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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
