Category: Uncategorized (Page 12 of 34)

(Original Swedish post published 5 October.)

On Tuesday we broke the ground for the new Ångström expansion. This will add a further 30,000 square metres to our lively laboratory, bringing the total area to 100,000 square metres. The Department of Information Technology will move in and there will be space for an auditorium, a library, classrooms, offices and meeting areas. This investment in the future will enable us to develop our activities and is the largest new venture so far undertaken by Uppsala University and Akademiska Hus together.

Enhancing our capacity for renewal was also the topic at the deans meeting, a forum that gathers some fifty participants twice a year. The deans, vice-deans, vice-rectors, advisers to the Vice-Chancellor, students and managers from the administration come together for strategic discussions led by the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and University Director. This time we were at Stora Brännbo Conference & Hotel in Sigtuna.

We began on Wednesday afternoon, when the six advisers to the Vice-Chancellor talked about their roles. Each of the advisers is responsible for a particular area in which they drive development efforts. Our advisers to the Vice-Chancellor are Anna Rutgersson – sustainable development; Anders Backlund – internationalisation; Cecilia Wejryd – equal opportunities; Olle Jansson – Campus Gotland; and Stefan Eriksson – good research practice. You can find pictures of the advisers here.

Kay Svensson, Deputy University Director and International Coordinator, gave a status report on European Universities. This is about giving concrete form to an initiative launched by French President Macron that has taken off in the EU. The basic idea is to increase cooperation between European universities and we expect a call for the pilot scheme to be launched in October. Along with our friends in the U4 network, augmented by the University of Tartu (Sweden’s second oldest university), we are set to apply to be a node in this new initiative. We will build on the good cooperation we have already established, though many details still remain unclear – so far we are aiming at a moving target. If we are successful, it will have great potential benefits for our education and research, but above all, it will enable us to influence the shape of future cooperation between European universities.

It was interesting after that to hear about the issues the student body wants to focus on in the year ahead. In many areas we can link arms and support one another. To wrap up the first day, the vice-rectors told us what’s in the pipeline in their disciplinary domains.

We continued on the theme of the future on Thursday. We began in the morning with an introduction to the project on revising “Uppsala University: Mission and Core Values”. How should Uppsala go about strengthening its position as a world-leading university? What sort of strategies should we have for education and research? How should we work on quality, skills development, infrastructure, sustainable development, equal opportunities, internationalisation and good research practice? There were many questions and the group discussions were lively. The discussion will no doubt continue in many parts of the University.

After that we had a presentation and report on Development Plan 2050 and the second day ended with a status report on fundraising. We had a busy programme, in good spirits, and we can conclude that as always a lot is going on at Uppsala University. But we are also pleased that no matter how successful we have been historically, we always aim higher. This weekend we will celebrate our 541st anniversary. In this connection, the Royal Academic Orchestra is giving a Beatles concert in the Grand Auditorium on Saturday and Sunday, under the slogan “Come Together”, in true University spirit.

(Original Swedish post published 25 September.)

Last week Uppsala hosted deputy vice-chancellors and vice-rectors from the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities for a Vice-Presidents meeting. These meetings are held a couple of times each year and prepare ‘policy papers’ and similar documents for adoption when the heads of the member universities meet at the network’s General Assembly.

On Wednesday evening, Professor Norbert Lossau, Vice-President of the University of Göttingen, led a much-appreciated workshop in the University Main Building on the EU’s Open Science Policy Platform. Storage and accessibility are highly topical issues for research data, as is the issue of open access to research publications. The latter issue is becoming increasingly highly charged. An alliance of European research funding bodies and the European Commission is pushing hard for full Open Access within a few years, but it is still difficult to see exactly what sort of model we will end up with – and how to get there. One of the questions is how to limit the unreasonable profit margins demanded by powerful publishing houses. In Sweden, as in Germany, universities and libraries are currently locked in a struggle with the publishing giant Elsevier, after talks on a new agreement broke down this summer. However, the issue is also complicated by the fact that the vociferous demands for Open Access challenge long-established publishing traditions and norms in different research fields and disciplines.

The meeting in the Segerstedt Building on Thursday included presentations and discussions on Horizon Europe, the Guild’s North–South strategy, focusing on Africa, a proposal on a joint Guild summer school for doctoral students, and a proposal on ‘Guild Benchlearning’. The meeting concluded with an update on the European University Networks process in Brussels, in which we in Uppsala are deeply involved through an application with our partners in the U4 Network and the University of Tartu.

Guild Benchlearning is a proposal that relates to the type of basic data that all member universities compile in any case for delivery to ranking institutions. The concept of ‘benchlearning’ has been chosen deliberately instead of ‘benchmarking’ to emphasise that we are interested in comparisons for the sake of learning from one another, not for producing our own rankings. These data can provide insight into differences between our universities and areas where we can each improve. They can also be used as a basis for analysis and studies of the Guild network as a whole.

On Wednesday the University Board gathered for its first meeting of the autumn semester. As tradition dictates, we met in the University Main Building, where the meeting in the new University Board Room began with the Vice-Chancellor’s report (PPT). The presentation met with lively interest, and as Vice-Chancellor I was pleased to be able to say that we had welcomed 9,500 new students, that the number of international students is increasing, that our researchers are successful and that we are engaging in new initiatives, such as the European University Network. If you follow this blog, you will already have read about many of these things.

The next point on the agenda was the half-yearly financial report. Director of Planning Daniel Gillberg presented the forecast for 2018, which confirmed that things are going very well for Uppsala University. The number of full-time equivalent students continues to increase and will exceed 24,000 this year. The financial situation is stable. The deficit in 2018 means that the University is using accumulated agency capital, as planned. The total number of full-time equivalent employees at Uppsala University has been fairly stable over the last few years. In the first half of 2018, the total number of FTE employees increased slightly to 6,042, up from 5,960 last year. Among research and teaching staff, the main growth has come in career-development positions, but the number of professors, senior lecturers and lecturers has also increased. The number of researchers and doctoral students, on the other hand, has gone down.

One of the University Board’s most pleasant tasks is to award prizes. This time we had the pleasure of deciding on the winner of the Björkén Prize. This very prestigious award was established in 1902. Several future Nobel Laureates have received the prize, including Kai Siegbahn and Arvid Carlsson. The prize winner is nominated by a prize committee that includes the Dean of the Physics Section, Jan-Erik Rubensson. He attended the meeting and presented the nomination to the University Board. The prize will be presented at the Winter Conferment Ceremony.

The point on the agenda that generated most interest, even before the meeting, was the review of the rules of procedure and the procedure for nominating a new vice-chancellor. The background is as follows. At the University Board meeting in December 2016, the Vice-Chancellor received a mandate to conduct a review of the University’s rules of procedure in 2017. The review committee delivered its report and proposal on the revision of the rules of procedure in October 2017. At the University Board meeting in November 2017, the Board decided to appoint a sub-committee of the Board to further elaborate the review committee’s proposal for new rules of procedure. An interim paper on Uppsala University’s rules of procedure will be distributed in the University for consultation. The interim paper concerns the procedure for nominating a vice-chancellor (appointed by the government) and a deputy vice-chancellor (appointed by the University Board). This has not previously been included in the rules of procedure. The interim paper also contains a proposal on terms of office for senior university officers. The Chair of the University Board, Gudmund Hernes, emphasised that it is important to allow the internal discussion to take time, and to give everyone a chance to say what they think, so that the proposal is firmly anchored in the University.

In connection with its ordinary meetings, the University Board often takes up important strategic issues. The topic discussed on Wednesday was fundraising, which is a prioritised area for the University. In the course of the past year, the Management Council and disciplinary domains have worked on this issue in a more focused and systematic way than before. Agneta Stålhandske from the Development Office described ongoing developments and progress in the area.

On the proposal of the Chair, Gudmund Hernes, a new point has been introduced at University Board meetings – a researcher presentation. The first researcher to present his work was Professor Thomas Schön from the Department of Information Technology, who gave a mini-lecture entitled “Machine learning provides the backbone algorithms enabling AI”. Gudmund and I believe it is important that the University Board obtains a deeper view of the research being carried out at the University.

We wrapped up a good and inspiring meeting by noting that the next time the University Board meets will be for an overnight conference in November, when we will discuss the University’s Mission and Core Values. I look forward to that.

Chongsoo Kim, President of Hallym University

This week we have also had a visit from Hallym University. Our partnership, which celebrated its tenth anniversary this year, began one icy winter a decade ago when a delegation from South Korea came to Uppsala. The delegation had come to discuss cooperation in the medical field and a decision was soon reached to hold annual symposia alternately in Sweden and in South Korea. Since then these symposia have served as a platform at which colleagues from the two universities have discussed new research findings and discoveries in medicine.

The universities decide jointly on the topic of each symposium. This year’s topic was “Health and Disease in Women and Children” – a choice representing successful research environments with ambitions to become even better.

The partnership is one example of our commitment to internationalisation and Uppsala University has previously welcomed visiting researchers from Hallym in areas such as neurosciences and clinical immunology. One possibility currently under discussion is to send one of our cancer researchers to South Korea, and we are also talking about arrangements for potential student and teacher exchanges.

This is a partnership that will certainly grow as time goes on. We have developed a close relationship over the past decade and we were particularly pleased that Dai-Won Yoon, Chairman of Hallym University, was among the visitors this time. He was the main force on the South Korean side in 2008, presenting a plan for the scholarly exchange and noting the great potential. Many today are glad that he did so.

The trees are slowly beginning to turn from green to yellow and red and now the autumn semester is properly under way.

In the last few weeks, Anders and I have had the privilege of meeting and welcoming our new students. Last week Anders had two receptions for new students in Uppsala and on Monday, as tradition dictates, I followed our own knight to the ruins of the church of St Eskil to welcome our freshers to Campus Gotland in Visby.

During Almedalen Week this summer, we celebrated Campus Gotland’s fifth anniversary and on Monday I had the opportunity to celebrate and mingle with staff at Campus Gotland. It’s fantastic how Gotland has developed. More students want to study there, the number of applicants is high. This year I welcomed more than 1,300 to a new semester – that’s a new record, and over 200 more than last year. The University’s only international Bachelor’s programmes are offered in Visby, and it is pleasing that the number of international students is increasing.

The return of the students makes its mark on Uppsala and Visby and the start of a new semester is obvious in town. It’s great to see all the welcoming events, they spread warmth, happiness and optimism. The University gives the towns more of an international flavour, but it also increases the demand for student housing and more services in English.

This week it was really noticeable that the semester was properly under way. The Management Council, meetings with the Internationalisation Inquiry and a visit from the University of Turku. On Thursday we had the kick-off in a broader circle for a project that has been getting going this summer, the European University Network (EUN) or U4+. This is an initiative that comes from the President of France, Macron, aimed at strengthening European cooperation in research and education. We can draw on our experience in the U4 network and develop this concept for even closer cooperation.

On Saturday it is Culture Night in Uppsala and the University will be opening its doors for many events, some of which we are arranging ourselves and others with other organisations – see “49 reasons to visit Culture Night” (programme in Swedish). You can get a sneak preview of Carolina Rediviva, you can have your say about the University in the City in the Segerstedt Building, or experience the beauty of the Baroque Garden in the Botanical Garden and listen to the Royal Academic Orchestra, just to give a few examples. You can also visit some of the student nations. Inevitably, the programme for Culture Night this year is influenced by the elections on Sunday. At the Museum of Evolution you can take part in an election night with a difference (elect your favourite whale!) and at Fyriskällan political scientist Sten Widmalm will be commenting on campaign films and posters.

As for me, I have the honour of presenting the Disa Prize during Culture Night. This is a prize that was established jointly by the University and Studentbokhandeln in 2001 to recognise researchers at Uppsala University who have published popular scientific or literary works. It is a prestigious award, with previous prize winners including Sara Danius, Ulf Danielsson, Peter Englund, Maja Hagerman and Johan Svedjedal.

Do you want to know who this year’s prize winner is? Come to Studentbokandeln at 19:30.

Hope to see you there!

For researchers at any university, making the most of great national and international research infrastructure ventures is both an opportunity and a challenge. If Swedish universities also have to draw on their government funding to co-finance national research infrastructure, the challenge becomes more complicated. It requires national coordination and to this end the vice-chancellors of the ten largest universities have set up a special group – the Universities’ Reference Group for Research Infrastructures (URFI). It is this group that negotiates with the Swedish Research Council’s Council for Research Infrastructures (RFI).

As Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor on Research Infrastructure at Uppsala University, I am in a position to influence how we develop, manage and use research infrastructure as best possible. I am the University’s representative in URFI. There are many types of research infrastructure and it is a major undertaking just to identify all the instruments, collections, databases, technology platforms and biobanks in our own organisation. To help me in this, I have an Advisory Board for Research Infrastructure, consisting of representatives of the three disciplinary domains, the University Library and the student body. We can submit proposals on the coordination of research infrastructure. We can identify opportunities and weaknesses in the research infrastructure landscape. We can also assist the Vice-Chancellor and the three disciplinary domains by clarifying funding streams, governance and strategic planning. Of course this does not occur in isolation, it is coordinated with URFI/RFI and international parties.

MAX IV

Research infrastructure can be invisible or really beautiful, and at the same time truly useful. One of the most beautiful infrastructures, which has actually won a European prize for its appearance, is the MAX IV Laboratory in Lund. The silver synchrotron light ring shines out across the plain, but it is the research content, created with hard work and passionate commitment by researchers from Uppsala University and other institutions, that is the real attraction.

One of the less visible sides of infrastructure is our treatment of research data. This is a major issue for the entire University, because of stricter legislation on the handling of sensitive data and demands that research data created using public funding should be open and accessible. Here, the Advisory Board seeks to contribute proposals on how we specifically should work on these issues, in line with other universities in Sweden and internationally. Uppsala University is responsible for the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC), which provides data storage resources for data in use, but after processing has been completed the data must be archived, and this is the University’s responsibility. SNIC incorporates the University’s own data centre UPPMAX, which has a national responsibility and know-how regarding sensitive data. Support is needed at several levels. Researchers need support in the form of correct information about which system is right for their specific needs. They also need support regarding the format in which open data should be stored so as to be searchable and accessible to others. This applies to researchers in all disciplinary domains and clear and correct information is vital.

UPPMAX. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt

I never cease to marvel at the wealth of the knowledge, research ideas and research collections possessed by this University, Sweden’s oldest, and I hope I can help to make life a little easier for our researchers and pave the way for them to carry out the best research.

Kristina Edström
Adviser to the Vice-Chancellor for Research Infrastructure

(Original Swedish post published 24 August.)

The Management Council* meets at the beginning of each term for an overnight conference. It gives us a chance to discuss strategic issues, to plan the year ahead and to get to know one another a bit better. It was particularly pleasing that all our new student representatives – regular members and alternates – were able to attend. This time, the meeting, from lunchtime on Wednesday to lunchtime on Thursday, was at Krusenbergs herrgård just outside Uppsala.

The agenda focused on a single issue – fundraising. Fundraising concerns how the University can increase donations and contributions to our education, research and other activities, such as investments in buildings. This is nothing new at Uppsala University. In 1624, the University received a donation from King Gustav II Adolf. Over time, we have received more donations and we currently have 605 foundations, which are managed by Uppsala University Foundations Management of Estates and Funds. The returns on these investments enable the University to fund research initiatives and provide scholarships for students. They also fund the maintenance and development of our cultural heritage in the form of the Botanical Garden, Museum Gustavianum, the Royal Academic Orchestra, our conferment ceremonies and other academic ceremonies, and much, much more besides.

To enable the University to increase our freedom of manoeuvre and our control over our own affairs, we have decided to develop our fundraising activities. Last year we therefore established a new division of the University Administration – the Development Office. The Head of the Development Office, Agnetha Stålhandske, and her staff had prepared a programme for our meeting. We started with an inspiring lecture from Mikael Horal, who was in charge of Karolinska Institutet’s successful fundraising campaign. He generously shared his experiences with us and gave us some useful tips for our ongoing efforts. Fundraising is a task that must involve the entire organisation and we need to have patience, as it takes time.

Ahead of the meeting, the disciplinary domains had drawn up proposals on a range of projects and purposes. At the end of the first day, the three vice-rectors presented the projects in their domains. Many were relevant to more than one domain and offer opportunities for collaboration across domain boundaries. The presentations served as the basis for an intense and exciting discussion on the second day, aimed at ranking and clustering the projects.

The University Management will now pursue these ideas further, proceeding from the discussions at the overnight conference. One of the steps will be to obtain an outside perspective by asking for comments from an external reference group.

Thanks to everyone for their commitment, the energy of the discussions and all the informative material on projects from departments and research teams.

*The Management Council advises the Vice-Chancellor and consists of Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anders Malmberg and the three vice-rectors Torsten Svensson, Stellan Sandler and Johan Tysk. Deputy vice-rectors Anna Singer, Mats Larhed and Marika Edhoff substitute for the vice-rectors when necessary and always take part in the overnight conferences, as does University Director Katarina Bjelke. Three student representatives, currently Ludvig Lundgren (Uppsala Student Union), Andreas Gustavsson (Uppsala Union of Engineering and Science Students) and Carl Andersson Kronlid (Doctoral Board), also participate, along with alternate members, currently Anna Liliebäck (Law Students’ Association in Uppsala), Christopher Lin (Uppsala Business & Economics Students Association) and Ernst Andersson (Pharmaceutical Student Association). Linda Lundberg is the secretary and Director of Communications Pernilla Björk and Deputy University Director Kay Svensson also attend the meetings. The Management Council meets every other Monday.

(Original Swedish post published 19 August.)

So once again, it was time for the annual SANORD Conference, this time at Jyväskylä University in Finland. The theme of this year’s conference was Academic Citizenship: Recognition, Resilience and Resistance. There were many interesting presentations and keynotes; Professor Sabelo Gatsheni-Ndlovu (University of South Africa) in particular gave us in the audience much to think about with his speech on the decolonisation of universities. The participants from Uppsala University were Dr Shepherd Urenje (SWEDESD), Peter Sundin (ISP), Erika Andersson and Ulrica Ouline (both from the International Office), and myself (Eva Åkesson). A Board meeting and the annual Council meeting were also held in connection with the conference. New Board members were appointed for the period 2020–2021, and principles for membership and a new action plan in line with the strategy for the period until 2022 were adopted. You can read more about SANORD here.

SANORD (the Southern African–Nordic Centre) is a network consisting of 48 universities in Southern Africa and the Nordic region. Uppsala University holds the Chair of the network’s Board until the end of December this year, after which the University of Botswana will take over. The next conference will take place in Botswana on 11–13 September 2019. If you are a researcher at Uppsala University, you can currently apply for money (ZAR 60,000) for collaborative projects through SANORD’s Theme Group Support. Contact Ulrica Ouline at the International Office to find out more, ulrica.ouline@uadm.uu.se.

Welcome back from the holidays! I hope you are all well rested and have many happy summer memories to look back on. Now that it’s time to get going again, it may take a while to remember things that were said before the summer break, and a few passwords may have been forgotten, but I take that as a sign of a good holiday.

The beginning of the semester is rapidly approaching and some of our international students have already arrived in Uppsala to learn Swedish. Some of them are taking the chance to make weekend outings, led by our university guide Mikael Norrby. Today I had the pleasure of going along on a coach tour of historic industrial sites in Uppland, in the company of students from all over the world. I enjoyed hearing about their great expectations of the time they will spend with us, as a Master’s student or an exchange student.

Unfortunately one thing is always the same at the start of every semester: the housing situation – many have difficulty finding somewhere to live. So this autumn semester too, I would like to appeal to everyone who is in a position to offer housing to our new students, whether in Uppsala or in Visby. Starting off with a good, settled place to live gives students a better chance to go about their studies successfully. You can find information about renting out accommodation at Studentboet. Thanks to anyone who can help out!

A few weeks ago it was confirmed that Swedish universities are without an agreement with the publisher Elsevier. The cancellation of the agreement – after prolonged and tough negotiations – is due to two reasons: first, the universities want to make it clear that the runaway escalation of costs is both unreasonable and unsustainable, and second, the company is unwilling to meet demands for open access.

The government has set the goal of immediate open access to all publicly funded research by 2026. To achieve this requires a transition from a subscription-based system of licence fees to a system in which companies cover their costs through publication fees. At present, the major companies, spearheaded by Elsevier, increasingly charge publication fees without any corresponding willingness to accept lower licence fees. The Swedish universities negotiate jointly via the Bibsam Consortium, and Elsevier has not offered an agreement on a model that meets Bibsam’s demands. As a result, the agreement has been cancelled from 30 June 2018.

The decision has been taken after extensive discussion, which began when all of the Swedish universities in Bibsam found that costs had begun to escalate and Elsevier in particular was taking unreasonable advantage of its market dominance. Retaining the agreement became unsustainable.

For a transitional period, the situation that has arisen will affect access. This is unfortunate, but the University Library is working on solutions. We hope that everyone at Uppsala University will support the decision, which ultimately concerns the long-term defence of the principle of open access to research in Sweden. Read more on Uppsala University Library’s home page.

This week we welcome guest bloggers to the Vice-Chancellor’s Blog. Our guests have all participated in Uppsala University’s various events during Almedalen Week on Gotland and share their impressions from the events. You can also follow them o n the web at www.uu.se/almedalen

“Medicine as we know it today completely relies on working antibiotics”, this was one of the introducing statements at the seminar “How do we solve the antibiotic resistance problem in the world?” that Uppsala Antibiotic Center (UAC) arranged yesterday in Almedalen. Moderated by Björn Olsen, a panel of seven experts in areas such as bacteriology, social interaction, medicine, chemistry and veterinary epidemiology engaged in an active debate that aimed at pinpointing what we can do, as academics, politicians, and citizens regarding this current health threat. Resistance to antibiotics by bacteria is something that scientists have been aware of since the very beginning of antibiotics use, but its effects have not gained the global attention they deserve until recently. The lack of discovery of any new antibiotic classes for the past three decades, coupled with the increased use and misuse of available antibiotics has led bacteria to develop resistance to all available drugs and are threatening to bring us into a dystopian future where antibiotics are no longer a treatment option. Is it too late? The conclusion of yesterday’s debate is that it is not, but constant active work, broad collaborations and effective communication are needed to solve the current situation.

The seminar started with, perhaps, the most difficult question of them all – how to get broad, worldwide political change in the use of antibiotics. As a global problem that knows no boundaries, as indicated by Otto Cars, minimising selection and spread of resistant bacteria is something which every country should be working on. However, the economical possibilities differ widely between countries. Today, antibiotic resistance is without a doubt a political matter that requires global team-work and coordination just like global warming. Unfortunately, current collaborations between countries are not successful and more work is needed to achieve overall control.

“But, are there any potential alternative to antibiotics treatment?” was one of the questions that several people from the public repeatedly came back to. It is logical to think that if antibiotics stop working we might be able to treat infections in different ways. Alternative treatments such as phage therapy or prevention strategies like vaccines and probiotics are being investigated, showing potential effectiveness towards specific bacteria and infections. Especially vaccination should be used as much as possible, but nevertheless, should be looked at more as complements than substitutes to antibiotic treatments.

Although there is at the moment a drought in the antibiotic pipeline, current research initiatives between the industry sector and academia are possibly leading to new compounds that could hit the market in the near future. Alternative economical models that decouple antibiotic development from sales are also needed and are being tried. But, as pointed out several times, we must be cautious once we get access to new antibiotics to avoid ending up in the same situation we are in today. Resistance will always develop, and we must have a system in place that works consciously to preserve effectiveness.

After the interesting and intense 90 minutes of questions, answers and debate, the panel wrapped up the session by highlighting briefly their take home messages. “This is not a one-solution problem and just as bacteria will not stop evolving we can never stop working on it,” Linus Sandegren pointed out, a statement that was repeated by other panelists. As a multifactorial problem we need many different scientific disciplines to work together to solve it.

As a centre focusing on antibiotics and antibiotic resistance, UAC is actively working to create knowledge, establish and coordinate collaborations and help the communication of all matters in these topics – three key points to get closer to a solution to this problem. The high attendance and active interaction yesterday show that we are heading, without doubt, in the right direction.

Eva Garmendia
Coordinator at Uppsala Antibiotic Center