions as well as increases in the LKP – but compensation from the state, i.e. what is called the wage and price appreciation, was only 1.72 percent. – Anyone can understand that this equation cannot be solved. The cost of each hour
in the lecture hall is increasing more than the increase in funding. While industry can take into account increased costs by negotiating with subcontractors, we are in an impossible situation. What should we be negotiating? A reduction in administration or teaching? Nor can we keep expanding education forever. Year after year, teaching is depleted financially. – THE CONSEQUENCES are
that lecturers have less time for lecturing, supervision and providing feedback. A few percent here or there may not be that significant in a year’s time, but over time it will make a big difference.
Photo: CARINA GRAN
– We try to keep the annual salary increases in check, but have difficulties when it comes to promotions. Today, senior lecturers have the right to have their expertise assessed in order to become associate professors and then professors. Promotions are occurring at a younger age, the people being promoted are getting younger and younger at the same time as fewer people are retiring. You may need to change the system so that promotion is determined by organizational needs. That is not possible today. The consequence is that those who are promoted expect a higher salary. This is perfectly reasonable, otherwise we risk them leaving altogether. It is also a question of being able to retain staff. NOWADAYS, professors are
only recruited if there are external research grants. – Fortunately, we have had a favourable situation on the research side, where there is more capacity, but with more research, there are fewer people to lecture. We also operate in a competitive
– We are seeing increased rates of sickness, and more and more people suffering from burn out. We are told that lecturing can be made more efficient. But there is also a limit to how far you can go before it affects the interaction between lecturer and student. It is that time we now have to reduce. We know that lecturers have professional pride and are very ambitious, but we cannot ask them to sponsor lecturing with their own personal time, that is unsustainable. In addition to the contractual salary increases of around 2 percent annually, there are salary increases for new recruitment and not least promotions.
The consequences are that lecturers have less time for lecturing, supervision and providing feedback. HENRIK AGNDAL
market where a new business graduate can often choose between a number of different employers. When we are recruiting, it is difficult to get skilled staff in certain areas. As an associate professor in Norway, you earn significantly more than as a professor in Sweden. We cannot match the salaries you see in industry and sometimes not even the colleges, but we can at best offer better opportunities for free research. THE DEPARTMENT of Business Administration has a complex funding model for both research and lecturing, where every effective hour is counted. Each course has a budget with a certain number of hours. – Here, every lecturer knows how much lecturing time they can spend on a course. It can, of course, be unfair, some lecturers who have taught the courses for a long time may get away a little easier, while new lecturers have to work like slaves. But in the end, it should level off, that’s the point, says Anders Ahlin, who started as an
Henrik Agndal is Head of the Department of Business and Administration.
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A growing challenge conomist in 2019. When he e started reviewing the course budgets, he discovered that something was wrong. No one had reviewed the course budgets in five years. Revenues on the education side in 2016 were SEK 66.6 million and costs were 63.6 million. Three years later, revenues had increased by 2 million, but costs had skyrocketed by about 9 million. ALL CALCULATIONS showed
an escalating deficit in education. In 2019, we slammed on the brakes, the budget for undergraduate education in 2020 was minus SEK 8 million. – It was really high time to act quickly but we could not change the model in the middle of the academic year, so we had to wait until
FACTS The LKP is the social insurance contributions, insurance and pension payments that employers pay for employees, but it is not v isible on your salary slip. For the most part, it consists of employer contributions (social insurance contributions) and provisions for defined-benefit pensions. The fees vary and depend on the age of the employee. In addition, the holiday bonus of 1.28 percent is added. An example: A professor earns SEK 1 million in annual salary, which is multiplied by 1.5597 (the LKP including holiday bonus). The total cost for the University of Gothenburg will be just over SEK 1.5 million per year. As Sweden has a negati-
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longer have a knife to our throats, he says. But we don’t know what it will look like in a few years. The fact that other departments are in the same position is no consolation for Henrik Agndal and his colleagues.
the autumn of 2020. The head of department put a lot of work into getting buy-in for the proposal in all sections and asked if there were any other areas where we could economize. There weren’t any. By cutting the course budgets, 10 percent in undergraduate education and 20 percent at master’s level, as well as reducing the number of external lecturers, it was possible to save around SEK 5 million in one go. – It was a drastic savings package but we had no other option. We had already saved money on the administration of the department. Anders Ahlin feels that he can breathe a sigh of relief. – Now the figures are precisely balanced, a zero result for this year. We no
– WE HOPE TO obtain compensation for real wage increases, but it is not likely. We will solve it even if it results in less time for interaction with students, maybe more large lectures and larger class sizes. In part, we can certainly compensate for that with modern teaching methods, but what will happen in 10 or 20 years’ time?
Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg
Social LPK LKP incl. insurance holiday bonus
2022
55.50
57.49
2021
54.00
55.97
2019
52.00
53.20
2018
51.00
52.94
ve interest rate, the value of government bonds has fallen, which means that employers have to pay higher premiums in order for pensions not to decline in value.
University of Gothenburg then distributesthe increased grant directly to the faculties without any deduction, but the distribution to the departments is determined by the faculty.
The compensation that the University of Gothenburg receives from the state is called “pris- och löneuppräkning”, PLO (price and wage appreciation). For 2021 it was 1.72 percent and next year it will be 1.06 percent. The
The contractual salary increases at the University of Gothenburg (outcome RALS, full-time) were 2.01 percent in 2018 and 2.35 for 2019. The figures for 2020 were not ready at the time the magazine went to print.
That fact that the LKP is increasing every year is not the University of Gothenburg’s fault, CFO Peter Tellberg points out, but is due to the negative interest rate in Sweden. – It is a growing challenge for the entire higher education sector, and even greater for government agencies. PETER TELLBERG
points out that it is the historically low interest rate in Sweden that means that pensions do not increase in value as they have done in the past. – Therefore, the costs of defined-benefit pensions must increase, and that is not something that we as an public body can afford. Peter Tellberg thinks that the criticism concerning real wage increases not being compensated is justified. He believes that the government expects the universities to make efficiency gains. – What governs this appreciation is the wage increases for salaried employees in the industrial sector. Thereafter, the government makes a productivity deduction without further specification. BUT ACCORDING TO Peter
Tellberg, there is no great risk that we will end up in the same financial crisis as Chalmers, where they were forced to save SEK 250 million and get rid of 180 employees. – No, the reason is that Chalmers University of Technology, as a private foundation, has an even higher pension debt and manages it under its own auspices, unlike state universities. It is old pension commitments in combination with a historically low interest rate that are causing the deficit.
Stepping up to a new position Mette Sandoff, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education, will take over as Pro-Vice-Chancellor from Mattias Goksör, who will be stepping down for personal reasons.
things with a fresh pair of eyes and contribute, which should be encouraged. In terms of the actual hand-over, it will need to be adapted to whoever is taking over, that is to the knowledge the person has about the position as a whole.
AT AN EXTRAORDINARY meeting at the end of August, the University Board decided to appoint Professor Mette Sandoff as Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor from August 30, 2021, until June 30, 2023. This means that a new deputy vice-chancellor must be appointed, so for a time she will be both Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
You are also Professor of Public Administration. What expertise and experience from that field will you bring to the executive management of the University of Gothenburg?
How come you accepted the position? – I saw it as a challenge and an opportunity to work in the best interests of the university on a more over-arching level than I could in my position as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education. There will be matters that I already follow, but have had no responsibility for, as well as other matters that are completely new to me. A need arose and I think it is important to take responsibility for the university’s operations, and contribute whenever I can. How long have you known about this? – I was asked some time ago. Of course I thought about it, but I realised fairly quickly that I wanted to contribute. The situation is still precarious with the pandemic and major changes in pipeline. For instance, new deputy vice-chancellors, major inquiries, a comprehensive reorganisation of the Central University Admi-
Mette Sandoff is new Pro-Vice-Chancellor st the University.
nistration, and the launching of a new climate transition that has created controversy. – I think it is fun to see new people coming in with new ideas and energy to the management team. I look at these changes as an opportunity to come up with something new and to see problems from different perspectives. I am looking forward to this journey of change at the Central University Administration and have high hopes of this leading to something even better.
You are stepping up from your position as deputy vice-chancellor for education, a position that you have held since 2012? How does it feel?
– It has been very stimulating to be Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Education. As I have been there for quite some time, I have had the opportunity to influence and follow many
issues, and seen how we have developed our work at the university. Of course, a part of me will miss working so closely with the issues and the people with whom I have worked for so long, but it feels good to move on to new challenges.
– Research and education within the subject of public administration, which in brief involves studying the public sector, organisation theory and leadership – by now, I have garnered a lot of experience, both in theory and practice. I can contribute this knowledge and benefit from it in an executive role, and it is something that I have tried to make use of in all my previous executive positions as director of studies, head of department, assistant dean and deputy vice-chancellor.
What do you think is most important when handing over to a new deputy vice-chancellor for education?
– Continuing to manage and drive the dynamic group that the University Board of education has become, as well as taking on the other duties that the role of deputy vice-chancellor entails. In the short-term, the focus should be on avoiding unnecessary interruptions in the matters that are already underway. At the same time, and in the longer term, it is important to look at
New Deputy Vice-Chancellor for education is Pauli Kortteinen.
Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg
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Wants better career paths for more staff Research funding, internationalization and clear career paths for more groups, these are some of the important issues that Carina Mallard wants to address as the new deputy vice-chancellor for research. – One of my first tasks, however, will be to meet all the deans and try to familiarize myself with the many issues faced by the different faculties. CARINA MALLARD, Professor of Experimental Perinatal Brain Injury Research, was until July 31, Head of Core Facilities, a university-wide resource at Sahlgrenska Academy with some of Sweden’s most advanced techniques and analysis tools for research in the medical field. Until now, she has also been a member of the Swedish Research Council’s Council for Research Infrastructure, but will now sit on URFI instead, Universitetens Referensgrupp för Forskningsinfrastruktur (the Universities’ Reference Group for Research Infrastructure). And she considers infrastructure to be one of the most important things she can do as Deputy Vice-Chancellor. – Many people probably think that research infrastructure is mostly about costly facilities within medicine, science and technology,
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such as the Max IV Laboratory in Lund or the SciLifeLab national centre. But all fields of science need good infrastructure. These also require educational initiatives, both for senior and young researchers, as well as for other members of staff, and this is important to invest in, of course. SKILLS DEVELOPMENT and
clear career paths for the technical staff are matters that are close to her heart. – The people who work with our various facilities are talented people, often doctoral researchers, who develop new methods, different projects and also participate in the education. If these important employees have a more obvious path to advancement, it will facilitate both recruitment and their willingness to stay at our
We should also be better at supporting the researchers who coordinate major international projects, which are demanding commitments that take both time and resources. CARINA MALLARD
universities, which in turn will strengthen our research. On August 11, Tobias Krantz, former Minister of Higher Education and Research, submitted the report Stärkt fokus på framtidens forskningsinfrastruktur (Enhanced Focus on Future Research Infrastructure) to the government. Among other things, he proposes the establishment of a new authority for research infrastructure of particular national interest and an authority for digital infrastructure. – That sounds reasonable. Infrastructure of particular national interest entails substantial costs and the amount
Carina Mallard Currently: New Deputy Vice-Chancellor. Background: Received her PhD in 1995 at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, Post-doctoral fellow 1996–1998 at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Professor of E xperimental Perinatal Brain Injury research at the University of Gothenburg since 2006, Director of Studies at Sahlgrenska Academy 2006–2015, Visiting Professor at Kings College London 2015– 2019, Director of Core Facilities 2018–2021.
of research data is enormous, and also increases all the time. It cannot be the responsibility of each individual university to be responsible for all the processing and storage. Research funding is another important issue for Carina Mallard.
Family: Husband and two children.
– AMONG OTHER THINGS, we
Lives in: Pixbo. What are your hobbies? I have two dogs that help me enjoy nature in all kinds of weather. Travelling to explore new places and meet family and friends.
should be better at seeking international funding, not least from the EU. The University of Gothenburg has actually received a lower level of funding from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 compared to previous initiatives. Applying for funding from the EU is not that easy,
but we have several talented employees at the Grants and Innovation Office who help, and whose expertise can be utilized even more. We should also be better at supporting the researchers who coordinate major international projects, which are demanding commitments that take both time and resources. Carina Mallard is also involved in the career opportunities of young researchers. Among other things, she would like them to have significantly longer to obtain their qualifications. – I WAS A RESEARCH assistant for four years after a four-year post-doctoral period, which
gave me the opportunity to publish, become familiar with the field and get started in general. So a reintroduction of something similar with these research assistant positions I think would be valuable to many people at the start of their careers. The role of deputy vice-chancellor is 80 percent. – This means that I will still be part of the research world, something I think is very important.
Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg
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Increasing the digital pressure Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
How should the University of Gothenburg organize, prioritize and finance increased digitalization? There are some important future challenges for management. The Vice-Chancellor has now appointed a working group to deal with digitalization. – Anyone who believes that all the problems associated with digitalization will soon be solved risks being disappointed. But we promise to increase the pressure when it comes to matter of digitalization, says Jonas Landgren, Senior Lecturer in Informatics, who is leading the working group.
Do other universities face the same digitalization challenges as the University of Gothenburg?
THE ONGOING PANDEMIC and
the email crash last autumn are some examples of how important it is to have well-functioning digital solutions, in terms of both education, research and administration, Jonas Landgren points out. – It is fantastic how the University of Gothenburg’s employees quickly adapted and managed the transition to online activities at the beginning of the pandemic. We could have closed down and furloughed staff, but instead we found different ways to handle the situation. Later, when the email stopped working, we got through that too and quickly switched to Teams. This shows that the University of Gothenburg is a resilient organization, even though of course all the changes have involved a lot of work. Digitalization affects all activities: lecturing can be done in new ways, research is organized differently, certain tasks cease and others are added. – Digitalization means change but also friction; we must manage and streamline what we already do, while also testing and exploring new opportunities. However, the working group’s
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but we must ask ourselves why it occurs, Jonas Landgren points out. Is the support insufficient or too slow? Can decisions be made further down in the organization? Should we introduce new tools in other ways? It may also be that we are not good at explaining why some changes need to take time.
Jonas Landgren is responsible for the new working group that will accelerate the digitalization at GU.
Eva Lundgren
mandate is not about starting new digitalization projects, Jonas Landgren emphasizes. – Such projects can be found all around the university. And of course we will work together with the expertise we already have, for example at the IT unit, which offers plenty of know-how, and at PIL, which has tremendously good ideas about how education can be enhanced. ONE REASON WHY management
decided to review digitalization was an investigation by Johan Magnusson and Tomas Lindroth earlier this year. It showed shortcomings both in terms of the digitalization strategy and the financing model. Many people also lack central support for their digitalization requirements, which has led to so-called shadow IT, i.e. the purchase, development and use of IT that is not centrally sanctioned. – Shadow IT is a phenomenon that we probably cannot avoid,
– Yes, we encounter similar issues everywhere; maybe we can collaborate on certain solutions. But the reason why the University of Gothenburg is so good at dealing with change is partly due to the fact that we are decentralized. The past two years have entailed a lot of change, and it is impressive how well the university’s employees have carried out that work.
FACTS
This shows that the University of Gothenburg is a resilient organization, even though of course all the changes have involved a lot of work. JONAS LANDGREN
On September 1, the Vice-Chancellor decided on a project organization for digitalization. The work of develop ing proposals on level of ambition, strategies, forms of governance and priorities within digitalization will be led by a steering committee. The operational work will be led by a working group with the task of producing a project plan for identification and prioritization of the various areas of digitalization. The working group is led by Jonas Landgren, Senior Lecturer in Informatics. The initiative is one among many consequence of the investigation, Portföljstyrning som magiskt tänkande (Portfolio Management as Magical Thinking) by Johan Magnusson and Tomas Lindroth.
The Vice-Chancellor wants increased mobility – Internationalisation is not a goal in itself, but a means of attaining the best possible education and research, says Vice- Chancellor Eva Wiberg about the new internationalisation strategy that was recently adopted. INTERNATIONALISATION was at
the top of the agenda when Eva Wiberg took office four years ago. – I realised early on that internationalisation had been relegated to the departmental level. The University of Gothenburg was less visible and attractive internationally, and we did not have many central agreements. For this reason, we needed to pool our resources and focus them on this issue, and we still do. The first thing she did was to form an internationalisation council, of which she was the chairperson.
– THE FIRST THING we did was to survey the needs of the faculties and departments to ascertain which regions were the most interesting ones. There are almost 30,000 universities in the world, but which ones do we want to work with? High quality and reciprocity in the agreements are essential. The three-page strategy, which is in effect from 2021– 2024, says nothing about the outcomes and instead focuses on values and overarching principles about autonomy and academic freedom. If comprises four areas: Sustainable Development, Relationships and Cooperation with the Community, Responsible Internationalisation and Skills Provision. The idea is to break down the strategy into different action plans. Eva Wiberg stresses that the strategy is global and university-wide. – It aligns with our vision: A
university for the world. This is what we can achieve together on an overarching level. At the same time, there is always the freedom for each department and faculty to set their own priorities. The strategy is a reflection of our efforts over the past few years. Some partnership agreements highlighted by the Vice-Chancellor include MIRAI 2.0 with 11 Swedish and 8 Japanese universities, SANORD which aims to promote collaboration between universities in the Nordic region and southern Africa, as well as CALIE which is a partnership between Swedish and American universities on leadership. – What characterises these agreements is that we join a network of other Swedish universities. We are not only seen as the University of Gothenburg, but as a part of Universities of Sweden. Even though we are competitors, we are stronger together. We are currently planning partnership agreements with South Korea and Indonesia together with other Swedish universities. There is also plenty of interest in more collaboration with North America, Australia and New Zealand. MOST OF ALL, Eva Wiberg would like to see a partnership agreement with the University of California Exchange Programme (UCEAP), which includes the most prominent and highly ranked universities on the American west coast. – Lund University has been collaborating with the UCEAP since the 1960s. I think we have a good chance since our key areas are a good match, but we also align in terms of values. The major digital transition during the pandemic has also impacted the content of the strategy, focusing on responsible and sustainable internationalisation.
– I hope that the Climate Framework will lead to more sustainable travel in the future, which will reduce our CO2 emissions in accordance with the climate goals. We cannot do what Greta did and sail across the Atlantic, but we could travel a lot more by train in the Nordics and Europe. We also need to think about the reason for certain trips and have to accept that it will cost a little more.
I hope that the Climate Framework will lead to more sustainable travel in the future ... EVA WIBERG
INTERNATIONAL recruitment is another matter to take very seriously, according to the Vice-Chancellor, such as by continuing to develop how we welcome foreign employees and provide language support. Eva Wiberg also wants to create opportunities for sabbatical programmes in all faculties. – That is important not only for our own employees, because if we want to attract young, promising researchers, we need to be able to offer contiguous research time over several months. Even though digital meetings have proven to work pretty well, Eva Wiberg wants to strike a blow for increased mobility. It is important, not least for students and doctoral students. – Getting out there and seeing something different, widening your horizons and gaining insight into the fact that there is a world outside, this is the very point of internationalisation. It may never have been more important than it is now, considering that we live in a time of growing populism, xenophobia and nationalism. And internationalisation at home is just as important, to work in an environment that is not homogeneous.
Text: Allan Eriksson Photo: Johan Wingborg
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Outreach should be meritorious
The University of Gothenburg is an enormous collective problem- solving organisation that contributes to development throughout our entire society. And yet, outreach brings little merit in academic circles. I am hoping to change that, explains Torbjörn Lundh. He is Professor of Biomathematics and the new Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Outreach and Utilization. OUTREACH, OR THIRD-stream
activities as it was formerly known, is often emphasized as something in which the university should invest more effort. But what is outreach, really? – I have just stepped down as the First Assistant Dean for Outreach at the Faculty of Science, and that was a matter that occupied me significantly initially. Uppsala University has a tripartite definition that I have taken to heart: outreach is about collaboration and utilization as well as information dissemination and exchange with wider society. These parts can then be specified further: information dissemination may be about popular science, participation in public discourse, school visits and so on. However, many people find the term “utilization” a sensitive term. Research is supposed to be free, and not serve someone else’s interests. – A Mathematician’s Apology is the title of an essay from 1940 in which the British mathematician Godfrey Harold Hardy points to the beauty of number theory, a branch of mathematics that he argued only exists for its own sake, without providing benefit or inflicting harm. But number
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theory was the foundation for cryptography which, as computers have become ever more common, has turned into a very heated topic. The example tells us that it is difficult to determine what may become useful in the future, which of course is an argument in favour of the free search for knowledge. Anyone who dislikes “utilization” is free to come up with a different term, what is important is what we do, not what we call it. TORBJÖRN LUNDH HAS contributed to utilization himself, such as by working with a vascular surgeon and a textile engineer to create a special bandage that is easy to apply using precisely the right pressure. – I had no idea there were problems applying pressure bandages, which is something that we have been doing for thousands of years, until I met with the vascular surgeon. So the collaboration led to new insights as well as to a new product. Torbjörn Lundh’s field, biomathematics, operates in the boundary between chemistry, physics, medicine and computer science, in addition to mathematics and biology. Meeting with several different researchers has
The example tells us that it is difficult to determine what may become useful in the future, which of course is an argument in favour of the free search for knowledge. TORBJÖRN LUNDH
made him think about how to facilitate mutual understanding. – A FEW YEARS AGO a colleague of mine from Chalmers, Philip Gerlee, and I published the book Scientific Models. In it, we try to unravel what different researchers mean when they say that they use a model. Is it about a simpler representation of reality, a way of explaining a mathematical relationship, or an actual plastic structure depicting molecules? Difficulties in working together may arise from the fact
Torbjörn Lundh Currently: New Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Outreach and Utilization. Background: Professor of Biomathematics, defended his thesis in 1996 at Uppsala University: Kleinian groups and thin sets at the boundary with a popular science summary called Dansande krabbor och fartyg på drift (Dancing Crabs and Ships Adrift). Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cambridge and SUNY, Stony Brook, New York. 2015–2016 Visiting professor at Stanford University Hospital, California. 2018–2021 Vice Dean for Outreach, Innovation and Internationalisation at the Faculty of Science. Family: Wife and two adult children. Lives in: Billdal. Hobbies: Playing the trombone in Möbiusbandet (the Moebius Band), motorcycles, sailing and squash.
that we do not fully realise that we use the same word to mean different things. Whether you are collaborating within or outside the university it may thus be helpful if you imagine that you are visiting a different country: If you go to Japan, you know that you have to try to understand the rules and codes of conduct that apply there. THE UNIVERSITY OF Gothenburg is a university with a broad scope that has tremendous potential for outreach, Torbjörn
Lundh points out. – We have Jonsered Manor, the Science Festival, After work at Pustervik, researchers writing op-ed articles, conducting inquiries and working closely with industry. In the same way that you can go to a conference to get new insights, a collaboration with Astra Zeneca or with a school can lead to interesting meetings and unexpected questions. Research, education and outreach are all activities that enrich each other. Outreach is both an obliga-
– Research, education and outreach all enrich each other, and all activities must be meritorious, argues Deputy Vice-Chancellor Torbjörn Lundh.
tion and an opportunity, says Torbjörn Lundh. – Outreach also makes the university more visible in our society and may lead to our getting a bigger piece of the pie in terms of research and education. Just as with all other important activities, outreach must be meritorious and I see that as something important to invest in.
Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg
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Digital summer course exceeded expectations
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A DECISION HAS ALREADY
been made to offer the summer school until 2024, with sustainability as its theme. – Now this year’s summer school has been evaluated, and planning is underway for next year. So far, there have been five proposals for courses from as many faculties. We will see if it will be digital or on site, says Annika Larsson. The unique thing about Summer School for Sustainability is that it is based on the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The courses also include social and practical elements where students have to propose possible solutions
Photo: PRIVATE
This year, the University of Gothenburg’s first Summer School for Sustainability was held, a summer school in sustainability – completely digital. More than 180 students from over 20 countries studied together in the month of July. There was tremendous interest – over 800 people applied for the six courses. – It was very successful, says Annika Larsson, Project Manager at the International Centre.
to climate threats. – The University of Gothenburg has a very clear profile in sustainability, so it was easy to market the six courses, which this summer were aimed at exchange students at partner universities. They study together with Swedish students, which contributes to internationalization at home, Annika Larsson points out. THE MORE THAN 180 places
Annika Larsson, Project Manager at the International Centre.
were quickly filled and the student mix was very diverse, from about 20 countries, and included students at different levels. From the beginning, it was Hans Abelius, Head of
the International Centre, who picked up the idea at the request of several of the university’s partner universities who wanted to be able to send students for a shorter period than an entire semester. But it has taken time to get it in place. The plan was to start in 2020, but then the pandemic got in the way. – THE IDEA WAS also to arrange
the summer school on site, but at the end of last year the decision was made to make it digital, so we had to adjust quickly, says Annika Larsson. Some examples of courses
It was a challenge to create a sense of inclusion, considering that everyone was sitting in front of their screens in different parts of the world, in different time zones.
were “sustainable development in a global perspective”, “inequality in climate change” and “biodiversity in western Sweden”. In addition to the courses, there was an extensive programme of peripheral activities open to the whole group, with lectures, panel discussions, workshops, quizzes and even remote baking. – It was a challenge to create a sense of inclusion, considering that everyone was sitting in front of their screens in different parts of the world, in different time zones. But we had two student ambassadors who did a fantastic job. The purpose was to get the students involved, and I think we succeeded. THE SURVEYS ALSO show that the students were satisfied with the summer school (4.6 out of 5 points) and that it made them more involved in sustainability issues. Furthermore, many of them are thinking about continu-
ing their studies at the University of Gothenburg. The evaluations from the six course leaders were also only positive: Everyone thought that the digital format worked much better than expected, despite the fact that the students were in different time zones and sometimes had to get up in the middle of the night to be able to participate. ANNIKA LARSSON IS happy with the tremendous commitment, but when it came down to it, it was difficult to get lecturers and researchers at the University of Gothenburg to show up, even if it was only for a couple of hours. – I don’t think that many of them are used to working in the middle of the summer. But we must not forget that this is an excellent opportunity for our lecturers to present their research. The digital format also made it possible to involve lecturers from other countries. One of them was the producer of Planet Earth, Chadden Hunter. Planning the entire summer school involved a lot of work, but Annika Larsson thinks it was worth it. – It was the most fun thing I’ve ever done. However, it has been a journey with a lot of challenges, next year it will run much more smoothly. Allan Eriksson
FACTS Summer School for Sustainability 2021 brought together students from around the world to study issues related to Agenda 2030 and the global sustainability goals for four weeks. Of the more than 800 first-time applicants, 136 exchange students and 46 Swedish students have been placed. The International Office arranges the Summer School.
A perfect model for an international classroom Hello there, Gregg Bucken-Knapp,
mer
Professor of Public Administration, responsible teacher for the summer course Managing Migration, one of six courses that were part of SumSchool for Sustainability 2021.
What did it mean for you to give the course? The course in Managing Migration course was an opportunity to deliver on something that I have long wanted to do – bring together an international group of undergraduates with an interest in migration and integration and to give them the opportunity to learn not just from me and my colleagues at Förvaltningshögskolan, but also from scholars and practitioners around the globe who work with migration. The online format really worked in our favor this year, and it provides an ideal model for internationalizing the classroom in a sustainable way. It was especially rewarding to have a mix of students from both here in Sweden and students from so many of the GU partner universities. That type of truly diverse classroom is far too rare at the undergraduate level, and opens up so many possibilities for student discussion and collaboration
What do you think is needed to get more teachers to participate during summer? We Swedes like our long summer vacations, myself included. But, with the course over at the end of July, there was still the chance to take the entire month of August off. And what better way to start vacation than with fresh memories of having just been part of a central GU educational initiative for promoting sustainability? I think the opportunity easily sells itself! That said, planning and delivering a summer course with almost 40 contact hours is very labor-intensive, and I imagine that most of the involved teachers, or those who might be persuaded to be involved, would greatly value having additional resources made available in terms of extra teaching hours.
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Among the 200 top universities in the world Among the 200 top universities in the world The University of Gothenburg climbs a few places on the British Times Higher Education’s annual ranking list of the world’s top universities and ranks 185th. TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION (THE) HAS PRESENTED its prestigious ranking list of universities from around the world since 2004. This year, the University of Gothenburg has risen six places – from 191 to 185. But it is difficult to draw any major conclusions from the change, according to analyst Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
”It’s a very small movement that can be considered normal variation and it hardly produces any change in exposure either. However, it is valuable to be just above the 200 mark compared to being just below. Often, only the top 200 universities will show. The University of Gothenburg gained almost exactly the same total score this year as last year (54.8 points in 2021). But there have been some changes in the various indicators: In teaching, the university has risen from 27.7 points to 29.6, in research it increased from 40.8 to 42.3 but, on the other hand, the university has dropped in the ‘media quotations’ indicator
from 94 to 90.5 points. The number one on the list is for the sixth year in a row the University of Oxford in the UK. Otherwise, the top list is dominated by American universities with eight out of ten top rankings. The California Institute of Tecnhology ranks second, followed by Harvard and Stanford.
Despite fierce international competition, the University of Gothenburg has managed to climb on the important ranking board. ”The university seems to have situated itself in the range of 150–200, which is a respectable place that gives a significant exposure,” says Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
KI IS STILL the number one place among Swedish higher education institutions and for the second year in a row it is clinching a place in the top 40 list. The next best in Sweden is Lund University in 116th place and Uppsala University in 131st place. Stockholm University is following on place 176th.
Allan Eriksson
Please read more on: https:// medarbetarportalen.gu.se/ organisation/utredningar/ universitetsrankning/resultat analyser/ https://www.timeshigher education.com/
University of Gothenburg ranked among the best
OUR RANKING this year means
that the University of Gothenburg has advanced three places compared to 2020, and consolidates the official position within the 101–150 range, which is the same position as in 2020. The slight advance is probably due to random variation, analyst Magnus MacHale-Gunnarssson believes. – It is the single best position that the University of
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Gothenburg has ever attained on the Shanghai Ranking, but the improvement is so minor that it could be considered noise, he emphasizes. The University of Gothenburg’s improved position over the past few years is primarily down to better results in the HiCi indicators (the number of employees on Clarivate’s lists of frequently cited researchers), as well as having more articles published in the journals Nature & Science. AS REGARDS OTHER Swedish universities with a broad educational remit, there are small differences. Karolinska Institutet is the highest ranked Swedish university, and is
Photo: OLA KJELBYE
The University of Gothenburg is ranked in 138th place in the 2021 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), more commonly called the Shanghai Ranking.
number 42 in the world. They are followed by Stockholm University and Uppsala University, in 74th and 78th place respectively. Lund University has fallen a few places and, like last year, they are ranked slightly below the University of Gothenburg.
The biggest change is that the Royal Institute of Technology and Chalmers University of Technology have fallen significantly from 213th to 277th place for the Royal Institute of Technology, and from 359th to 447th place for Chalmers. – This can be explained by the fact that both universities have dropped in the indicators for frequently cited researchers, where Chalmers previously had two researchers, compared to only one currently, and the Royal Institute no longer has anyone on the list, says Magnus MacHale-Gunnarsson.
Allan Eriksson
Cooperation for a better university education
Hello there!
Cooperation for a better university education Interested in developing your educational work? In that case, the PIL unit’s collaboration with Open University may be something for you. The collaboration is based on disseminating experiences and research on teaching in higher education.
models in higher education affect teaching. Together with our British colleagues, we put a lot of energy into finding interesting topics and, for example, would like our “excellent” teachers to be involved and spread their experiences. In addition to increasing knowledge about higher education pedagogy, the purpose of the collaboration is also to
OPEN UNIVERSITY (OU) is an English university whose administration is located in Milton Keynes, 70 km northwest of London. But the university’s physical location is not so important because the university has been engaged in distance education since its start in 1969. The University of Gothenburg has had collaborations and exchanges with OU for 15 years. And since 2017, the PIL unit has been collaborating with OU on a seminar series on higher education pedagogy to disseminate both experiences of teaching and research. – The seminars are held four times a year via Zoom. Every other time GU is the host, every other time OU, says Linda Bradley, associate professor of Education, who is one of those who arrange GU’s part of the collaboration.
Photo: PRIVATE
VARIOUS LECTURERS are invited
to talk about a current topic. In June, for example, Tim Lowe and Carlton Wood talked about how OU arranges examinations online, something they have long experience of. In September, Agnes Nurbo and Therése Skoog from GU held a seminar on quantitative methods in teaching. – We have all sorts of themes and participants from different areas and disciplines, Linda Bradley explains. Last year, for example, Andreas Moberg at the Department of Law gave the presentation ”You get what you pay for”: true or false? which was about how different cost
ANNA SONBERGER, Project Manager for Ceremonies and Events. What ceremonies are planned and will the events that were cancelled due to the epidemic finally take place? – Yes, I hope so, of course with the reservation that you can’t be sure of anything in this world. Next year, for example, we are planning two doctoral conferment ceremonies, one in the spring and one in the autumn. In the spring, we will also have an especially large professorial installation ceremony with new professors from the three years: 2019, 2020 and 2021. Of course, we also hope to be able to carry out all other ceremonies, such as the Zealous and Devoted Service Ceremony, the Retirement Ceremony and the Diplomering Ceremony.
Is there anything new planned?
Linda Bradley
increase collegial collaboration and understanding between different subjects, Linda Bradley points out. – TAKING PART IN how to do
in another country is of course always valuable. At OU, for example, there have long been special rooms spread across the UK where students can graduate, much like we in Sweden do at the university entrance exam. How it works can be stimulating to know more about. The interest in higher education pedagogical issues has increased among GU’s teachers in recent years, says Linda Bradley. – The seminars together with OU can be a way to get new ideas. They are open to all employees at GU, but you must register to gain access to material, such as power point presentations.
Eva Lundgren
For more information: https:// pil.gu.se/english/activities/seminar-series.
– Yes, on November 12, we will for the first time conduct a special promotion for our jubilee doctors, i.e., people who defended their theses 50 years ago. It will be a nice ceremony in the university auditorium and dinner in the evening. The jubilee doctors are of course also welcome to the doctoral conferment ceremony, but as guests.
Planned academic ceremonies: October 12, 2021: Felix Neubergh Lecture 2020 with Tim Earle, Humanist.
February 24, 2022 Retirement Ceremony, Vasaparken or the Wallenberg Conference Centre.
November 12, 2021: New ceremony – Jubilee Doctors Conferment Ceremony
March 11, 2022: Doctoral Conferment Ceremony 2020, Svenska Mässan.
November 25, 2021: Felix Neubergh Lecture 2021 with Lars Jonung, School of Business, Economics and Law.
May 17, 2022: Graduation Ceremony, Vasaparken. May 20, 2022: Professorial Installation Ceremony 2019, 2020, 2021, Svenska Mässan.
November 30, 2021: Graduate Ceremony, Vasaparken or the September 2022: Wallenberg Conference Jubilee Doctor’s Centre. Conferment November 8–9, 2021: Ceremony, Vasaparken. Nobel Week Dialogue. October 28, 2022: January 26, 2022: The Zealous and Devoted Service Ceremony, Vasaparken or the Wallenberg Conference Centre.
Doctoral Conferment Ceremony 2021, Svenska Mässan. October 2022: Felix Neubergh Lecture 2022.
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Teaches the beauty of mathematics Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg
– Numbers and symbols are the language we use to describe what mathematics stands for. But mathematics is really something else: an elegant way of describing aspects of the world, says Lena Pareto. She was recently appointed Professor of Pedagogy with the task of strengthening the University of Gothenburg’s collaboration with Universeum.
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Universeum’s warm, humid rainforest is a stark contrast to the cold rainy weather we hurried in from, getting more or less soaking wet. The air is full of chattering, chirping and croaking sounds, and the waterfall roars. Even though the rainforest is not really something Lena Pareto usually works with, she still wants to point out that the jungle can also inspire mathematical thinking: For example, how can you calculate how much water is in the piranhas’ aquarium? But really, Lena Pareto’s professorship is about being part of developing Universeum’s latest initiatives: a new visualization lab where visitors can examine research data, as well as Sweden’s largest visualization dome. It should provide opportunities for new 3D experiences of things that are too big, too small, too fast, too slow or too complicated for humans to study. In addition, a “miniverseum” is underway for younger visitors. – Universeum already collaborates with the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers, as well as with other universities, Lena Pareto points out. – But now the collaboration will be more systematic with even more focus on various research projects. Among other things, I hope that students will be able to have courses or do project work here and that the collaboration with the school can increase even more. For example, I hope to have the opportunity to start a research project on how Universeum could develop its online activities for schools that do not have the opportunity to physically bring a class here. Digital technology is special, Lena Pareto points out.
– All physical material, such as wood, steel or textiles, have inherent properties that must be taken into account when using them. Digital technology, on the other hand, is like a material without any properties at all. Since everything is just an illusion, you can test anything and see what happens. Therefore, Universeum’s new environments will provide incredible opportunities for data visualization in a variety of ways. All this freedom to design an illusion of something makes it at the same timedifficult because we understand things differently. In 1995, Lena Pareto defended her thesis in computer science with a theoretical thesis on how to assess the accuracy of computer programmes. The following year, she continued her theoretical research at the INRIA Sophia Antipolis-Méditerranée Research Centre in France. But since then, she has devoted herself to technology that is much closer to people’s everyday lives, for example a project to create better sound environments in office landscapes. It was a question from a friend, who was studying to be a preschool teacher, that made Lena Pareto start thinking about the practical applications of her research. – Given my knowledge of digital technology, she wondered if I might be able to do something to promote the teaching of mathematics in schools. I have always wanted to try to understand how we learn different
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things, so I began to think. Since there is a general idea that everything to do with numbers and symbols is difficult, I started to wonder whether you could learn mathematics in a different way. It resulted in the graphic computer game Rutiga familjen (Checkered Family), where children can learn the four rules of arithmetic, positive and negative numbers and the decimal system, without any numbers.
– The players pack and unpack boxes with different coloured squares, which represent positive or negative numbers. What you are able to do with the squares is controlled, so that it is always mathematically correct. Addition, for example, is about adding, regardless of whether you add positive or negative squares. Eventually, however, children discover that deleting a positive number has the same effect as adding the same negative number. The game can be used by children from about 4 years and throughout primary school. – Older children can play very strategically: If I do this then maybe my teammate or opponent will do that, and then I will have to do this… Mathematics that just involves providing the correct is boring, says Lena Pareto. – Therefore, Rutiga familjen does not ask questions such as: What is 5 plus 5? but instead: Which numbers can be added together to make 10? And then you discover that it is possible to find as many solutions as you like. In collaboration with various schools, the game has gradually developed. Together with primary school teachers, special educators and students in the training school, Lena Pareto has developed the game primarily for students with mathematics difficulties. And together with researchers from Stanford University, she has recently added another dimension: students are commissioned to teach how to play the game. – The program has been provided with a digital agent that the children are given the task of learning mathematics. The agent asks questions based on what the child is doing in the game, which means that the children must explain and motivate their play behavior to the agent. The mathematics studies become more fun but also facilitate conversations with the students; it is the agent who may have difficulty with certain aspects, not the student himself. In the latest project around the game, I investigate, together with colleagues, what happens when we use a physical robot, which moves and talks, instead of a digital agent. How do the children perceive it? Lena Pareto is driven by a desire to make the world
better with the help of technology. But to do that, you have to be curious, she says. – My role model is Astrid Lindgren’s “Rumpnissar” (Rumphobs) who constantly ask “Vaffor då då?” (Why’s that then?). But I also want to convey the beauty of mathematics. Those who think maths is boring should talk to some mathematicians. Their fascination is not about counting very complex numbers, but about
mathematics being the logic we use, bit by bit, to build the world. Yet the very basis of all mathematics is a number of axioms that we can only accept; if a single one of them falls, the whole of mathematics falls as we understand it and have understood it for a long time. Two small bright red ibises with long, curved beaks have come very close and are looking at us. This makes Lena Pareto talk about her second great interest, after mathematics: nature.
– You have to have a different pace in your life, it’s
not possible to hurry and rush around constantly . I live with my partner on a farm on Orust and have acquired a Dutch Warmblood, among other things. I love riding, skiing and diving but also to just be out in nature and swim in forest lakes. Due to hip problems I previously had difficulty doing everything I wanted to do, but now I have had two hip replacements and most things are possible again. Lena Pareto previously also enjoyed travelling, but that desire has waned. – The best thing about traveling is to come home and realize that the place where you live is actually the nicest in the whole world. Being on Orust when it is really windy and at the same time raining a little is the best way to empty your head – but the island is its most beautiful at sunset in the summer.
Digital technology, on the other hand, is like a material without any properties at all. LENA PARETO
Lena Pareto Currently: New Professor of Pedagogy who will collaborate with the Universeum initiative on data visualization. Family: Partner and daughter. Lives: On Orust. Most recently read book: Lucinda Riley: The Shadow sister. Most recently watched film: Hunger Games 4. Other hobbies: Horses, riding, hiking and biking in nature and mountains, skiing, kayaking.
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Small steps towards a big change – It is by reflecting on both scientific facts and the major issues in life while also taking small health-promoting steps every day that we can effect real change. That is the opinion of Anders Rosengren, who started the study, Livsstilsverktyget (The Lifestyle Tool). The tool is free, accessible to all and developed in the same meticulous way as in production of pharmaceuticals. Moreover, there is now the book Hela livet for those who would like to immerse themselves further. The Lifestyle Tool is based
on a research project that Anders Rosengren, doctor and Professor of Molecular Medicine, started three years ago. 370 patients with type 2 diabetes had the opportunity to systematically reflect on their own circumstances while receiving scientific facts. Among other things, patients would think about what was so important in life that they were prepared to make a change and start exercising, for example.
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deeper into various problems to really investigate what they are due to: Why can I not change? Well, because I’m stressed. Why am I stressed? Well, because I feel inadequate. But why? Instead of being prescribed, you are stimulated and can take a step back and think. This deeper approach causes the patient to get to the bottom of themselves, which is a prerequisite for being able to take those important everyday steps that lead to real change.
– When we weighed the patients, checked their blood pressure, as well as their blood sugar and cholesterol levels, we were surprised by how good they were. However, the most interesting result came a little later, when we noticed that these effects not only remained but even improved over time. This is not usually the case, on the contrary, lifestyle changes seldom last very long. Anders Rosengren explains the success by saying that the Lifestyle Tool provides patients with a framework in which they can organise their way of acting and thinking. – The user is helped to dive
The user is helped to dive deeper into various problems to really investigate what they are due to. ANDERS ROSENGREN
The fact that the method affects blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol is of course good. But Anders Rosengren is really critical of all the measuring that is constantly going on in the healthcare sector. – As a doctor and researcher, I obviously devote myself to measuring different things, which of course is necessary. But all the measuring also creates a false notion that a person’s well-being can be determined with the help of numbers, and that the boundary between healthy and sick is clear and distinct. There is a risk that we end up with a kind of pseudo-accuracy where we constantly see connections, even those that do not exist. The success with the diabe-
ople who sign up for the Lifestyle Tool will be compared to a control group, who will not have access to the tool. After three years, an evaluation will be made of how many have developed type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease in each group to examine the extent to which the tool can prevent disease. It will thus be a research study that anyone in all of Sweden can take part in.
Anders Rosengren wants us to, step by step, get a better health
tes patients led the research team to further improve the tool. In addition, it has now been opened up to a wider population in a preventive study. The interest is great and new users are added all the time, Anders Rosengren explains. – At the same time, our research is entering a second phase. It means that all the pe-
Facts Anders Rosengren, doctor and Professor of Molecular Medicine, has worked with colleagues to develope Livsstilsverktyget. se, which is free and accessible to everyone, within the framework of a preventive study. An in-depth presentation of the tool can be found in Anders Rosengren’s book Hela livet (Throughout Life), published by Norstedts.
In parallel with the study, constant development of the tool is also taking place. Soon, for example, there will be a section on alcohol. – Developing new questions and investigations requires a lot of work, often in interdisciplinary collaborations that are primarily handled by our study coordinator and one of our postdocs. But what is so exciting about an online tool is that once the preparatory work is done, most things take care of themselves. Therefore, in principle, as many people as possible can use the Lifestyle Tool, for the benefit of research, but of course primarily for their own benefit. Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg
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Women who do not exist Today, at least 200 million women in the world are missing because girls are systematically selected out. The worst situation is in India, which has a deficit of about 50 million women. How can one resist gender-selective practices and change people’s values about gender? This is what the research project Genocide, Gendercide, and Resistance is investigating.
doctoral student Filip Strandberg Hassellind. – Instead, both prostitution and trafficking from countries such as Nepal and Burma are on the rise. You sometimes hear the expression “from womb to tomb”; women’s vulnerability begins in the womb and continues all the way to their grave.
At the same time, India is a
Mikael Baaz is leading a project on girls that are selected out.
Although gender-selective
abortions are banned in India, they appear to increase over time in practice, says research leader Mikael Baaz, professor of International Law. - Many girl fetuses are aborted today precisely because they are girls. It is also not uncommon for baby girls to be poisoned or neglected to death. In India, girls are often assigned less value than boys, irrespective of the social or religious family context. – You might think that the enlightened middle class would think differently but that is not necessarily the case at all, says Mona Lilja, Professor of Peace and Development Studies. One reason for girls being given such low priority is that when they marry, they are expected to bring a dowry. For a middle-class
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... the relationship between perpetrators and victims is so complex. MONA LILJA
family this may amount to a considerable sum. Another problem is inheritance law, which risks dividing wealth and property in a way that is undesirable for Indian families. In addition to this, a wife is considered to have obligations to her husband’s parents and family rather than to her own family of origin, for example when it comes to taking care of his parents when they grow old. As the social security system in India is limited, an assessed risk with daughters is that her
Filip Strandberg Hassellind and Mona Lilja point out the complexity of the problem.
parents are left without help in old age. A significant shortfall of women could potentially have meant that women were valued more highly. But the opposite is the case, explains
complex country where many different traditions, ideas, movements and countermovements coexist, Mikael Baaz points out. – Anyone who visits India cannot help but notice the stark contrasts: You may visit the most modern of stores, only to suddenly trip over a beggar on the street outside, to be trampled by an elephant in the next moment. The same thing applies to the different schools of thought in the country: Many strong forces aim to improve women’s influence, education and position in society but simultaneously, there are incredibly conservative ideologies pulling in the opposite direction.
One example of a grassroots
movement fighting for this is the 50 Million Missing Campaign, started by the activist Rita Baberji in 2006. There are also artists joining the resistance, such as the director Manish Jha who, in 2003, created controversy with the film Matrubhoomi, about a future
Many fight for women’s rights.
the situation of the victims. Increased knowledge of how extensive the problem is can be a step in the right direction. 50 million missing women is a huge number!
Another way is to work actively with these issues at ground level, says Filip Strandberg Hassellind. – It is difficult to change customs, usages and ideas about how one should live. We in the project do not believe that higher penalties are the right way forward. Instead, a change of attitude must also take place and an insight that when such things happen in a society, all citizens are affected. Text: Eva Lundgren Photo: Johan Wingborg
Facts
School girls in Orissa.
world where there simply are no women. The research project involves, among other things, interviews, or rather conversations, with various groups in India, both representatives of civil society and academics. It will be a joint knowledge
production about the problem and what can be done about it. However, perceptions of the type of resistance that work best can differ quite a bit. – One reason for the different opinions is that the relationship between
perpetrators and victims is so complex, says Mona Lilja. These are very cruel practices that affect women, but at the same time the women themselves can be involved and maintain the oppression. This makes it difficult to act without further aggravating
Gender, Gendercide and Resistance is funded by the Swedish Research Council from 2019–2024. The research team comprises Research Director Mikael Baaz, Professor of International Law, Mona Lilja, Professor of Peace and Development Studies, and Filip Strandberg Hassellind, doctoral student in International Law. According to the EU, about 200 million women in the world are missing. See: https://www. europarl.europa.eu/doceo/ document/A-7-2013-0245_ EN.html
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Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG
The Moment
The Pam Fredman Award Anita Synnestvedt, researcher in archeology, has been awarded the Pam Fredman Award for the project “Här bor jag – 4 000 år på Siriusgatan.” (I live here – 4,000 years on Siriusgatan. The project was carried out in collaboration with Familjebostäder and Park- och naturförvaltningen and has been financed within the scope of the EU project NEARCH. The photo was taken on September 13.
– This place is for the child-
ren, Anita Synnestvedt explains about the outdoor classroom that was built next to a stone burial chamber in Bergsjön. Here are signs that provide information about the stone burial chamber and similar stone constructions in other parts of the world, as well as a small exhibition with archaeological material. – It was Familjebostäder who contacted me and asked if I could help create a place for stories, around which the residents in the area could gather. When you get asked that kind of question, you don’t say no.
I think it is important for everyone to feel that they are in a context where they belong. ANITA SYNNESTVEDT
Children living in the area have also participated in the exhibition with self-portraits and short stories, says Anita Synnestvedt. – I think it is important for everyone to feel that they are in a context where they belong. The children in Bergsjön live in an important place where people have lived for thousands of years. I think they are proud of that.
