Employees at LTH were recently invited to a forum to help them gain insight into, and ask questions about, important development issues under the banner “Together we strengthen LTH”. In the panel discussion between the dean, deputy dean and assistant deans of LTH, the fact emerged that departments at LTH also need to consider priorities in the Government’s new research bill.
If you were unable to attend the “Together we strengthen LTH” forum arranged by LTH’s management, here is a summary.
First, a proud look back at the past year
Out of 13 ERC Consolidator Grants awarded to Swedish universities in 2024, five went to Lund University – and three of these to LTH researchers.
In the words of Dean Annika Olsson, LTH is “the best in the country at obtaining ERC grants”, and this is one of the achievements that all of us at LTH can be proud of. Another is that LTH received two new Wallenberg Scholars last year, and a third is that Lund University was placed 95th in the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings 2024.
“The fact that we are among the top 100 ranked universities in the world is, of course, of great importance for the number of applications from international students and for opportunities to recruit successful researchers from other countries,” said the Dean of LTH, who also emphasised that LU’s excellent ranking results in terms of external engagement and industrial cooperation can largely be attributed to LTH.
Other good news highlighted by the dean was that LTH now has 9 national centres of excellence, with FORCE, which works towards a robust food system, being the latest addition.
“Among LTH’s new students, 40 per cent are now women. The figures differ between study programmes, and we must continue to work on gender imbalance, but we are no longer a single-sex faculty,” said Annika Olsson.
New research bill requires LTH’s commitment
The latest research and innovation bill was a topic that came up several times in the panel discussion between the dean of LTH, deputy dean Margaret McNamee and the two assistant deans present, Kristofer Modig and Annika Mårtensson.
“The research bill promises more money for STEM, but this is research funding that we apply for in competition. On the management side, we try to engage to get a piece of the pie, and what we can do is facilitate and build environments that pull towards different thematic areas. By joining forces with other universities or external parties, we can attract external funding in the really big calls for applications,” explained Annika Olsson.
Margaret McNamee, who has special responsibility for research and infrastructure in the management team, summed up the research bill as a “controlled hailstorm of named initiatives”.
One paradox criticised by LTH’s management is that although the Government speaks warmly of academic freedom, it still gets involved when it points out which areas are prioritised for research.
A challenging task will be to broaden and innovate in education
Moderator Louise Pierce, who is also LTH’s external engagement coordinator, asked what the dean, deputy dean and assistant deans see as particularly difficult in the coming years.
“One challenge will be to take care of the fantastic programme proposals that we received after a call for applications but could not proceed with. Here we need to have good ideas to hand, so that we develop, broaden and innovate existing programmes instead of starting new ones. It will take time,” said Kristofer Modig, assistant dean responsible for first and second-cycle studies.
His view is that employers, perhaps even more so in the future, want to hire graduates who have, above all, good basic skills.
“Personally, I believe that good basic skills will become even more important in the future due to generative AI. Whether or not you are a skilled user of these services will be crucial. I also believe that we will need to re-evaluate what our programmes should contain in five to ten years. The difficult aspect is to know which direction they should take.”
In any case, the management’s view is that LTH should focus on educating students who are good at shaping the whole of society – problem-solving community builders.
Strategic recruitment focusing on excellence – “Me Ltd” is less interesting
The research bill may allocate a relatively large amount of resources to STEM subjects, but LTH’s basic funding will not increase,” pointed out Dean Annika Olsson, who also underscored the importance of strategic recruitment focusing on excellence:
“LTH’s recruitment strategy was perhaps perceived by some as management wanting control. But we really wanted to ensure that LTH recruits responsibly and does not have to lay off employees when the money runs out. The departments now also have a responsibility to think strategically about and formulate their professional development plans. We need to look at where society is heading, what the bill says, what topics are singled out, but above all, the research front’s direction as observed by the departments and profile areas.”
The research bill offers support for recruitment focusing on excellence through funding from the Swedish Research Council. As recruitment is a long-term commitment with high strategic relevance, it is important that the departments are responsible for the content of investments in excellence, the management argues.
According to Kristofer Modig, LTH, Lund University and other higher education institutions need to work together to preserve freedom also when it comes to designing courses and study programmes. He emphasised that LTH still wants to recruit people who are both internationally leading researchers and skilled educators: “One or the other is never a good thing; both our recruitment and promotion strategies are aimed at environments that combine excellent research with outstanding first and second-cycle studies.”
Speaking about excellence – and what is meant by the term – Annika Olsson said that “academic housekeeping” is highlighted in LTH’s promotion strategy, where individual performance has taken a back seat in favour of individual responsibility in the group. Excellence also includes managing activities, for example.
“We want to create the leaders of the future, so it’s very much about how I contribute to the bigger picture. The goal is to recruit so that LTH can provide good education and research in collaboration; having your own company is not what’s important,” said Kristofer Modig.
New ways to attract and inspire students
One of the issues that LTH’s management wants to prioritise going forward is widening participation. In the context of education, it is about finding new ways to attract young people who are well-suited to LTH’s courses and study programmes but come from environments where higher education institutions are barely on the map when future plans are discussed.
“If we fail to attract these potential students in society, we will lose important skills,” said Annika Mårtensson, citing the EPA project in Örkelljunga as an example of a successful collaboration to inspire and leverage talent.
News from about the EPA project in Örkelljunga (on the website of SVT, in Swedish)
“Together” is best – also in relation to MAX IV and ESS
Deputy Dean Margaret McNamee pointed out that LTH needs to collaborate within LU and with a number of external stakeholders to achieve more long-term funding of large research infrastructures.
“Securing long-term funding is a key issue for many infrastructures, especially the larger ones. For that, we have to work on many levels,” said Margaret McNamee.
Another challenge she highlighted was that LTH and Lund University need to cultivate contacts and enter into collaborations that facilitate the future expansion of more beamlines at MAX IV – as well as sought-after research time at the various research stations at both MAX IV and ESS.
“This is research that more people need to devote themselves to and that we need in order to find, among other things, the sustainable materials of the future,” explained Margaret McNamee.
Johan Revstedt, assistant dean responsible for recruitment and employeeship, was unable to attend the “Stronger together at LTH” forum.
If you have feedback or thoughts on how LTH’s management can approach activities in the future, Dean Annika Olsson encourages you to contact Tiina Meri: tiina [dot] meri [at] lth [dot] lu [dot] se (tiina[dot]meri[at]lth[dot]lu[dot]se)
What LTH’s management will prioritise going forward
- Cutting-edge research and future promises – strategic recruitment focusing on excellence
- New research and innovation environments growing around MAX IV and ESS – and LTH as a whole aiming for a sustainable campus
- Foster collaboration on key infrastructures within the University and nationally
- Train and empower the community builders of the future
- Actively work on widening participation, including through new concepts to reach and inspire potential students coming from homes or environments without academic traditions