GU-Journal 5-2017

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The primary purpose of education is to help people become themselves.

GUJournal ARJEN WALS PAGE 22

INDEPENDENT JOURNAL FOR THE STAFF AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG #5 NOVEMBER 2017

WORDLESS ART HEAD OF DEPARTMENT WANTS MORE MEETING PLACES NEWS

Strong financial result NEWS

New management team in place REPORT

The riddle: Bob Dylan

VICE-CHANCELLOR Roadshow to get nearer to activities IME FLIES, we are already in No-

vember. Through a never abating flow of events, I and pro-vice-chancellor Mattias Goksör are being schooled in our new roles. There are invitations to read, meetings to attend, new people to get to know, presentations to plan and give, decisions to take, speeches of welcome to deliver, telephone calls and emails to answer, conferences to visit and trips to make.

I feel the important things are to find a good balance between internal and external work and to prioritise amongst the things we are doing and want to do. I know that I am not the first to point out that, if we add something, we must simultaneously consider if there is anything we can take away.

I am truly looking forward to personally meeting as many of you as possible.

RIGHT NOW, I am most pleased about our success in recruiting three new and extremely able people to university management.

These are Anna Lindholm, who is to be the new university director, Göran Landberg who succeeds Staffan Edén as deputy vice-chancellor and Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin who is our new deputy vice-chancellor for collaboration.

The University management team is thus complete. All three take up office on the 1st of January 2018.

As I have highlighted on a number of occasions, developing and strengthening a university requires teamwork. This is why it is important for me to get to know more about what is going on in the surrounding organisation. Hence, the plan is that I and other members of the University management team

are to get out into operations and meet you where you work.

The starting point for our “roadshow” is the autumn’s operations dialogues in which we meet the deans and their management teams. Although the primary aim is to monitor current action and operational plans, we will, of course, be taking up other current matters. We are starting at the Faculty of Education and the IT Faculty on the 10th of November. We close at the Faculty of Arts on the 19th of December. We will also be meeting the University Library and Central University Administration in the autumn.

IN SPRING, we will be visiting the depart-

ments and the national units. Our idea is that faculties and departments should be asked to plan a programme showing/examining what they see as interesting and relevant. As a part of our roadshow, we will even be visiting the other higher education institutions in western Sweden. However, that will be a little further off in the future.

I am truly looking forward to personally meeting as many of you as possible. Having the opportunity to discuss important issues with you is not only a pleasure. It is also, quite simply, a success factor in the future development of the University of Gothenburg.

EVA WIBERG

Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

MASTHEAD Do we practise what we preach?

IN THIS ISSUE of GU Journalen, we portray Professor Arjen Wals from the Netherlands who has been working at the University of Gothenburg for a couple of years. He poses a number of delicate questions about whether we academics really practise what we preach as regards adjusting to a more sustainable way of life. For example, how come we still fly to Stockholm when there are

2 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017RI

good alternatives? Arjen Wals urges us to challenge every single trip before we fly: in what way could that particular trip reduce the ecological footprint in the long term? Real change comes from within which should lead to every single person questioning their own behaviour and ingrained habits, whether it concerns the food we eat, how we get to work, how classrooms

are organised, or how we travel when we go on business trips or holidays. So the next time you are about to book a conference trip to Tokyo, Toronto or Cape Town, stop a moment to consider whether you would be able to achieve your objectives without travelling halfway round the world.

EVA LUNDGREN & ALLAN ERIKSSON

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– Många tycker att det är onödigt att dra upp sådant som hänt under andra världskriget, förklarar hedersdoktor Anna Bikont.

Valle Elring’s band played Bob Dylan at the Jonsered manor house.

Foto: JOHAN WINGBORG

Foto: JOHAN WINGBORG

CONTENTS NEWS 04–11

04. “We must show that we are of relevance,” says Fredrika ­Lagergren Wahlin.

06. Virtue – school programme becomes more international.

08. Being deputy vice-chancellor for research is like being the conductor of an orchestra.

10. Impressive results for GU.

PROFILE 12–15

12. Head of department in full motion.

REPORT 16–24

16. Focused light helps museums protect art.

19. GU researchers’ findings published in international encyclopaedia.

20. There is still more to say about Bob Dylan.

22. “The whole study programme needs to be restructured,” says Arjen Wals.

24. New Doctors enter the stage.

PEOPLE 26–30

26. German researcher attracted

by Gothenburg.

28. Bradley does baking with all of Sweden.

30. The moment: fund-raising for children in Kenya.

NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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NEWS

“Nearly everything we do is about cooperation” “We have to demonstrate our relevance in society, stand up for the importance of fact-based knowledge and safeguard the concept of the equal value of all people. ­ After all, the University’s operations are all about society’s basic values and functions.”

So says Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin, who is soon to be the new ­deputy vice-chancellor for collaboration.

EVERY MORNING, Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin takes the ferry to Lindholmen where, since the second half of 2015, she has been the head of the Department of Applied Information Technology (ITIT). She is always happy as she steps onto the quay.

“There’s a constant stream of young people coming to Lindholmen from all sorts of places. Many of them are cool computer scientists and cognitive scientists studying here at my department.”

Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin has spent many years at the University of Gothenburg, first as an undergraduate and doctoral student, then as an acting senior lecturer. She has also been a research officer at the “Education and Research Board for Teacher Training”. This involved collaborations with a large number of departments. Since then, she has worked at various faculties as, amongst other things, a director of studies, research officer, assistant dean and head of department.

“ONE OF THE THINGS I’m really

proud of is the CUL graduate school.

I was part of it being founded in 2005,” reveals Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin. “It involved working with all the University’s faculties, other higher education institutions and the region’s municipalities. I still have the interest in teacher education programmes, e.g. as vice-chair of the Teacher Education Coordination Board.”

Up until this spring, the

4 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

On the other hand, we can, of course, contribute to industrial development. The exploitation of research is important, but we can’t count on things going quickly. Finding a use for research results may take a hundred years.”

Collaboration can also be with public authorities and organisations.

Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin points out: “We don’t always consider this, but broader recruitment is also a question of collaboration. We are already good at welcoming students from different backgrounds.

However, we can, of course, be even better.”

­ epartment of Applied Information D Technology was a University and Chalmers integration. However, following reorganisation at Chalmers, the department is now entirely within the University of Gothenburg.

“ITIT is a fantastic department!

We have great senior management, excellent division managers and a strong administrative team. Nonetheless, as my job has changed since the reorganisation, I feel now may be the right time to change direction.”

IN THE PAST three years, the Uni-

versity of Gothenburg has not had a deputy vice-chancellor for collaboration. Instead, collaboration has been regarded as an inseparable part of education and research.

“Of course, it is. Nearly everything we do revolves around collaboration,” states Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin. “Yet, it can still be important to highlight collaboration as a phenomenon in itself. Bo Rothstein, one of my role models, expresses it as universities having to be better at showing their relevance. For, if we can’t demonstrate that we are important, perhaps we aren’t.”

Collaboration can cover widely different things such as working closely with enterprises and facilitating the exploitation of research.

“If not still today, state governments used to expect that university research should result in finished products. However, I feel that most of them have now realised that this is not the intrinsic role of universities.

Universities are someti­ mes seen as a part of an odious elite.

FREDRIKA LAGERGREN WAHLIN

POPULAR SCIENCE is also a part of

collaboration.

“When ‘Gothenburg’s university college’ was created in 1891, open lectures were part of the professors’ duties. Furthermore, they knew how to explain simply without trivialising. This is still one of the greatest challenges that university colleges have to meet. A challenge in which not least the humanities have an important role. ‘Read the classics,’ is my usual exhortation to all those I know.”

Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin explains that, perhaps primarily spread by social media, all the ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’ of recent times show that public education is currently a matter of some urgency.

“Universities are sometimes seen as a part of an odious elite. Indeed, in many respects, we are privile-

NEWS ged. This is why we must be careful about being perceived as cocksure.

Instead, we have to promote deep knowledge, critical examination and questioning. We have something important to communicate. Not because we have doctoral degrees or are professors, but because what we say has a scientific basis. We have to stand up for the insight that ‘power’ and ‘right’ are not the same things.

Plato pointed this out long ago.”

Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin stresses that we have to safeguard the freedom of universities.

“Many academics are today in prison or are otherwise silenced.

We have to stand up for university values. This is perhaps more important now than it has been for a long time.”

Do you have any models for the University of Gothenburg’s colla­ boration initiatives?

“Some time ago, I visited the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge. It’s one of the most exciting interdisciplinary centres I’ve ever been to. There was a strong focus on how digitisation is affecting society. Just as the climate issues, digitisation is one of the areas I see as being most central as regards global development. We cannot be another CRASSH, but we can be inspired.”s Text: EVA LUNDGREN & ALLAN ERIKSSON Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin Ålder: 28 år.

Currently: Becomes the new deputy vice-chancellor for collaboration on the 1st of January 2018.

Background: Took doctoral degree in political science in 1999 at the University of Gothenburg. Then worked in various parts of the University as a teacher/researcher and administrative officer. In 2012, was appointed head of the Department of Political Science. Three years later, became head of the Department of Applied IT at Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg.

Lives: In Masthugget.

Family: Husband and a daughter; two grandchildren.

Age: 58.

Interests: Enormous interest in music; frequent concertgoer. Likes all music, but has a certain predilection for baroque, which, in some way or other, has managed to capture the essence of music.

Seldom misses the Göteborg Film Festival. Good food and wine are important, as also long walks in Änggårdsbergen to see the ever-changing glories of nature. Nonetheless, also likes being at home in an armchair with a good book, a complex knitting pattern or a glossy fashion magazine.

Something you didn’t know about Fredrika! Has all the Cherry Ames series of books at home in the attic. “When I was little, I wanted to be a career woman who was just as professional and independent as nursing sister Cherry and who had masses of thrilling adventures in her work. Thinking about it, I feel I’ve got very close to that...”

“I’m still feeling my way. Exactly what I’ll be devoting my time too isn’t fully clear,” says Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin.

A role model: Axel Oxenstierna, of course! året.

NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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NEWS

Virtue goes international Virtue, a school project, has been given SEK 3.1 million by the EU. The money will be used for increased internatio­ nalisation.

“Virtue is about analysing what grows on compact discs immersed in different water environments such as seas or lakes. The concept is so simple that anyone can join in,” explains researcher Mikael Olsson.

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: MIKAEL OLSSON

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UNIIT IS THE Swedish Council for

Higher Education that decides which Erasmus+ applications should be granted funds. In this year’s assessment, Virtue scored a full 96 out of 100 points.

“Virtue started as early as the 1990s but, after being shelved for a few years, restarted in 2011,” reveals Mikael Olsson. He and colleague Susan Gotensparre are the project’s managers. “It is now highly topical.

For example, it can be linked to three of the UN’s sustainability goals – good education for all, combating climate change and investment in sea and marine resources.”

VIRTUE IS BASED on getting pupils to secure CDs in racks that are then sunk to different levels in the sea.

After different periods of time, they pull the racks up and analyse what has grown. All information is sent to Virtue’s database. This allows pupils to compare their results with those from other schools.

NEWS

Virtue ­ irtue is a school V project that started in the middle of the 1990s. It has just received SEK 3.1 million from “Erasmus+ strategic partnership school”. Coordinated by the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Virtue collaborates with upper-secondary schools in Germany, Spain and Sweden. Other partners are the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, the SUBMON marine environment organisation in Barcelona, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Baltimore and University West in Trollhättan.

“Pupils of all ages can join in and there can be collaborations between a number of different subjects – biology, physics, chemistry and mathematics. Even graphics-centred disciplines, which train our ability to interpret what we see, can be inspired by Virtue. Furthermore, when pupils communicate with other countries, they are, of course, also practising language skills.”

MIKAEL OLSSON further points out that the Virtue concept can develop in line with participants’ imaginations.

“I’ve had contact with teachers who have let their pupils sink bottles, bits of wood, metal and rope instead of CDs to see what happens then. Naturally enough, with all our lakes in Sweden, investigating what grows there is just as easy.”

Virtue is collaborating with, amongst others, Gothenburg’s Maritime Museum and Aquarium.

“It’s an ideal partner for getting children and young people interested in sea and water. We also usually take part in the Science Festival.”

Mikael Olsson relates that the original Virtue project involved collaboration with, primarily, Norway and the USA. “THIS TIME, it’s about collaborations

with environmental institutions in Germany, Spain and the USA as well as with the Öckerö ‘upper-secondary sailing school’ and upper-secondary schools in Kiel and Barcelona.

The coordinator is the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.”

Renewing the project’s interactive web resources and support

The project managers are researcher Mikael Olsson and research advisor Susan Gotensparre.

This Erasmus project is managed by the University’s International Centre. It is co-financed by the faculty and the University of Gothenburg centrally.

For more information: www.virtuedata.se/.

functions is one of the things that the EU money will go on.

“Information is already available in Swedish and English. German, Spanish and, because we are working with Barcelona, Catalonian will be added,” states Mikael Olsson.

“We will also be starting a continuing professional development course for teachers and a massive open online course (MOOC). Additionally,

we’re collaborating on a chapter in the book Exemplary Practices in Marine Science Education – A Resource for Practitioners and Researchers.

This is being published by Springer in February.”

The project started on the 1st of September and had a kick-off event on the 25th of October.

EVA LUNDGREN NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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NEWS

Conductor of GU research orchestra Five years ago, he was recruited by the Sahlgrenska Cancer Center.

In 2015, he became the director of the Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine (WCMTM). At the start of 2018, Göran Landberg takes up office as the new deputy vice-chancellor for research.

A SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA is the perfect model of collaboration. That is the opinion of Göran Landberg, professor of pathology, new deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Gothenburg and dedicated cellist.

“Playing in an orchestra demands skill, total concentration and the ability to listen to other musicians.

They all have their different areas of responsibility. Yet, they help each other out while also following the conductor’s baton. Truly successful collaborations usually work in that way too.”

GÖRAN LANDBERG’S notable successes include leading the formation of The Christie, a new breast cancer centre in Manchester and now one of Europe’s largest cancer hospitals.

He has also been one of six heads of division at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. Since spring 2015, he has been the head of WCMTM. This latter is not only a collaboration between the University of Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland, Astra Zeneca and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, but also a venture that involves collaborating with similar centres in Lund, Linköping and Umeå as well as with SciLifeLab in Stockholm.

The initiative involves, amongst

8 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

other things, recruiting a large number of research leaders, both female and male.

A lack of gender equality in recruitment and financing is otherwise a recurrent issue in research.

“WE MUST KEEP the gender equality

discussion alive at all times. Who is applying for funds and who is getting them? Are women being given the same opportunities as men? As regards gender equality, the University of Gothenburg should be at the forefront.”

Göran Landberg feels that infrastructure is another significant research issue.

“We must collaborate with other higher education institutions and also build up and maintain infrastructures with our own and national resources. Furthermore, to optimise our own research environments, we must collaborate across department and faculty boundaries.”

The relationship between external funds and direct government funding for research and third-cycle programmes is, additionally, an ever current issue.

“As researchers, it is only natural that we sometimes wish our existence was not quite so precario-

We should work on be­ ing placed as high we can in vario­ us rankings.

Of course, we can’t be top in eve­ rything.

GÖRAN LANDBERG

us,” reveals Göran Landberg. “We sometimes feel it is far better in other countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. However, they have their own problems and, all things considered, finance in Sweden is rather good.”

THE UNIVERSITY of Gothenburg usually lies between 150 and 200 in various rankings. Some individual disciplines, odontology and political science for example, rank far higher.

“We should work on being placed as high as we can in various rankings. Of course, we can’t be top in everything. Yet, to be successful, we must invest in creating optimum conditions for research. We must also sometimes take risks.”

As he is continuing his cancer research at Sahlgrenska Academy and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göran Landberg’s deputy vice-chancellorship will be a slightly more than half-time position.

“I THINK IT’S good to keep one foot in

operations. Of course, my new duties will take up a lot of time. I know the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Faculty of Science best, but I have a strong interest in societal issues and the humanities. I hope I’ll soon familiarise myself with those operations too.

Even if there is going to be a lot of work, I’ll make sure I also have time for my cello.”

Text: EVA LUNDGREN & ALLAN ERIKSSON Foto: JOHAN WINGBORG

NEWS NEWS

Göran Landberg Currently: On the 1st of January 2018, becomes the new deputy vice-chancellor for research, a post he will combine with cancer research at the Sahlgrenska Cancer Center.

Background: Chief physician and professor of pathology.

Took doctoral degree at Umeå University. Postdoctor in San Diego and worked six years at The Christie in Manchester.

Recruited to the University of Gothenburg in 2012 and was appointed the director of WCMTM in 2015. He has also been a head of division at Sahlgrenska University Hospital.

Lives: In Vasastan and in Halmstad.

Family: Wife and three grown children.

Age: 54.

Interests: Music, swimrunning and surfing. Plays cello in the Oscar Fredriks Sinfonietta.

Favourite composers: Gustav Mahler, Dmitri Shostakovich and Maurice Ravel (amongst others).

”We must create optimal conditions for research and dare to take risks,” says Göran Landberg.

NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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NEWS

Strong financial result The University of Gothen­burg’s finances have strengthened. For the 19th consecutive year, the University is going to record a profit. This year, it will be around SEK 90 million. With the money piling up, a redistribution of unused study places from the humanities to faculty-wide study courses and programmes is being discussed.

INTERNAL MONITORING after eight

months shows that, in all probability, the University will have a surplus of around SEK 90 million this year.

This is well over budget. It is primarily due to an increase in external grant revenues (SEK 121 million more than the previous year).

“It is, without doubt, a good result. The problem is that, despite having more employees, we are not able to use all the money,” comments Peter Tellberg, finance manager. “It is our responsibility to make the best possible use of the tax money we receive as funding.

However, it must also be understood

10 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

that we are a knowledge organisation, not a factory. Reorganising and finding the correct competencies takes time.”

Thus, the University is SEK 90 million up on its budget.

“IT DOES ONLY equate to 1 per cent

of our total funding of SEK 6.4 billion – a marginal deviation. Nonetheless, these are, of course, large sums.”

Over the past 10 years, the University has built up a capital base of a little over SEK 1.2 billion. This is a fifth of the total turnover.

“We can now afford to run in the red for a few years. It’s a question of

public confidence. If we don’t use up our money, how can we then ask the government for more resources?”

Peter Tellberg asks rhetorically.

Primarily, he sees this as a control and operations issue rather than as a financial worry.

NONETHELESS ALL is not rosy. The

problem is that, over the past few years, the University has not filled all the student places it has received from the Ministry of Education and Research. However, there is no question of repayment. These places are being set off against an excess that the University provided in the past.

As regards education, the University Board has two powers. One of these is of long-standing and entails faculties paying back sums allotted for student places that have not been used. Additionally, there is a new model, “dynamic redistribu-

NEWS tion”, introduced by the University Board in June. In a nutshell, faculties that, in the past three years, have not reached their education ceiling lose a number of full-year study places (but not more than 3 per cent of the ceiling amount). If the forecast is correct, the Faculty of Arts may have to relinquish full-year study places equating to SEK 2–3 million. The forecast sees this faculty doing SEK 5 million worse than planned.

PETER TELLBERG reveals that approximate buffers of 3 and 5 per cent have been recommended for, respectively, education and ­research.­

According to Åsa Wengelin, assistant dean of the Faculty of Arts and the person responsible for first and second-cycle study courses and programmes, the situation is disquieting. The main reason for the faculty’s financial position is a falling number of applicants per place.

Peter Tellberg

If we don’t use up our mo­ ney, how can we then ask the government for more resources?

At present, these levels are being easily exceeded.

This applies even to the University’s prestigious UGOT Challenges initiative. Implementation has got under way, but not sufficiently quickly. Of the SEK 40 million invested so far, only half has been used this year.

“This is because recruitment processes are long and complicated.

However, we have learnt that we can afford to make more appointments, but have to start recruiting early on.

At the same time, we have to realise that needs vary widely within the University.”

ALLAN ERIKSSON

“AT PRESENT, we are not fulfilling our mission. Small intakes and low numbers of applications are currently affecting universities generally and the humanities in particular – both in Sweden and internationally. This is why one of our most important priorities in the 2018 operational plan is to work on raising our profile and crystallising the societal relevance of the humanities. Amongst other things, we are planning a strategic council with external members. We hope this will increase collaborations with other parts of society.”

The faculty is slightly underperforming in 2017 too. In the long term, this is a threat to its finances.

“EVEN IF FREESTANDING courses at other faculties are performing at the same level, this hits us harder because 80 per cent of our work is freestanding courses. One possible explanation of this year’s fall may be that, to meet increased demand, we have expanded our net-based courses.

However, in general, it seems that, as regards being awarded credits, students on freestanding courses do not have the same needs as, for example, students on profession-oriented programmes.” Åsa Wengelin is cautiously positive about the new dynamic-redistribution model.

“Being dynamic is good for the efficient

Åsa Wengelin

use of university places. We at the faculty regularly redistribute our places ourselves. When there are others who need the places, we, as a faculty, shouldn’t have an allocation greater than that we can fill.”

Conversely, she is critical about the decision on the allocation of new and redistributed student places for 201 –2019.

In principle, this entails only faculty-wide programmes being prioritised.

“This works against faculties primarily offering freestanding courses. When the places have been redistributed, we have little chance of regaining them when the number of applicants per place increases again.”

ALLAN ERIKSSON NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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PROFILE

In wordless motion Petra Frank realised she wanted to be a choreographer when, as a ­fifteen-year-old, she sat in the darkened auditorium of Stora Teatern watching K ­ ristina, a ballet staged by Ulf Gadd.

“It was things such as the queen ­being played by a man! I felt transported to another world, to a story without words. I knew that there was where I wanted to be.”

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

”I want HSM to receive a choreographer programme, I’m sure that will increase the interest in dance throughout the city,” says Petra Frank.

12 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

HIS MAY BE A TEXT that should never have been writ-

ten! Petra Frank, choreographer, senior lecturer of dance education and new head of department at the Academy of Music and Drama (HSM), emphasises that not everything can be put into words and that dance, music and visual arts offer another opportunity to feel and experience.

“Some people feel that dance is difficult to understand. Perhaps they believe there must always be a theme running through art. However, if, instead, you let yourself be moved, even if everything is not so easy to understand, it can be a ground-shaking experience.

Art can serve as a place where we can meet things that are unknown and get acquainted with new things in ourselves and others.”

We are sitting in Petra Frank’s sunny office-studio in the Artisten building. We have just had a coffee after watching one of HSM’s many lunchtime concerts.

This time, it was music teacher students in a recital of works by great masters such as Handel and Mozart and by contemporary composers such as Madeleine Dring and Hans Söderberg. It is exactly here, amongst students and in the heart of Artisten, that Petra Frank feels at home.

“LIKE ME, both my sisters have become artists. Perhaps something of a surprise as we are not from an artistic family. We grew up in Torslanda. Dad was an engineer, Mum worked in a store and came from Germany. It was perhaps when we visited her relatives there that I first sensed that words are not everything. When I couldn’t follow the conversation, I could still read the body language.”

Petra Frank’s mother also took her children to the Museum of Art and to the theatre.

“You could say that I was marinated in art at an early age. However, I dived even deeper into the marinade when, in my upper-secondary school years, I worked in Stora Teatern’s wardrobe department and got to see opera, operetta and ballet. I felt that was my world.”

For Swedes who want to become dancers or choreographers, Stockholm is the place to be. Petra Frank moved there when she was 21.

➔

NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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PROFILE

Petra Frank Work: Head of department at the Academy of Music and Drama (HSM).

Background: Educated at Stockholm’s ‘college of dance’.

In 1997, started the dance-focused arts programme at the Södra Latin upper-secondary school in Stockholm. Became senior lecturer in dance pedagogy, with head of department duties, at the School of Dance and Circus (DOCH) in 2007.

Became pro-vice-chancellor in 2013. When Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH) was formed, Petra Frank was, in 2014, appointed dean with responsibility for three departments: circus, dance and dance pedagogy.

Lives: In Masthugget.

Family: Partner, son and bonus son.

Age: 55.

Interests: Art in every form, yoga, walking, flowers.

Last book: Medan jag var ung: ego-historia från 1900-talet by Yvonne Hirdman.

Last dance: Max+ by Ohad Naharin resp. Sharon Eyal/Gai Behar.

Last film: On body and soul by Ildikó Enyedi.

Favourite dish: Innovative food.

Best/worst side: Creative/ impatient.

14 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

“I immediately got into what was the education to choreograph but had to wait a year as I was the only admission. Courses couldn’t be started with fewer than three students. There still weren’t enough students after the year. Nonetheless, I was allowed to start. In the end, there were five of us on the programme.”

After her studies, Petra Frank wanted to travel the world. Accompanied by a friend, she took the Trans-Siberian Railway to China and was away for 7 months.

“In Peking, everyone wore brown or blue clothes.

Because accommodation was so cramped, they used the parks as living rooms. People met there and exercised together. I, who consider myself to be very sociable, was quite discomfited by people coming so physically close. When we talked, they even started to feel our noses. For the first time, I realized how relatively few we are with Western cultural background.”

Back in Stockholm, Petra Frank began working as a freelance choreographer. Amongst other things, she put on a performance about AIDS. The white blood cells were portrayed as soldiers.

“BEING A choreographer must be one of the best forms of leadership training imaginable. First, you must go through your material alone. Then, you have to inspire others so that, in the end, you reach a shared vision.

When I finally sat in the audience watching this AIDS performance, I noticed there was an incredible sorrow in the narrative, a feeling of apocalypse that I myself had not even considered and which developed in the interplay between the dancers.”

In 1997, Petra Frank was given the opportunity to start the dance-focused arts programme at the Södra Latin upper-secondary school in Stockholm. Ten years later, she became a senior lecturer in dance pedagogy at the School of Dance and Circus (DOCH), where she also became a pro-vice-chancellor.

“What happens if students encounter an audience other than the dance aficionados who usually come to performances? Wishing to explore this, I took a group of students to the Stockholm suburb of Alby. In the middle of the performance a large, tough-looking guy suddenly climbed onto the stage. My heart leapt into my mouth. What was going to happen? I felt the tension rising amongst the students. However, after waving at a friend on the other side of the stage, he went back to his seat. After the show, he came up to me and explained that it was the best performance he had ever seen.”

WHEN STOCKHOLM University of the Arts was formed

in 2014, Petra Frank was appointed dean with responsibility for circus, dance and dance pedagogy.

Finally, after 33 years in Stockholm, she returned to Gothenburg this spring.

“Now, when I’m back in Gothenburg, I come close to the really interesting music life that I’ve only occasionally been able to experience – a great symphony

orchestra, a world-class organ academy, an internationally recognized Gothenburg opera and lots of freelance musicians at top level. The performing arts have also developed strongly. One of the reasons for this thrilling development is HSM. It attracts both students and teachers from all around the world. I hope to be able to work towards something similar happening in dance. Last year, a dance teacher programme started at HSM. If we also had a choreograph programme, interest in dance would increase throughout the town.”

IF THERE IS something Petra Frank would like more of in Gothenburg it is meeting places.

“The city library and Museum of World Culture are, of course, good, but where is Gothenburg’s contemporary culture centre? Perhaps the Näckrosen campus can become such a centre of creativity. A place where people go for cultural experiences or just to hang out.

That, at least, is what I hope.”

Petra Frank feels that being a head of department at HSM is more up-market than being a dean at DOCH. “Here, there are masses of resources and support for practical work. However, a small university college in Stockholm offers the advantage that you get closer to the vice-chancellor, can follow department dialogues and meet the minister for Education and Research. I guess that won’t be happening as a head of department at HSM.” Petra Frank is also interested in developing teaching and, for example, working with the Pedagogical Development and Interactive Learning (PIL) unit. Additionally, she is keen on improving ordinary meetings with employees.

“For example, I’ve just had a walk-and-talk meeting with my colleagues. It involved meeting up to present some important issues. We then discussed these while taking a walk. It’s far more creative than just sitting around a table, talking.”

In the midd­ le of the performan­ ce a large, a large, tough-look­ ing guy sud­ denly clibed ont o the stage.

IN PETRA FRANK’S opinion, our Faculty of Fine, App-

lied and Performing Arts is unique in Sweden. Artistic research here has come a long way, even in an international perspective.

“Gothenburg is sometimes portrayed as a festival city. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, there have to be other things too – more long-term initiatives reaching new audiences. This is where HSM, the rest of the University and the city have an important role.”

As a new head of department, Petra Frank has, naturally enough, visited Gothenburg’s various cultural institutions. For example, this spring she went to Göteborg Opera to see La traviata.

“It was one of the operas that made me cry as a teenager and I wondered if I would be just as moved now. Well, I was. Violetta’s fate roused the same strong emotions as forty years ago. Art needs few words to transport you to another time and place, bewitch you and, for an hour or two, let you be someone else.”.s

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NEW ARTFUL METHOD

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ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR EXPERTS

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DYLAN AT JONSERED

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SAVE THE WORLD

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Art saved by focused light

How much exposure can an artwork safely take? Ask Jacob Thomas. He is a researcher at the Department of Conservation and has, amongst other things, further developed a special­technique that uses light to determine safe conditions for ­displaying an object.

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

16 GUJOURNAL 16 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER NOVEMBER 2017 2017

THE CONFERMENT OF DOCTORAL DEGREES

It is quite simply not pos­ sible to say how a painting that is already 150 years old will react.

JACOB THOMAS

Jacob Thomas has fine-tunded a method to investigate how much exposure a painting can take.

A HIGHLY FOCUSED beam of light is directed at a spot measuring around half a millimetre on a painting that is to go on show. This light is reflected and collected by an optical spectrometer, an instrument that measures changes on an object’s surface. The beam is focused for a short time, perhaps 10 minutes. It is then switched off before any change visible to the human eye has occurred. Nonetheless, the object’s rate of change can be calculated using a standard. This standard comprises eight variously light-sensitive colours with a known rate of visible change.

“The technique is called micro light fastness testing (MFT) and was developed as early as the 1990s by Paul Whitmore at Yale University. Since then, the method

Jacob Peter works with strongly focused light.

has been fine-tuned by, amongst others, me,” relates Jacob Thomas. He is drawing and explaining on a whiteboard in a room next to the Geovetarcentrum laboratory. This is where he is usually to be found.

Before this, testing the fastness of various exhibition objects was far more convoluted.

“If, for example, you wanted to investigate how much exposure a painting by William Turner could take, you first had to make a copy as exactly as possible. You had to use the same pigments, brushes and paper he would have used and then test the fastness.

However, this method was not only more convoluted, expensive and time consuming than MFT, it was also more uncertain. It is quite simply not possible to say how a painting that is already 150 years old will react.”

JACOB THOMAS points out that testing the original itself gives far more reliable results. “Furthermore, the MFT technique is getting ever simpler. Spectrometers used to be dear and unwieldy. Now, you can get one as small as a USB memory stick for maybe SEK 300. To make things even easier, I’ve developed automatic MFT. All you need to do is point the instrument at the right spot and then press a button.”

Jacob Thomas is originally from Iowa (USA), but has worked at the Tate Gallery in London (England) and the Jagiellonian University and the National Museum in Krakow (Poland). He has also been a co-owner of a company developing new ways

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can take, but also give advice. One way of increasing the opportunity for visitors to enjoy an artwork would be, for instance, to have lights that only come on when people approach. To further improve security, a camera could also be linked to the lights.”

EVEN IF LIGHT exposure is one of the greatest risks for

many artefacts, there are also other problems. Besides pure physical attrition, objects can be affected by moisture and mould. This is why Jacob Thomas has also developed a special, moisture-absorbing material that has both anti-bacterial and fungicidal properties.

It gained him the gold medal at Brussels Innova 2014.

“The material could perhaps also be used for things other than conserving cultural objects. Maybe it could be sprayed onto walls to prevent black mould, or used to impede mould on strawberries or to preserve bouquets or whatever...”

At the moment, Jacob Thomas is involved in the department’s project in Hälsingland. This centres on conserving folk art in old homesteads. He has also been contracted by the National Library of Sweden in Stockholm, which would like advice on a two-year exhibition of Pippi Longstocking books in Japan.

of conserving art objects. He first came to the University of Gothenburg in 2006, when he took a master’s in International Museum Studies. Since then, he has been back many times as a visiting lecturer. In 2014, he was appointed as a researcher.

WE FOLLOW HIM into his laboratory. This is full of apparatus making lots of noise. Jacob Thomas explains that, for the most part, when he is carrying out MTF tests, it is pitch-black in here.

“Say a museum contacts me to learn how long an object can tolerate being displayed. The first thing to do is to find out how many hours a week the object is actually exposed to light. It’s not just about display hours.

Lights also come on, for example, when guards enter a room after closing time. Another issue is how strong a light an object can take. Here, you have to find a good balance. On the one hand, there’s no point displaying a painting in such poor light that only twenty-five year olds with perfect vision can make anything out. On the other hand, the object mustn’t, of course, be damaged.

So, I not only work out how much exposure an object

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“INGRID VANG Nyman’s pictures themselves are

fairly hardy, but the text can’t tolerate so much light.

Because I suspect it’s really the pictures that people will want to see, my suggestion is to frame the pictures so that they can be seen while the text is protected.

For those who want to experience text and pictures together, photographs of whole book pages could be displayed.”

Amongst Jacob Thomas’s more spectacular assignments can be listed the conservation of Winston Churchill’s maps in his special war rooms in the basement of the United Kingdom’s Treasury.

“These were maps that had endured decades of cigar smoke. So, it was, of course, quite special.”

In addition to research and innovation, Jacob Thomas is also dedicated to teaching master’s students.

“The students get to learn how to build their own spectrometers and work out their own solutions to real problems. This is how I was taught when I was studying at the University of Iowa. Getting to try things out yourself is both fun and incredibly instructive.

However, it is also terribly tough with many long and intense hours of work!”s

REPORT

Makes science easier A sort of Wikipedia, but by and for researchers and stu­ dents – that is how the Ox­ ford Research Encyclopedias (ORE) could be described.

“ORE is one way of hand­ ling the fact that research is becoming ever more specia­ lised while it has also beco­ me ever more important to understand complex con­ nections,” explains Anders Omstedt, professor emeritus, oceanography. He is one of two University of Gothenburg researchers who have each just published an article in the encyclopaedias.

ANDERS OMSTEDT STATES that climate change is a clear example of a complex issue that requires collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.

“We natural scientists think that the answer to global warming centres on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. However, society cannot be changed using natural science methods. Instead, there have to be collaborations between natural scientists and politicians. For this to happen advantageously, we have to know about each other’s areas.”

ORE, which started in 2014, is designed to be an ongoing project in which each major area of knowledge embodies a dedicated reference work. New subjects are constantly being added and old texts continuously updated. Amongst many other things, it has articles about fields as widely varied as African history, linguistics and neuroscience.

“THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA is targeted at researchers, students and other people who need to quickly, but relatively deeply, familiarise themselves with a new subject. Thus, each article has a short review of its background, how it has developed over the years and details of the latest findings and of gaps in knowledge.

Texts are around 10,000 words with a brief summary.”

Anders Omstedt’s piece is about the climate in the Baltic Sea area. It has been published in the climate science subject field, for which he is also the editor of several upcoming articles. This too is the field in which Deliang Chen, professor of physical meteorology, is the co-author of a text. He is additionally the editor of a number of articles on climate and climate changes in Tibet.

“INVITED AUTHORS MUST be interna-

tional experts in their fields,” Deliang Chen reveals. “Each researcher has great freedom to organise his or her article as he or she wishes. It is then examined by both an external expert and a member of the editorial team. In climate science, ORE has engaged some hundred researchers from all around the world. That two of these are from the University of Gothenburg is great kudos for our higher education institution.”

It is estimated that each article takes around a year to produce.

The writing itself takes about six months. Texts then have to be examined, honed and edited. Published articles remain freely available for around three years.

Anders Omstedt points out that seeing natural sciences research as simply a question of developing objective facts that are then presented to a listening world does not work.

“WE NATURAL SCIENTISTS are also

‘society-dependent’. We are seldom objective, we let our steps be determined by what is politically possible.

Richard Thaler, winner of this year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, highlights that we humans are not as rational as we believe and, for example, have problems with thinking in the long term. Not least climate change is difficult to understand.

After all, an unusually cold winter says nothing about what is going to happen next year. The trend of mild

Anders Omstedt

weather is like a weak signal surrounded by massive disturbance in which random variations have a major role.

Realising that it is high time to act re­quires a lot of knowledge and great ability to interpret various phenomena.”

Deliang Chen

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

ORE Oxford Research Encyclopedias is the name of a collection of reference works containing fact-verified articles written by international experts who are preeminent in their fields. The collection is targeted at researchers, students and other people who need a relatively concise, but thorough, review of an area of knowledge. More information: http://oxfordre.com/ So far, two researchers at the University of Gothenburg have published in ORE.

Anders Omstedt, professor emeritus, oceanography, wrote the article The Development of Climate Science of the Baltic Sea Region. He is also the editor of a number of articles on climate changes in the Baltic Sea area.

Deliang Chen, professor of meteorology, is a co-author of the article Modeling of Regional Climate over the Tibetan Plateau. He is also the editor of a number of articles on climate change in Tibet.

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REPORT

“Is there anything to say about Bob Dylan that hasn’t already been said?” asked Lars Lilliestam, professor of musicology.

Well, clearly there is! Topics discussed during a day at Jonsered Manor included: the difference between book and song lyrics; making music by ear; and, strange song titles.

“ARE YOU HAPPY now?” was the SMS question Lars Lil-

liestam got from his wife when Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, had just announced that Bob Dylan was to receive the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature.

“He’d been in the running since the 1990s, so it did feel good. However, should Nobel Prizes go to the likes of Bob Dylan?”

Is he, for example, a sufficiently good poet?

Perhaps not as a literary poet, but as a song poet – that is the opinion of Eva Borgström, professor of general literary studies.

Eva Borgström said that Bob Dylan is a big song poet.

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“When examining whether something is good, genre has to be taken into account. Criticising a song lyricist because the text is not so good in book form is like marking down a playwright because he or she doesn’t write novels. A poem that has to be sung relies on a time frame in which, for the listener to be able to follow, choruses and repetitions are almost necessary. With a written text, on the other hand, you can jump backwards and forwards. There, repetitions are tiresome.”

EVA BORGSTRÖM also felt that song lyrics must not have too many details. Some room for interpretation has to be left for the person performing the text.

“For example, the voice is a delicate instrument for expressing joy, sorrow, irony or passion. Yet, where art is oral, the entire body is central. The singer has a gender, an age, ethnic and social identities. Perhaps he or she has a dialect. All this contributes to the artistic expression.”

Bob Dylan himself then, how does he use his voice,

Bob Dylan played at the Ullevi arena on 8 June 1984 for nearly 51 000 people.

Things have changed The seminar Things have changed was held at Jonsered Manor on the 13th of October. Besides Eva Borgström and Lars Lilliestam, the culture journalist Ulrika Knutson and Birgitta Tolland were also present.

The seminar finished with Valle Erling and accompanying band playing three Bob Dylan songs: All along the watchtower, Every grain of sand and Tangled up in blue.

body and general image when he appears on his never ending tour? As Eva Borgström pointed out, he often sings “wrongly”.

“IT IS AS IF HE is playing with the audience. The song

that comes into their head and they want to sing along with is not the one that Dylan is performing. This latter is always different from what you had imagined.”

Lars Lilliestam pointed out that all important art is a riddle.

“For example, in Desolation row, which begins with the line, They’re selling postcards of the hanging, Dylan is ironic, facetious, absurd and deeply serious all at the same time. The song gives much food for thought.

Yet, it’s important that the riddle is never solved. That would be its immediate death.”

Dylan is a self-taught musician who creates songs without reading music, just like for instance Evert Taube, Paul McCartney and Benny Andersson.

“He glides the notes with a tense, nasal voice. This

distinctive voice, along with the backing, is something absolutely special. You feel he is a man who has something important to say.”

His song titles are often playful.

“What about Phantom engineer number cloudy or Bending down on my stomach looking west for example?”

IS BOB DYLAN a traditionalist or an avant-gardist? According to Lars Lilliestam, both.

“But, above all else, he is a living dictionary. He knows folk music, the blues and rock; respects tradition, but does things his own way. His music making often involves creating jointly with the band, the only important thing being the result. As Bob Dylan himself puts it: ‘It doesn’t matter where the song comes from, it just matters where it takes you’.”

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG NOVEMBER 2017 GUJOURNAL

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Mission: To save the world!

“It is the people with the best education who are responsible for the greatest negative environmental impact,” states Arjen Wals, visiting professor from the Netherlands.

He is here to discuss active, popular commitment to sustainability, something he thinks can only be achieved by changing the entire education system.

Text: ALLAN ERIKSSON Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

MANKIND IS THE ONLY species that has managed to jeopardise the Earth’s ecosystems, its climate and, thereby, human existence. This is the starting premise of Dutchman Arjen Wals, professor of transformative learning for socio-ecological sustainability and, for a few years now, visiting professor at the University of Gothenburg.

We meet outside the School of Business, Economics and Law early one morning towards the end of September. Autumn leaves have already begun falling on Vasagatan. We sit down in a cosy coffee bar. Arjen orders a strong cappuccino and I ask why he got involved in the environment movement.

“That’s down to my parents. Mum was a compulsory school teacher. She developed simple methods for children to be able to measure water quality in local rivers. Dad was head of The Hague’s pedagogical gar-

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dens and the environmental education administration.

However, it was only after studying engineering science for two years that I understood we have to change what happens between our ears if we really want to do something about the climate threat. Quite simply, we have to break free from the chains of unsustainability. It is our survival that is at stake.”

SOME YEARS AGO, Arjen Wals gave a lecture entitled:

“There are no jobs on a dead planet – The need to reappraise education in the light of global dysfunctional sustainability”. Exploring values other than continuous growth and materialism is, perhaps, the most important challenge of our time.

“It is as if we are on a runaway train. Instead of trying to stop the headlong hurtle into an abyss, environmental activists are running through the carriages

trying to get the passengers to change their lives.”

I ask why he sees education as a way of changing the world.

“The primary purpose of education is to help people become themselves, to find their identities and realise their potentials. However, nowadays, education is about creating replaceable workers in a global economy – consumers instead of people. We are learning only to use a fraction of our fantastic brain capacity. We are forgetting all other types of intelligence bound to our social and emotional capabilities. With universities starting to chase ranking places in an increasingly competitive world, this mindset is reinforced.”

The next step is to draw a map of where the substances come from.

“This raises lots of questions. How does extraction affect groundwater and biological diversity? What determines prices on the global market? What are the geopolitical phenomena in the regions in question?

Where and how are mobiles assembled? How much are the workers paid? What are their working conditions?

And so on. Yet, the students also begin to reflect on how mobiles affect our lives, if they make us happier and create more and deeper relationships with other people. And, what happens to our concentration if they are constantly buzzing and beeping? Such an everyday thing as a mobile phone encapsulates the entire sustainability conundrum.”

ARJEN WALS does not distance himself from modern

We need to find new ways of fusing types of knowledge other than the strictly analytical and of working more closely with society at large.

ARJEN WALS

Arjen Wals stresses that true sustainability revolves around maximising meaning rather than profit. We have to learn to question the obvious. Why are eating meat, driving cars, flying, wasting and buying new still the norms? And why is it so expensive and difficult to live sustainably, but cheap and easy to live unsustainably?

In the opinion of Arjen Wals, the greatest challenge facing the western world is how we can reduce our negative ecological footprint while maintaining our standard of living and improving the environment.

technology. However, he feels it should be used to make our lives more sustainable rather than more unsustainable. For example, is it possible to manufacture an attractive mobile phone in a neat way that does not deplete the Earth’s resources? Can we develop apps that reduce energy consumption or allow us to easily share things with each other?

Arjen Wals points out that although a great deal has happened in the past twenty years, it takes a long time to change the university world.

“We need to find new ways of fusing types of knowledge other than the strictly analytical and of working more closely with society at large. Boundary-crossing expertise and critical thinking are absolutely essential for us to gain a more holistic perspective of the great challenges that society is facing. This is the only way we can save our world.”s

“HIGHER EDUCATION is not an obvious solution to the

problems. Unfortunately, it is the highly educated and those on good salaries who are responsible for the greatest negative ecological footprint. However, that’s because we are stuck in our academic discipline-oriented mindsets and in our analytic, empirical and positivistic view of knowledge. Instead, we must challenge our ingrained conceptions, ask difficult questions and, in this way, do things differently and better. This is because it is important that we should know and understand how our present system functions. Who are the winners and who the losers in our society? Which values are being encouraged and which neglected?”

An example of a concrete workshop Arjen Wals often holds is that he asks students to bring along their old mobile phones.

“In groups of four or five, they then, wearing safety equipment and goggles, smash up the mobiles and analyse what materials they contain. The results are staggering. An ordinary mobile phone contains 80 – 100 substances, roughly half of all the substances in the periodic system.”

Arjen Wals Work: Professor of transformative learning for socio-ecological sustainability at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and UNESCO chair in the same field. Was previously a visiting professor at the Department of Pedagogical, Curricular and Professional Studies. Thanks to a research grant from Carl Bennet AB, has now been a visiting professor at the University of Gothenburg for some years.

Age: 53.

Family: Married to Anne; children Brian (24) and Kendra (21).

Leisure time: Refreshes his brain by running and playing squash.

Motto: Live life as if you may die tomorrow, but care for the Earth as if you will live for ever.

Role model: William Stapp, founder of the environmental science programme at the University of Michigan and Arjen’s supervisor as a doctoral student.

Read Wals’ blog: https:// transformative­learning.nl/.

Many of Arjen Wals’ lectures are available on YouTube.

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Hats on for our new doctors!

The conferment of doctoral degrees is the university’s foremost ceremony.

“In a time marked by increasing hate, menace and contempt for knowledge, our role as a university is more important than ever,” said vice-chancellor Eva Wiberg in the opening address.

THE THEME of this year’s doctoral conferment cere-

mony was freedom of speech, which pervaded the entire event.

The event started with the new pro-vice-chancellor, Mattias Goksör, resplendent in his green gown, welcoming everyone at the entrance. Some 500 hundred guests took their seats in the congress hall of the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre. When the clock struck three, students from the Academy of Music and Drama began playing Mozart’s march in D major, K 189. The procession with, amongst others, the vice-chancellor, deans, students and doctors made its way ceremoniously onto the stage. Here, the various worthies took their places.

By way of starting the proceedings, ceremony hosts Monica Danielsson and Mattias Ermedahl announced that the doctors would now be ascending to the “academic Parnassus”. In total, 148 doctors and 13 honorary doctors received their awards. Just over half the doctors were from Sahlgrenska Academy. Sixty-five per cent were female. The youngest doctor was 29 and the oldest 70.

“At this point of time, seven out of every ten professors are male. Achieving balance is a quality issue. We have a duty to work with gender equality as an integral part of our operations,” said Eva Wiberg.

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Nils Hanson gave a speech during the banquet.

One by one, the faculties took centre stage to award their doctorates and honorary doctorates. The conferment is highly ceremonious. Those receiving their doctorates speak Latin, diplomas are awarded and fanfares sound as the doctors put on their hats or laurel wreaths.

Given this year’s theme, it was fitting that Nils Hanson, chief producer of Swedish television’s “Mission: Investigation”, was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Faculty of Social Sciences. During the banquet, he held a speech highlighting the importance of investigative journalism and the extreme pressure to which it is now subject.

THIRTY-SEVEN LONG tables had been laid with white cloths. The blue, ceiling-suspended chandeliers in the large banqueting hall resembled icicles dangling over the tables. They gave the whole a sober air.

Several speeches praising research and the important role of universities in society were given during the evening. Anders Danielsson, county governor of Västra Götaland, delivered parts of his speech in Italian, which he directed at Eva Wiberg, professor of Italian. Nonetheless, the focus was always on the main guests, the new doctors.

“We must stand firm, safeguard facts, provide high-class research and education and give students the right tools so that they can develop into analytical, democratic citizens with the power of critical thought,” stated Eva Wiberg.

Text: PETER SUNDBERG ÅBRANDT Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

From the left: Marie Eckerström, Michaela Dellenmark-Blom, Monika Davidovic, Annika Dahlgren and Amal Dafar.

What is best about your research?

Sara Wallström Health science, Sahlgrenska Academy

Monika Davidovic Medical science, Sahlgrenska Academy

Erica Nordlander Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences

Martin Kaså Theoretical philosophy, Faculty of Arts

Anders Thornell Medical science, Sahlgrenska Academy

“That I can study something that is almost totally unresearched. Being able to help patients and improve their quality of life.”

“That I can dig deep and devote more time to a subject. It develops the way I think and how we learn other things.”

“That I can point out the mechanisms that may contribute to social inequalities in society.”

“Combining philosophy­­and mathematics through applying logic. The stringency of mathematics with the seriousness of philosophy.”

The “Being able to create knowledge. As a student, you acquire knowledge. As a researcher, you create facts. Plus all the glamour, of course.”

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CULTURAL HERITAGE

MEET BRADLEY, THE BAKER

From the Berlin Wall to Ottherhällan Demolish it entirely or perhaps save a section for posterity? That was the question when the Berlin Wall fell 28 years ago.

“I was then working for the ‘monument authority’ in Berlin and was asked to try to find the answer. This proved to be my great chance in life,” discloses Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper, visiting professor at the Department of Conservation.

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

GABI DOLFF-BONEKÄMPE, professor of national he-

ritage conservation at Technische Universität Berlin, describes herself as something of a hybrid. Amongst very many other things, she is interested in art, archaeology, history, migration, conservation and restoration issues and the connections between a building, its materials and social setting. Gabi truly loves buildings – looking at them, feeling them and learning as much about them as possible. As a visiting professor, she is now in Gothenburg for four months.

Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

“I PREPARED THOROUGHLY by, for example, buying a rugged coat and a new umbrella. I’ve already found time to walk around various parts of the city. I plan to take the tram to all the termini and, in that way, visit the suburbs too. I think the oval building in the Stora Otterhällan area of Gothenburg is a fantastic example of Scandinavian post-war architecture. In the Johanneberg district, there is a house that reminds me of Astrid Lindgren’s Bullerbyn. I recently visited Gunnebo House, which was an absolutely wonderful experience.”

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Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper feels that Gothenburg has a fine, old cultural heritage. When I point out that Berlin, which dates from the 13th century, has a considerably older heritage, she says that there is now virtually nothing old left there.

“WE HAVE TWO medieval churches and a medieval chapel, but not much more than that.”

Otherwise, Berlin is an ideal place for anyone interested in convoluted questions of which history is worth conserving and who should decide this.

“I started working at the monument authority (das Landesdenkmalamt) in Berlin about one and a half years before the wall fell. Travelling between West Berlin and West Germany was a completely absurd experience. The queues on the motorway were so long that, as you neared the border checkpoint, you could turn off the engine and push the car the last little bit. Otherwise, you’d have been poisoned by all the exhaust fumes. So as not to look suspicious, you had to have a completely neutral face at the crossing and then drive straight through East Germany, with only a few opportunities for taking a break.”

On the western side, the Berlin Wall was nothing more than a stone edifice plastered with graffiti. Conversely, on the eastern side, there was yet another wall and, between the two, a no-man’s land with mines and watchtowers.

GABI DOLFF-BONEKÄMPER explains that the wall’s

fall on the 9th of November 1989 meant not only that Berlin and Germany were reunited. It also meant that public authorities and organisations from east and west had to start collaborating. For example, on what should be done with the remains of the wall.

“The Berlin Wall was my chance” Name: Gabriele “Gabi” Dolff-Bonekämper.

Works as: Professor of Cultural Heritage (Denkmalpflege)­ at TU Berlin.

Doing currently: Guest professor at Curating the City within the Centre for Critical Heritage Studies. Host is the Department of Conservation and the funding comes from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper is guest professor at the Department of Conservation this autumn.

“I’m originally from Münster and one reason I was given the task of taking charge of the wall’s fate was perhaps that, unlike native Berliners, I fought to conserve what was left of it. How could we otherwise get new generations to understand that Berlin was once a divided city?”

Another important issue, states Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper, was what to do with all the monuments no one wanted any longer.

“However, there was no public anger towards the socialist monuments. This was partly because many of them were of great artistic value. Fritz Cremer’s monument to the Spanish Civil War and his Jesus figure tearing off the crown of thorns are just two examples.

Yet, there was one particular work that the new Christian Democratic government wanted gone – the 19-metre high, red granite statue of Lenin.”

THUS, THE STATUE was broken into 130 pieces and transported away to a secret place.

“Still, secrets can’t be kept forever. It eventually emerged that the authorities did know where the head was buried. Now, lying on its side, it is on show at Zitadelle Spandau in Berlin.”

Conserve or demolish? Build new or resurrect the old? These are questions that have increasingly occupied Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper.

“I battled 17 years to conserve Palats der Republik in Berlin. However, it was demolished and Berliner Schloss is being rebuilt instead. Such things have nothing to do with conserving cultural heritage.”

Besides, whose cultural heritage? This was a question Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper discussed with her students while, on a visit to Gdansk in 2009, they were wandering amongst houses that had façades constructed to resemble the medieval buildings destroyed in the war.

“THE TOWN’S CITIZENS were deported after the war and new people moved in from eastern Poland. How did they feel about starting to live in other people’s memories? We are once again living in a time when people are being forced to leave their homes and move somewhere entirely different. What does living in a house built by unknown people and walking around districts that tell a story that is not theirs mean for them? On the 7th and 8th of December, I’m holding a workshop here with students from both the University of Gothenburg and Germany. We’ll be discussing the possible topography of people’s different sorts of past.”

It is one of Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper’s fondest hopes that it will then be possible to hold a seminar in Gunnebo House.

“I think the German students will be just as elated as I am about being able to spend some time at the Department of Conservation at the University of Gothenburg. In Germany, cultural heritage research is about either architecture or the history of art. Here in Gothenburg, historians, art historians, ethnographers, chemists, technicians and every other possible kind of expert collaborate in a wide range of different fields.

It’s very inspiring and I don’t know of any other similar collaboration anywhere else.”s

Yet, there was one par­ ticular work that the new Christian Democratic government wanted gone – the 19-me­ tre high, red granite sta­ tue of Lenin.

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PEOPLE

Baking a cake for the whole of Sweden Photo: TV 4

A one-centimetre, traditional, cream-filled bun, made with the aid of a microscope, was Bradley Peter’s way of getting onto the TV programme The Great Swedish Bake-Off. During work hours, he is a postdoctor at the Institute of Biomedicine. However, in his leisure time, layer cakes are his passion.

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

WHEN GU JOURNALEN visits the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Bradley Peter is busy icing a poppy seed cake (which he later shares with his colleagues).

“I use vanilla pods instead of vanilla sugar and whisk the mixture for at least ten minutes so that it is soft and fluffy. And, instead of yellow food colouring (caramel colouring), I’ve put lemon peel in the icing,” he explains.

It was Louise Jenninger, one of his colleagues, who told him about the TV programme and helped with the application.

“As I’m originally from Johannesburg and have only been living in Sweden for two years, I was initially a little unsure whether my Swedish was really good enough for a TV programme. However, it proved not to be a problem.”

28 GUJOURNAL NOVEMBER 2017

Bradley Peter relates that the programme was recorded this summer at Taxinge castle, just outside Södertälje.

“Altogether, the recordings took around one month and were terribly stressful with cameras everywhere and a jury that constantly had its eye on you. There were fourteen competitors, all from different backgrounds such as, for example, a nurse, a teacher, an accountant, a sailor and a pharmacy manager.”

THE COMPETITION comprises two challenges.

“The first element has a theme, buns or soft cakes for example. As long as you stick to that, you can bake whatever you want. The second challenge is more difficult. You are given no details in advance and then suddenly have to bake, for example, an apple strudel or a Japanese miso cake. You have to follow the recipe

“What I like most is decorating my ­creations, preferably with marzipan…”

BRADLEY PETER

exactly. So, for me, it felt almost like being at work in the chemistry lab.”

Bradley Peter’s interest in baking comes from his father.

“When I was young, he worked in a bakery and taught me lots. When I started baking at home, he always had the first taste. What I like most is decorating my creations, preferably with marzipan, and baking layer cakes.”

Bradley Peter feels that being in The Great Swedish Bake-Off was both fun and instructive.

“I learnt a lot about Swedish baking and am now also, amongst other things, keen to bake more bread.

Furthermore, I improved my Swedish. Of course, this increased my self-confidence. On top of that, all of us who took part in the competition became really good friends.”

The final is being broadcast on the 12th of December.

Bradley Peter has made a cake for his collegues at the Department.

Recipe: Bradley’s poppy seeds cake 100 g melted butter 4 dl flour 2 tsp baking soda 1 vanilla pod 4 eggs 2.5 dl sugar 2 dl crème fraiche 45 g blue poppy seeds Finely chopped peel of lemon 0,5 dl lemon juice Frosting

3 dl powdered sugar 2 tbsp lemon juice Poppy seeds Preheat the oven to 175°C, grease and flour a baking tin. Whisk eggs and sugar for about 10 minutes. Sift flour, baking soda, vanilla into the bowl; add butter, crème fraiche, poppy

seeds and lemon. Mix. Pour the batter into the baking tin and bake the cake in the lower part of the oven for about 50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool.

Mix frosting ingredients, pour over the cake and top with some extra poppy seeds.

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THE MOMENT WHAT: Collecting clothes, toys and books for donation to children in Kenya.

WHERE: Medicinareberget.

WHO: Nyandia Wahom and Evelyn Vilkman.

WHEN: 16 October 2017.

BRIEF DETAILS Evelyn Vilkman, Pär Hagander and Nyandia Wahome (all of whom are administrative officers at the Department of Biomedicine) are arranging their own collection for children in a poor suburb of Nanyuki in Kenya. When she is visiting her former homeland, Nyandia Wahome usually gets involved with helping the poor. As her sister is now shipping a container from Oslo to Nairobi, the three colleagues have free transport of whatever they collect. This will be shared out at Christmas in the church at Muramati.

Photo: Johan Wingborg