GU-Journal 6-2019

You should not sit on unpublished finding unecessarily, it is better to publish the quickly.

GUJournal HENRIK NILSSON PAGE 7

NEWS

Co-publication leads to success NEWS

Teaches public art in Arizona REPORT

GU helps democracy in Malawi

FISH IN THE LAB PETRONELLA KETTUNEN STUDIES OUR MEMORY

VICE-CHANCELLOR Protect core values VER THE PAST week, the University of Gothenburg has featured widely in the news and the editorial pages, on Twitter and certainly in discussions around coffee tables at more universities than our own. On this occasion, interest was aroused by the fact that the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication ( JMG) held a lecture series during the autumn entitled: Så tänker en partistrateg (How a political strategist thinks) and invited as guest speakers, political strategists from all the parliamentary parties. The final speaker was Rikard Jomshof from the Sweden Democrats. It was this part of the lecture series that drew criticism and a petition was started to ban the Sweden Democrats from speaking at the university – which was also signed by a number of researchers and staff.

The debate that followed has been very interesting in many ways. Thoughtful arguments were presented from both sides and it is not entirely

unreasonable that the university’s role in society and our core values were discussed on editorial pages.

Who should be invited to hold lectures and where do we draw the line? What responsibility do we have as a university to ensure that students “should not feel anxious and afraid”? Can you, as a senior employee, oppose “academic freedom”? Is the debate even about academic freedom?

IN THESE CASES, the institution and faculty decide what is relevant for the students, based on the research and education that is being conducted. In this case, the institution had considered it a prerequisite for the implementation of the event, that representatives from all parliamentary parties were invited. The lectures were about the parties’ communication strategies – it was not a forum for political agitation. I think that that was a reasonable assessment that JMG made. The students in this instance will work with political and strategic communication in various forms in the near future. Their edu-

cation needs to prepare them for the reality that they will face.

At the same time, we are allowed to question and have different opinions. I am convinced that our organisation, the university world and we ourselves are good at airing and debating issues such as these, which have arisen as a result of this lecture series, and seeing where we stand. We welcome the fact that we are part of the social discourse.

Although this time, I think the position was simple, we need to continue discussing these issues, not least in connection with the work on our vision.

AT THE TIME of writing, there are just

one week left until Christmas Eve, and we are about to put another semester behind us. I want to take this opportunity to wish you a restful and well-deserved Christmas vacation.

See you again in 2020!

EVA WIBERG

Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

MASTHEAD

Freedom of speech must be defended WHEN RICHARD JOMSHOF, party secretary of the Sweden Democrats, was invited to hold a lecture on strategic communication, it caused an intense media storm. More than 600 academics protested against the university inviting a representative with extremist views. The lecture was quickly fully booked, but during the lecture itself, many of the seats were empty. One student we spoke to said that several of his fellow students had booked a seat in order to subsequently boycott the event.

Those who protested argued that the lecture legitimises the politics of the Sweden Democrats. But in actual fact it is the Swedish electorate who legitimised

2 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

them; the Sweden Democrats have representation in parliament. Paradoxically, the protests became an example of the very subject of Jomshof ’s lecture, namely how the Sweden Democrats intentionally use these types of reactions in order to paint an image of their party as being victimised.

From that perspective, the protest contributed to giving the Sweden Democrats the type of attention they crave.

All parties in parliament were invited to the JMG lecture series, which formed part of a course. Excluding a democratic party would be incompatible with the university’s ideals regarding transparency and freedom of speech.

In this issue of the GU Journal, we also discuss the risks associated with a culture of silence in the workplace. Previous health & safety surveys show that a third of employees at the University of Gothenburg have refrained from voicing criticism, out of fear of negative reactions from managers and harming workplace relations. This is not acceptable, particularly not at a university that is founded on critical thinking and constant inquiry. In light of this, we would also emphasise that one of the missions of the GU Journal is to contribute to a more open climate.

ALLAN ERIKSSON & EVA LUNDGREN

30

Cecilia Malmström is new guest professor.

Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

CONTENTS NEWS 04–10

04. Networking is the key to success.

07. This is how you become successful.

09. The new vision: A University for the World.

10. Scholarship gave Kajsa new insights in American University life.

PROFILE 12–15

12. Fish in the service of research.

FOCUS 16–22

16. Helping goverment in Malawi.

21. How to create security in a country.

REPORT 23–25

23. In search for traces for an ­expedition in Antarctic.

PEOPLE 26–34 26. Homoerotic poetry in the ancient Islamic world.

28. War and Machines.

30. Brings 20 years of EU-experience to GU-students.

32. Global evening 34. Environmental conference 36. The moment

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

3

NEWS

Qutations and networking – the path to success To succeed as a researcher, it is not only important to be published but, above all, to be cited. Those who know how it is done can end up on the list of the world’s most-cited researchers. And the explanation? In addition to hard work – diligent co-authorship and a large network of international contacts. Perhaps also serendipity.

OF THE EIGHT UNIVERSITY of Gothenburg researchers on the list of the world’s top one percent most-cited researchers, there are two that stand out. Kaj Blennow and Henrik Zetterberg have published hundreds of articles over the past few years.

Together, they lead a large neurochemistry research group and are highly cited in the field of Neuroscience and Behaviour. Their research includes the development of biomarkers to try to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease long before clinical symptoms are presented. One of the articles that was published in The Lancet in 2006 was quoted 2,110 times.

Zetterberg and Blennow published a total of 992 articles between 2008 and 2018, 64 percent of which were co-authored. When it comes to the most highly cited articles, it is even clearer.

4 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

However, nobody beats Henrik Zetterberg who has published nearly 500 articles in the period from 2014– 2018. He also belongs to a small and exclusive group of researchers in the world (a total of 265) who are considered hyper-productive, according to a prominent study in Nature from 2018 (“Thousands of scientists publish a paper every five days”).

According to Henrik Zetterberg, this is because his subject, clinical neurochemistry, is well suited to collaborations.

them. But he also thinks it is important that the results are peer reviewed. But he does not really agree that there is any publication hysteria.

“SAMPLES ARE sent all over the

world. I coordinate a large lab here in Gothenburg together with Kaj Blennow, and run another lab in London. The timing could not have been better. Biomarkers have become a very hot topic in recent years, within both neurochemistry and psychiatry, which has led to a large number of publications. From a scientific perspective, we have learned a lot from international collaboration”, says Henrik Zetterberg.

“I like my job, but it is of course a lot of work and I wonder how I will be able to keep up the pace in the long run.”

He sees publication as a natural part of the scientific work that drives research forward by summarizing results and by co-authors discussing

Biomarkers have become a very hot topic in recent years ...

HENRIK ZETTERBERG

“IT IS IMPORTANT TO regularly report

in scientific journals what kind of research our labs are conducting.

However, reporting failures is just as important as reporting successes, but negative results are rarely published”, says Henrik Zetterberg, who is critical of the fact that the highest-ranked journals have succumbed to the pursuit of sensational results.

“These journals have gained an increasingly poor reputation in terms of reproducibility of some of the ‘success stories’. For example, the mystery of Alzheimer’s has been solved countless times in ‘prestigious’ journals.”

Illustration: MARIA KÄLLSTRÖM

The only female researcher from the University of Gothenburg on the list is Valentina Tremaroli. She and her colleague Fredrik Bäckhed are newcomers on the list and are researching the importance of gut flora in the disease process. Several of the articles are co-authored.

“I WAS SURPRISED and pleased to see my name on the list. As one of the few microbiologists in the group, I have managed to publish my results in highly ranked journals that have been widely cited. I think it reflects our international collaboration and the quality and incredible

breadth of expertise that my colleagues possess.”

The significance of the list for a university is difficult to assess, according to the analyst Magnus MacHale Gunnarsson, who annually analyses the results of the three major ranking lists.

“We know there is a tremendous amount of pressure to be published in journals with a high impact factor. The list of highly cited researchers is one of the indicators in the Shanghai ranking, but it is unclear how much the University of Gothenburg’s ranking is affected by the changes on this list.”

Bibliometrician Lars Kullman at the University Library still thinks that citations say a lot about the influence that some researchers have.

“To end up on the list of the 1 percent most cited researchers is undoubtedly a great achievement.

It is particularly impressive in medicine, which has a high threshold, and this means that they are well regarded in the world of research.

But the differences between the scientific fields are considerable. One risk is that the pressure also forces humanists and social scientists to write shorter articles in English in specialized journals.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

5

NEWS

This is a map of the co-publications between Henrik Zetterberg and Kaj Blennow.

Most publications and citations (2014–2018)

Henrik Zetterberg

Num ber o Publ f cita icati

ons tions

Henrik Zetterberg Kaj Blennow Karl Swedberg Fredrik Bäckhed Sam Dupont Joakim Larsson Henrik Nilsson Valentina Tremaroli

481 394 102 83 60 45 34 16

4,928 6,080 2,468 4,201 701 890 880 1,339

Source: Lars Kullman, digitala medier, University Library.

Valentina Tremaroll

6 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

Facts The analytics company ­Clarivate Analytics, which owns Web of Science, annually publishes a list of the researchers whose publications are most frequently referenced by others. The percentage of researchers who are most cited in one of the 21 different fields, or in a newly created interdisciplinary category, will appear on the list. In total, the list includes 6,200 researchers worldwide, of whom nearly

half are in the United States.

This year, eight researchers from the University of Gothenburg qualified for a place on the list of the world’s most cited researchers. Five of them have appeared on the list previously: Joakim Larsson Henrik Nilsson, Karl Swedberg and Henrik Zetterberg. Three are new: Sam Dupont, Fredrik Bäckhed and Valentina Tremaroli.

NEWS

”Don’t sit on unpublished material, send it to journals as soon as possible,” advices Henrik Nilsson.

Simple suggestions for success The more co-authors, preferably international, the greater the chance you have of being cited. Other suggestions include promoting your articles and publishing them in journals that have a higher number of issues per year, Henrik Nilsson explains.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

7

NEWS THE MYCOLOGIST and biologist Henrik Nilsson, who has been on the list for three years in a row, sees it as proof that the research is used.

“It is good that there are people who are prepared to go all out to disseminate as many findings as possible. Naturally, this should be rewarded, but at the same time one should be aware that there are people who abuse the system by maximizing their output.”

He estimates that of his 10 most cited articles, 5 are about method, including one that in 2012 became the standard in the DNA-based identification of fungi. He often collaborates with other researchers.

“METHOD ARTICLES tend to be well

cited, but are not always considered to be as prestigious and orthodox as articles that are hypothesis-driven. I think it makes sense that a scientific article deals with one thing, then there will probably be fewer sources of error. The articles will also be easier to read and index. You should not sit on unpublished findings unnecessarily, it is better to publish them quickly.”

Obtaining a high ranking on the citation list is the result of hard work, but also serendipity, says Henrik Nilsson.

“I AM REAPING the fruits of my labour from when I was a PhD student 15 years ago. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, when we started using DNA sequences in earnest. In addition, I collaborated at an early stage with national and international researchers, which has yielded results.”

Another explanation is that he is frequently employed as an external peer reviewer of articles.

“For some reason, it is not considered a merit, which is stupid. But even though it is time-consuming, I think that in the long run you benefit from it. It increases your chances of being invited to participate in projects, to speak at conferences and to be included on the committee of a scientific journal.

The secret to success is to invite international researchers to collabo-

8 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time …

HENRIK NILSSON

rate with you”, says Henrik Nilsson.

The more co-authors there are, the more people want to ensure that the article is well cited.

“IT IS LIKE A snowball that gets bigger the further it rolls. I prefer to publish in journals that have a higher number of issues per year and which do not have a particularly high impact factor, rather than having to struggle with endless revisions to qualify for the more “heavy-hitting journals”. Today, more scientific articles are published than ever before and you can no longer just forget about your article on the day of publication. Today, you have to promote your published articles, it always pays off.

Another suggestion, according to Henrik Nilsson, is to monitor the market. What are the journals in my field? How do they differ? What do you have to do to get published?

Who is the most cited researcher in the department?

“I BECAME INTERESTED in these

issues early on. People I met at conferences talked about their success stories as well as their more discouraging experiences. There are actually a lot of suggestions to keep in mind when writing and submitting manuscripts for publication.”

At the same time, Henrik Nilsson points out that there is no clear link between the number of articles and the quality.

“No, no sensible person would see the number of items per unit of

time as a simple measure of success.

You have to factor in which journals the articles are published in, who the co-authors are, the number of citations and the degree of international collaboration”, continues Henrik Nilsson, who wants to broaden the scope of what is being rewarded in research and academia in general.

“The Research Councils should abandon their unsophisticated distribution models. They say they look at indicators other than publications, but I have my doubts. We should value other activities such as reviewing manuscripts or being the editor of a scientific journal. Popular science should also be rewarded in a completely different way. Today, we reward the people who publish a lot but forget about all the active researchers who contribute to the development of science in other ways.”

Text: ALLAN ERIKSSON Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

Top countries

Number of most highly cited researchers as a percentage of the total

USA 2,737 44% China 636 10% United Kingdom 516 8% Germany 327 5% Australia 271 4% Top-ranked universities Harvard University Stanford University Chinese Academy of Sciences Max Planck Society Broad Institute Number of journals in the world Web of Science: 12,000 Scopus: 20,000 The Norwegian Model: 25,000

Time to review the new vision WORK ON THE new vision began last spring. Since then, it has been discussed in various bodies at all levels and in five open vision seminars.

Approximately 300 employees have submitted comments.

Now the vision is essentially ready, both in terms of format and content.

“We have chosen to keep the vision short and concise, without unnecessary specifics”, says Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for collaboration and convener in the vision’s project management. Kristina Edgren, graphic designer at the communications unit, is responsible for the design format, a little booklet consisting of just a few pages. Some people wonder why we print the vision and don’t just post it online. But we think design is important, just seeing a text on a screen does not have the same impact.

AT THE BEGINNING of next year, the

vision will be sent out for review to the faculties.

“This will involve minor changes, if, for instance, we missed

Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

A University for the World is the name of the University of Gothenburg’s new vision, which will come into effect on January 1, 2021.

The vision is basically ready, but will be out on final review at the beginning of next year. In April, the university board will make a decision.

also begun. Naturally, the new board will be part of this work as well.”

The starting point for the new vision is the four core values formulated in the Magna Charta Universitatum: autonomy relative to political, ideological and financial interests, coherent education and research, respect for the freedom of research and education, as well as the pursuit of universal knowledge.

“THE VISION ALSO clarifies three

Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin

something. The vision will then be discussed at the university board meeting in February and a decision will be made in April.

On the first of July next year, the University of Hindenburg will have a new board to which the new vision will be handed over”, Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin explains.

“In parallel with the vision, work on the University’s strategies has

overall positions: research and education of the highest quality, a sustainable and knowledge-based societal development, as well as an attractive workplace and environment for skills development and learning.

The University’s governance must be long-term, coordinated, decentralized and based on trust”, Fredrika Lagergren Wahlin explains.

“We will have perspectives that span several years, and which provide predictability and stability.

But the vision specifies that we must also be flexible in relation to changes in the outside world.

EVA LUNDGREN

Facts The University of Gothenburg’s vision; A University for the World will come effect into January 1, 2021. The decision will be made by the university board in April. For more information, visit https:// medarbetarportalen.gu.se/organisation/Visionsarbete/.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

9

NEWS

HDK-researcher teaches public art in Arizona Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: KAJSA G. ERIKSSON

Right now, Kajsa G. Eriksson, Professor in Visual Arts, is at Arizona State University for one semester as part of an exchange programme. STINT is funding her stay.

“The idea is that I will share my experience with ­colleagues at the University of Gothenburg. Above all, I am curious as to how they adapt their teaching to the ­heterogeneous student groups that exist in Arizona.”

“’WE MEASURE OUR success, not by who we exclude but by who we include’”, is the audacious motto adopted by ASU, Arizona State University,” says Kajsa G. Eriksson.

“More prestigious universities, such as MIT and Harvard, boast about how few students they accept.

ASU does the opposite, and prides itself on having a diverse group of students.” What is interesting is that they are doing so well; they are ranked number one in terms of innovation among US universities and they also rank highly in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Teaching Sabbatical is a scholarship programme for lecturers and researchers who want to develop their teaching through international experience. Since the scholarship involves one hundred percent leave from their home university, it is the university that, together with

10 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

the researcher, is responsible for the application. The scholarship is generous: Kajsa G. Eriksson has been able to bring her husband and daughter, who also get to experience what it is like to live in the United States for six months.

“THE STINT SCHOLARSHIP is seldom given to a lecturer at an art institution, which of course makes me feel particularly honoured. The first question I was asked by my academic contact at the School of Art at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at the ASU, was what course I wanted to teach. It turned out that I could decide that myself, so I put together the course Experimental art in public space. I was also told that I would be lecturing two days a week, from 10:30–13:15.”

The students at ASU can decide for themselves what courses they want to combine to make up their

Kajsa G. Eriksson enjoys the heat of Arizona.

The students have different backgrounds, both artistically and culturally.

degree. This means that right up until the very last moment you don’t know how many students there will be.

“It wasn’t until the week I started working that I found out that fourteen students had signed up for my course, which I was very pleased about. Occasionally, some courses do not get any students at all. In my class everyone has very different main subjects, they have studied photography, art, digital culture, fashion design and architecture. The students also have very different cultural backgrounds.

MATERIALLY, THE ARTISTIC subjects at the University of Gothenburg have better resources than at ASU,” says Kajsa G. Eriksson.

“ASU devotes considerable resources to student support and study guidance instead. They also devote a lot of energy to creating different forms of access to the university,

through summer, evening and distance courses.”

Creating a sense of community is far more important in the United States than in Sweden.

“I think all the collaboration is fantastic across faculties and subjects, and with the rest of society.

But I feel a little ambivalent. One reason why collaboration is so important is that there is no social security here, which, among other things, leads to a lot of homelessness. It makes students feel stressed, stress that is much worse than it is at home. Therefore, on my course I have introduced a Swedish “fika” or coffee break, which my students love; they have never been allowed before to just sit together at class and talk about nothing for a while.

At first, I found it difficult getting angry one moment about the poor food culture and the heavy traffic and the next moment being fascinated by all the talented and committed people. Now I have simply accepted the fact that a lot of things are very good, and at the same time a lot of things are very bad.”

An entire semester at a foreign university provides insights into everyday life that a shorter visit cannot provide”, Kajsa G. Eriksson points out.

“When I get home, I will hold

a seminar at HDK Valand and also write a report for the University of Gothenburg and STINT. The idea is that I should share my experience.

Applying for a STINT scholarship is a rather lengthy process that can be seen as protracted. But it is without doubt an experience that I would recommend to everyone.”

Facts Now I have simply accepted the fact that a lot of things are very good, and at the same time a lot of things are very bad.

KAJSA G. ERIKSSON

Arizona State University was founded in 1885 and is a state university with its headquarters in Tempe, Arizona. The university has approximately 57,000 students.

The scholarship programme Teaching Sabbatical at STINT, the Foundation for Internationalization of Higher Education, aims to develop both individuals and institutions. Over the course of one semester, participants lecture at a foreign university, either by teaching a course themselves, or together with a colleague at the host university. The lessons learned by participants will then lead to change and renewal at Swedish institutions and universities.

Nomination for the programme takes place through the Swedish university, the holder of the scholarship will be on 100 percent leave during their stay abroad.

For more information visit: www.stint. se/program/teaching-sabbatical.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

11

PROFILE

Searching to understand our memory Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

Young zebrafish have transparent heads. Therefore, it is easy to study neurological processes in living ­animals, which makes the zebrafish an excellent model animal for researchers.

“Everything isn’t Excel sheets and statistics.

Studying fish is a sensual activity that also requires real skill”, explains Petronella Kettunen, Associate Professor of Neurobiology.

12 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

T WAS AS A postdoctoral fellow at UCLA in Los Angeles in 2006–2009 that Petronella Kettunen learned to use zebrafish in research, knowledge which she then brought with her to Gothenburg.

“There are several reasons why zebrafish are good model animals, they are easy to breed in your own lab for example. They are also social creatures, so it is possible to investigate how they behave in groups. You can study both inbred wild-type lines and genetically engineered fish where some cells glow green and are easy to study in a microscope.”

Although zebrafish have been used in research for decades, there are no proper studies of what environment is most favourable for them, or scientifically based guidelines for how they should be managed and maintained.

Petronella Kettunen recently received a grant of SEK 5.7 million from Formas to investigate precisely this.

“Of course, the fact that the animals are doing well is important in itself. But it is also important for research. If we get a result here in Gothenburg that differs from that of a research group in Los Angeles, the explanation should not be due to any external factors, such as different aquarium sizes.

Common guidelines also mean that fewer experiments have to be repeated, which is beneficial of course. Therefore, we will now be conducting the largest and most detailed systematic analysis of welfare parameters to date. Because we researchers may think that a green plastic plant in the aquarium and some nice pictures on the sides look nice, but is it important for the fish?”

THE GRANT HAS been awarded in the area of

Animal Protection and Welfare.

“The majority of the funds will go to SLU (the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) for studies on dairy cows and laying hens. The fact that Formas understands that the well-being of fish used in research is important also makes me very happy.”

Petronella Kettunen’s research group is mainly interested in memory, both how it works in a healthy brain and why different memory disor-

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

13

PROFILE Petronella Kettunen Currently: She has received SEK 5.7 million from Formas for the project: Utvärdering av välfärdsparametrar för zebrafiskar och etablering av riktlinjer för hållning av zebrafiskar (Evaluation of welfare parameters for zebrafish and establishment of guidelines for keeping zebrafish).

Current position: Research group leader and associate professor at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, project manager for the Gothenburg Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) study at Minnesmottagningen in Mölndal and co-director of the Centre for Cognitive Medicine. She runs the PhD course Minne och inlärning – från synapser till minnestest (Learning and memory – from synapses to memory testing) Lives in: Gothenburg.

Family: Partner.

Other interests: History, travel and holding popular science lectures Something you perhaps did not know: Petronella Kettunen has written the book Kvinnorna kring Linné together with Mariette Manktelow.

Petronella Kettunen’s research focuses on the memory. In her experiments, she uses zebrafish.

ders develop. Above all, the group is studying microglia, a cell type that protects the brain by breaking down dangerous substances. One such example is beta-amyloid, a toxic protein that accumulates in the brain in Alzheimer’s disease. Microglia also play an important role in keeping inflammation in the brain in balance.

A cure for Alzheimer’s disease has long proved elusive to science. However, just a few months ago, it was announced that the drug Aducanumab, the development of which was previously halted, appears to slow down the effects of Alzheimer’s, says Petronella Kettunen.

“THE RESULTS SEEM very positive. Testing drugs is a

challenge and there may be more treatments that have previously been rejected because we have not been able to investigate them properly. We want to contribute to the development of new treatments for cognitive diseases by conducting experiments on zebrafish, which we have done in collaboration with the Gothenburg company Alzinova.”

The research group is also interested in other dementia diseases, such as vascular cognitive disorder, as well as autism and schizophrenia. To gain access to human brain samples, Petronella Kettunen collaborates with Oxford University, where she has just completed a four-year guest professorship on a part-time basis.

“It may sound a bit macabre, but in Oxford there is a brain bank with brain tissue from patients, which they

14 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

have been collecting for about 20 years. This means that I can order twenty Alzheimer’s samples, for example, from the brain regions that interest me and examine certain disease genes in them. Then we can modify the same genes in the zebrafish and study their behaviour.”

Of course, being a visiting professor at a university that is always at the top in different rankings is a lot of fun, Petronella Kettunen points out.

“But having two workplaces in different countries and living out of a suitcase is obviously difficult.

However, one of the great benefits of being a researcher is that it is so easy to adapt to new environments, because you work in much the same way everywhere.

Something that I realised during my time there was that researchers in Oxford faced exactly the same challenges as we did in Sweden when it came to attracting research funding, even though they are part of the world’s most prestigious university.”

SOMETHING PETRONELLA KETTUNEN thinks that we should learn from Oxford is to have regular seminars for all researchers.

“In Oxford, a seminar is held every week within the neuroscience area to which all the researchers come, from senior professors to master’s students. They create a sense of community, apart from being very inspiring of course.”

Understanding a disease requires not only ani-

mal testing but also studies on patients. Petronella Kettunen heads the research projects in the Gothenburg Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) study, which is a patient study, at Minnesmottagningen in Mölndal.

She is also co-director of the Centre for Cognitive Medicine.

“Healthcare is specialized, which means that even if a physician suspects that a heart patient, say, also has cognitive difficulties, there may be no way of checking this. So, the point of the Centre is to act as a focal point for employees within research, lecturing, healthcare and innovation to prevent cognitive issues from slipping between the cracks.”

BEING A RESEARCHER is a profession where you have

a lot of freedom and it is very interesting, but also demanding. Many talented people leave the universities for jobs in the private sector.

“It is difficult to get academic employment and every grant requires a lot of work. I have now received funding for a three-year project, which is something I am obviously very pleased about. But what will happen when the project is over? Research needs to be managed but it is more difficult to obtain funding for that.”

Precisely because research can feel like an uncertain career, Petronella Kettunen thinks it is important to act as a role model, especially for female researchers.

“A lot of people think that women have always had difficulty making progress in the world of research, but it has actually gone up and down throughout history.

But research is extremely creative,­ not least in terms of the skills required to set up an experiment …

Zebrafish fry are easy to grow.

During my time as a postdoctoral fellow in Los Angeles, I learned not only about zebrafish. I also took the opportunity to study women’s history, which they have a lot of literature about over there. This led, among other things, to the book Kvinnorna kring Linné (The Women around Linnaeus), which I wrote with Mariette Manktelow in Uppsala. In the book, we show that female researchers were not that uncommon in the 18th century.”

This was because, at that time, research was often carried out at home.

“CARL LINNAEUS, for example, exchanged letters with

several women who were engaged in scientific work, and his daughters also contributed to the research.

It was not until the 19th century, when research was increasingly conducted in scientific institutions that women disappeared from view.”

“One sad example is Beatrix Potter, best known for her fairy tales and animal drawings, who was the first person in the world to manage to grow fungal spores. However, she was not allowed to present her results to the Linnean Society in London, but had to ask a male friend to do so.”

Petronella Kettunen has one thing in common with Beatrix Potter, apart from research. She likes to draw and paint and did a number of illustrations for the book Kvinnorna kring Linné.

“Today, I just don’t have the time to pursue my artistic interests. But research is extremely creative, not least in terms of the skills required to set up an experiment, which sometimes necessitates a full day’s practice to get right. When it finally works, it is truly wonderful.”

A new research project will investigate where zebrafish thrives best.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

15

FOCUS

Cultural meetings in Malawi Text & photo: JOAKIM RÅDSTRÖM

In the African country of Malawi, new political administrative ­systems exist side by side with the traditional leadership of the village chiefs. Communities and areas of land are controlled and inherited in some villages by men, but in others by women.

A project led by the University of Gothenburg investigates how this nation works.

16 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

Give the people what they want? More recently, Malawian politicians have built many lavish facilities such as football stadiums (such as the Bingu National Stadium in the capital Lilongwe). The question, however, is whether the projects are about the vanity of politicians rather than the real needs of the population. The GLD-Program is trying to find out what the citizens really want and announces these wishes to the political decision-makers.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

17

FOCUS

From left: field survey leaders Bernard Nyirenda and Mphadso Mwandari, field leader Witness Alfonso, operative leader Boniface Dulani and field leader John Tengatenga.

ALTHOUGH MALAWI IS one of the world’s poorest countries, it also has a very rich culture, a diverse population and a strikingly beautiful landscape. This is where the Malawi project, within the framework of the University of Gothenburg’s Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD), is being implemented.

An extensive and ambitious investment that will lead to an increased understanding of local governance and development in Africa and the Arab world.

“It is about representation. We try to understand how different family compositions and traditional institutions work, and how they affect politics and local governance”, says Boniface Dulani, GLD researcher and senior lecturer in political science at the University of Malawi.

WE MEET DULANI and his team at the charming, if not somewhat past its prime, colonial-style hotel Sunbird Capital, in Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe. Here, the researchers and field workers can brush off the dust and enjoy a refreshing fruit juice between trips to the countryside, where most of the surveys are conducted.

An important task is to collect data for the so-called Afrobarometer, where Boniface Dulani is the field supervisor. The Afrobarometer is a comparative series

18 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

of national and public opinion polls that measure the population’s attitudes towards democracy, governance, economic and market reforms, leadership and many other issues in over 30 African countries. Let people have a say – is the platform’s motto.

“PEOPLE CAN START to challenge politicians who do not listen to them. But sometimes politicians may not even know what to prioritize”, concludes Boniface Dulani, who has a PhD in political science from Michigan State University in the United States.

Part of the project is therefore to use the results of the research to provide advice to politicians and other decision-makers, and to make them adjust their decisions based on what the people in the survey have said. “This can be sensitive, as some politicians may be reluctant to allow researchers to intervene in local government”, says Boniface Dulani.

“Many people say that ‘the Malawians want this, the Malawians want that’. Now, for example, there is a lot of focus on building football stadiums in different districts, but is that what people want? I doubt it. People would rather have access to water or food.”

A trip through Lilongwe’s suburbs is a testament to Boniface Dulani’s words. Just a few years ago, the gran-

diose Bingu National Stadium was completed, mostly with Chinese money, and more arenas are being built around the country. Yet, more down-to-earth issues are engaging the majority of Malawi’s population – and the Afrobarometer is helping the government demonstrate what these issues are.

But if the population is not happy with politicians, the villagers can go to alternative leaders instead, which in Malawi’s case are often local chiefs or village elders. It is common in a country like Malawi, which is on the borderline between deeply traditional and an emerging modernism and urbanism.

“If there is any conflict over land in the villages, people can go to the local leader with, say, a chicken or some other gift, and then maybe the chief transfers the land to the person in question”, says Mphadso Mwandari, research supervisor within the project.

LAND IS A MAJOR issue in densely populated Malawi.

Historically, a lot of land in Malawi is so-called customary land, which is managed and distributed on the basis of ethnic and cultural group affiliations. This means that many Malawians usually farmland according to traditional claims, but without having formal papers. In theory, though not always in practice, there is therefore a risk that traditional leaders may chase away people who are farming the land if the leaders want it back.

“When people do not have formal proof of ownership, they end up in a precarious situation. The government wanted to change that through a series of land reforms, but they encountered a lot of resistance from traditional leaders, because it would take away

the basis of their power”, Boniface Dulani explains.

A particularly important group to pay attention to is women and their situation, including in traditional communities far out in the countryside.

“WE ARE INVESTIGATING whether women have the

same access as men to community services such as education or whether they can own land”, says Witness Alfonso, Field Leader for the project, as well as Assistant Secretary at the Malawian Institute of Public Opinion and Research (IPOR).

However, gender roles are not as easy to map in such a multifaceted country as Malawi. Sometimes land and assets are inherited within a Malawian family on the father’s side (so-called patrilinearity), but strikingly often they are inherited on the mother’s side (matrilinearity). This, in turn, often affects the position of women and men within the home, in the village and in relation to local politics.

Related concepts are patrilocality and matrilocality, where a newly-wed woman in a patrilocal society moves to the man’s village and household, while in a matrilocal society, it is the man who moves to the woman’s home.

This may seem somewhat surprising to an outsider, but the fact is that many cultures in this part of the world acknowledge far-reaching formal rights for women through just such practices. In Malawi, Boniface Dulani estimates that the majority of households are matrilinear and matrilocal. At the same time, it does not automatically mean that women in matrilinear societies are more secure in terms of land ownership or other aspects of life than women in patrilinear societies.

Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries and has an average life expectancy of 63 years. There are major differences in the country, both in terms of financial assets, culture, ethnicity, gender power and other things.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

19

FOCUS

“No, because in matrilinear societies a woman’s paternal uncles play a big role in family life In theory, women own land but in reality, their uncles have the power to throw the women out”, says Boniface Dulani.

Consequently, this supposedly female-friendly arrangement in matrilinear cultures can have the opposite effect. As the men who have married into the family have no formal ownership in the household, they can become indifferent and sometimes even hostile to the women of the family.

ONE EXAMPLE FROM a brochure from a Malawian women’s rights organisation describes how a father with drinking problems and large gambling debts offered an elderly man, to whom he owned money, his daughter’s hand in marriage. The gambler and his family belonged to a matrilinear culture.

“It can give some husbands an excuse to not care for their own children. But they can in turn have a sister who has children – and then they become the responsibility of these men!” Boniface Dulani points out.

For this reason, women in male-dominated societies may therefore have more power and be less susceptible to domestic violence than women in matrilinear societies.

At the same time, the situation in Malawi is even more complex. For example, women can also be leaders and village elders in some villages – something not even Boniface Dulani or his colleagues expected when they began their field work.

“So, sometimes, the mother can come from a matrilinear family system and the man from a patrilinear one. Now we want to try to understand how these conditions affect politics and social relations.

”Through the University of Gothenburg’s research project, the government and local political leaders will be able to obtain better information and insight into the traditional power structures, and thus be able to become more responsive to the people in the country,” says Boniface Dulani.

20 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

Facts The field work within the Malawi project at the University of Gothenburg’s Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD), has recently been completed. However, issues related to inheritance law and ethnic voting are just some of the parts of the study. Within the scope of the project, many researchers from widely diverse disciplines are participating, and each of them contributes by asking questions of the participating local population. A total of 10,300 people in Malawi are participating in the study.

FOCUS

Having the world as her field of study Ellen Lust is the professor from the world-­ renowned Yale University who chose to conduct her research at the University of Gothenburg. Here, she runs an international institute that investigates why some societies in the world manage to provide their citizens with security, education and health­care, while others fail to do so. To assist them in the process, the institute has developed a new, internationally recognized measurement standard.

2015 BYTTE ELLEN LUST fråIn 2015, Ellen Lust transfer-

red from Yale University in America to the University of Gothenburg. “One of the things that attracted me at the time, as well as now, is that there is a great deal of interest at this university in understanding how social governance and democracy work.

That was an important reason for my move”, explains Ellen Lust, now a Professor at the Department of Political Science.

Ellen Lust is the director and founder of The Program on Governance and Local Development (GLD), which was first established at Yale in 2013 and subsequently at the University of Gothenburg in 2015. She also works as a researcher at the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) in Washington, D.C. and writes books and research articles on local democracy and social institutions.

As part of her work, she conducts fieldwork and surveys in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Malawi.

“It should be a matter of pride for Sweden that the University of Gothenburg strives to be so socially relevant”, says Ellen Lust, who has recently been to Nairobi, New Orleans and Boston, and will soon be going to Belgrade.

This way, several different geographical regions are covered by the comprehensive GLD program. In addition, several thematic projects are included, each of which examines the conditions and mechanisms that

make certain societies more successful in achieving development than others. It might involve achieving better health and education, resolving conflicts and creating a safe society, as well as, in a fair way, providing key resources such as land, etc.

“Some of these differences can be understood at the national level, but many are better understood through differences at the local level. For this reason, we are conducting studies in, for example, Malawi, Kenya and Zambia to increase our understanding.

The thematic projects include the Urbanization Project, Social Institutions and Governance, and the Local Governance Performance Index (LGPI). That last project, which could be roughly translated as “Success measurements for local governance”, constitutes a large and important international contribution from GLD in order to be able to measure the differences in governance between different regions.

“When we started this initiative in 2013, we noticed that there are not many scientifically reliable measurements that assess this, and definitely not at an international level”, explains Ellen Lust.

Our tool, the LGPI, should also not only be used for ­research, but also by governments, decision makers and development experts, ELLEN LUST

THE BACKGROUND IS that so many aid and developme-

nt projects finance the courts and other social institutions, for example. But when people in many countries really distrust their societal institutions and resolve their disputes outside the legal system, for example, the aid does not achieve its objectives.

“That is why we really need to understand how governance works. Our tool, the LGPI, should also not only be used for research, but also by governments, decision makers and development experts, so that they can develop programmes based on it”, says Ellen Lust.

Through the LGPI, the University of Gothenburg is thus further developing its already strong position in areas such as administrative and institutional research and in opinion polls. There already are well-known research institutes at the university such as the Quality of Government Institute (QoG) and the SOM Institute, to mention but a few.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

21

FOCUS Photo: Privat

In Malawi, Ellen Lust has, among other things, worked together with Yvonne Chikuse, research assistant within LGPI-project.

Essentially, the development of the LGPI is carried out by conducting surveys in people’s homes, and through qualitative interviews. The model was first tested in Tunisia in 2015, then in Malawi in 2016 and then, simultaneously, in Malawi, Kenya and Zambia in 2019. The next surveys will be conducted in Turkey and Jordan.

“The ultimate objective, although it may seem a bit ambitious, is that countries, political stakeholders, donors and others realise that it is just as important to understand governance as it is to understand material wealth, education and so forth.”

IMPORTANT PARAMETERS in the countries where the GLD conducts its research are how urbanization and migration have changed political and cultural behaviour. It also examines the historical customs that prevail in the countries, for example in dealing with societal problems in a traditional and non-formal environment, compared to a more formal administrative one.

The questions posed may involve how transparent and accountable the political governance in the area is, whether people participate in political processes because they want to or because they have been forced to do so, whether people have to pay extra or have to

22 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

have the right network to receive community services The institute is working very extensively on the “inflow side” with partners from all over the world to develop a range of questions that will be able to provide answers to many different research questions within an overarching theme. In addition to the surveys themselves as well as the results, the GLD also has other aims, which not least concern the participating researchers.

“ONE THING THAT we are very committed to is enabling our colleagues in Malawi and other countries to continue to work on research”, says Ellen Lust.

As part of this commitment, the projects within the GLD offer scholarships to researchers from Malawi, Zambia and Kenya to enable them to carry out training and write articles together with their Swedish colleagues.

“Another part of the initiative is to provide feedback about the research results to the countries in question, to policy makers and to important international organisations such as the World Bank and the UN. We also disseminate recommendations to countries such as Kenya, Zambia and Malawi. This is all to provide the best possible documentation for future decisions”, says Ellen Lust.

REPORT NEWS

In the tracks of Nordenskjöld Swedish cultural heritage in Antarctica?

On Snow Hill Island and Paulet Island, there is a ­wooden house and a stone hut respectively from Otto Nordenskjöld’s south polar expedition in 1901–1903.

Now, a Swedish-Argentinian delegation will be going there to investigate the condition of the remains.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

23

REPORT

The Nordenskjöld expedition spent a whole year in Antarctica. Photo: Gösta Bodman

HE SWEDISH PART of the

project, CHAQ 2020, is led by the Royal Institute of Technology.

But two researchers from the University of Gothenburg are also part of the project: Gunnar Almevik, Professor of Heritage Conservation, and Jonathan Westin, associate professor and Research Coordinator at the Centre for Digital Humanities.

They work on behalf of the Swedish National Heritage Board, which received a request from Argentina for collaboration on the documentation

24 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

and preservation of the remains, which, according to the Antarctic Treaty, is the responsibility of both countries.

However, you cannot just travel to Antarctica whenever you like.

Swedish visitors, for example, require a permit from the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat in Abisko.

Gunnar Almevik and Jonathan Westin have also undertaken a three-day polar certification at It included environmental protection, code of conduct and safety in extreme conditions.

“WE ACTUALLY HAVE a Swedish law on Antarctica”, says Gunnar Almevik.

Even the journey down there is complicated. It will commence on

Gunnar Almevik

Jonathan Westin

December 26 with a flight to Buenos Aires. From there, the group will take an Argentine military plane to Camp Marambio in Antarctica.

“For the last leg of the journey to Snow Hill Island, we will go either by boat or by helicopter”, explains Jonathan Westin. This is where the research station is located that Otto Nordenskjöld’s expedition had built, a prefabricated house that they brought from Gothenburg.

The building has been patched and repaired but now the condition is quite serious. The building stands on a plateau that has partially collapsed due to soil erosion caused by the glaciers melting.

“We will do a building survey and a risk analysis, but also a thorough digital documentation of the

building and the site,” says Gunnar Almevik.

“Otto Nordenskjöld’s expedition was incredibly scientifically rigorous”, says Gunnar Almevik. “For documentation purposes, we have brought a lot of technology with us, including drones, laser scanners, object scanners, film cameras and microphones.”

OTTO NORDENSKJÖLD’S expedition was incredibly scientifically rigorous.

“We have very nice photos, maps and descriptions preserved and can compare them with our documentation to see what changes have taken place in just over 100 years,” explains Gunnar Almevik.

“By combining their research with what we are going to do now, we hope to be able to digitally recreate what it looked like here in the early 1900s,” says Jonathan Westin. ”Because what is special about this cultural heritage is that it is not possible to visit, so it must be shown in other ways. The goal is to create a sensory impression of everyday life for the polar researchers: what they ate and drank, what they saw and heard.”

The Nordenskjöld expedition also explored other areas, such as Paulet Island, where a stone hut remains.

They will pay that a visit as well.

“We will go there with an icebreaker and land with a DUKW, one of the landing crafts used on D-Day in Normandy in 1944”, says Jonathan Westin.

THE FACT THAT Argentina is intere-

sted in Otto Nordenskjöld’s expedition is partly because of José Sobral, an Argentinian, who took part in it. But it was also an Argentinian corvette that eventually rescued the members of the expedition, who, divided into different groups, had been stranded for almost a year on Snow Hill Island and Hope Bay after their ship sank.

The researchers will investigate the wooden house Otto Nordenskjöld had built on Snow Hill Island and also compare the expedition´s photos with what the site looks like today. Below: Otto Nordenskjöld himself. Photo: Gösta Bodman

Even though modern journeys are nowhere near as gruelling as those made a hundred years ago, severe storms can still cause problems.

“Our trip is expected to take one to two months”, explains Gunnar Almevik. ”The uncertainty depends on weather conditions and transport possibilities. In a storm there is not much more to than to sit inside a research station or in a tent, and take it easy. Therefore, it was recommended that we take a really good book that is interesting, even if you have to read it several times.”

Because what is special about this cultural heritage is that it is not possible to visit, so it must be shown in other ways.

GUNNAR ALMEVIK

Summer in Antarctica means daylight 24 hours a day.

It is also cold, but not as bad as you might think.

“The coldest temperature recorded in Antarctica is admittedly unimaginable, –98.6°C, but in the summer the temperature is usually just below zero in the northern part of the Antarctic Peninsula”, says Jonathan Westin. “So in terms of the cold, it will be very similar to what our colleagues at home in Gothenburg will be experiencing…” rg …

EVA LUNDGREN

Facts The expedition in Otto Nordenskjöld’s footsteps is a collaboration between Argentina and Sweden. The Swedish part is led by the Royal Institute of Technology and is funded by the Swedish Research Council. The participants from the University of Gothenburg are Gunnar Almevik, Professor of Heritage Conservation, and Jonathan Westin, associate professor and Research Coordinator at the Centre for Digital Humanities.

Their part of the project is funded by the Swedish National Heritage Board.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

25

PEOPLE

Homoerotic poetry

IN EARLY ISLAM Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: JOHAN WINGBORG

On the contrary, a thousand years ago there were a variety of opinions and ways of thinking.

PERNILLA MYRNE

Homoerotic poetry and suggestions about how to invigorate your love life is perhaps not something you would naturally associate with Islam. But in the early Middle Ages, when Arabic culture flourished, a variety of writings in both literature and science were written and translated, which were about desire, pleasure and sexual medicine.

as the importance of harmony in marriage. Women’s health was important, partly for reproduction, but also for its own sake.” This is evident from the Encyclopaedia of Pleasure from the late 10th century, which is the oldest Arabic-Islamic handbook in eroticism. It was influenced by translations of Persian and Indian texts, such as the Kama Sutra, and was still popular as recently as in the 18th century.

DURING THE 1,400 years that Islam has existed, religion

THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA of Pleasure is surprisingly

has been expressed and practised in a variety of ways.

“Not least the view of sexuality has varied”, says Pernilla Myrne, senior lecturer in Arabic. She has recently published the book Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World: Gender and Sex in Arabic Literature.

“There are very few studies regarding the view of sexuality in Islamic history, instead it is the legal texts legal texts with restrictive views on women’s sexuality that have interested the researchers. As a consequence of this, we have a skewed picture of the diversity of thought and beliefs that i in the oldest Islamic literature, that is from the end of the 8th to the end of the 10th century. To find out more about women’s lives in particular, I have therefore gone through a number of other types of manuscripts from that period.

open-minded. In addition to chapters on marital intercourse between a man and wife, there are also texts on same-sex relationships, between women as well as between men. The author presents it as a natural choice, with some people preferring one type of relationship, while other people prefer the other”, says Pernilla Myrne.

“This book was written at the same time as the Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence, which strongly condemns male homosexuality in particular. So anyone who believes that Islamic sources say only one thing

THE EARLY MIDDLE Ages was a golden age for Islamic

culture, which was inspired, among other things, by the vast amount of works that were translated into Arabic from other languages, such as Greek, Persian and maybe Sanskrit. When Europeans rediscovered the ancient Greek heritage much later, it was only through these particular translations of philosophy, medicine, mathematics and astronomy. That is why many scientific words, not least in mathematics, have an Arabic origin, such as cipher, arithmetic and algebra.

Greek scientific literature was androcentric, which influenced the Arabs’ view of men as superior to women”, explains Pernilla Myrne.

“At the same time, other ideas also circulated, such

26 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

Female sexuality in Early Islam is the theme for Pernilla Myrne´s latest book.

Pernilla Myrne’s book provides new insights on the view of sexuality within Islam.

is wrong. On the contrary, a thousand years ago there were a variety of opinions and ways of thinking.”

The Arabs also took the concept from Greek philosophy that the various bodily fluids had to be in balance to avoid illness. Everything that goes into or out of the body, such as food and drink, affects how you feel according to this approach.

“It was also assumed that both women and men produced seminal fluid, which must also be released to prevent inflammation of the organs. The mixing of seminal fluid was important not only for raising children, but also for marital happiness. Therefore, specific literature was created, aimed at men, which provided advice concerning women’s sexual pleasure.”

IN ADDITION TO scientific literature, historical works,

poetry and anecdotes were also written. Although the authors were men, women played a major role in literature, and eloquent women were a popular theme.

“Among other things, verbal duels from the 7th and 8th centuries are depicted, where women are often so outspoken that it would make a modern reader blush.

For example, the women might discuss what was best, a relationship with another woman or with a man.

Europeans that travelled around the Arab world before the colonial era could be quite surprised by the level of openness when it came to sex.”

Even later, the Western world cultivated the notion of the Orient as overly sexualised, like a fairy-tale from One Thousand and One Nights.

“TODAY, ON THE other hand, many people associate

Islam with the oppression of women and extremely strict sexual morality. There are several reasons why this happened. One reason may be that the European influence and colonialism that began in the 19th century brought with it a more strict sexual morality. For example, European travelers could be amazed at how openly people talked about male homosexuality. In opposition to colonialism, an Islamic reform movement emerged that wanted to go back to the origins of Islam.

But in fact, it was an interpretation of the origin that disregarded the diversity and openness that prevailed during the early period of Islam.”

In addition, the globalised world has, paradoxically, led to greater alignment”, explains Pernilla Myrne.

“The dominant ideas take over the thinking and perceptions that exist among smaller groups, and create a feeling that things should be just one way.

But there has never been a single interpretation of Islam, on the contrary, the sources indicate a wealth of thinking, ideas, opinions and practices that all existed at the same time.”

Facts ­Pernilla Myrne, senior lecturer in Arabic, has written the book Female Sexuality in the Early Medieval Islamic World: Gender and Sex in Arabic Literature. The book is about the view of sexuality during the time when Islam was established, that is from the end of the 8th to the end of the 10th century.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

27

PEOPLE

28 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

When man becomes part of the machine What happens to international­law when war is waged by machines? This issue is ­discussed in War and ­Algorithm, an unusual book in terms of both its content and its creation.

One of the authors is ­Gregor Noll, Professor of International Law at the ­University of Gothenburg.

precisely by having agency and thus responsibility for his actions”, Gregor Noll explains. Modern technology turns that approach on its head, who is responsible when you do not know where the person ends and the machine begins? How would we be able to judge a soldier who has acted spontaneously on information from a machine, which has left no room for reflection?

DIGITALIZED WARFARE was the subject of a seminar in

structures that accompany technological progress.

“Simone Weil pointed out that new technology affects social relations. What social relations will ensue if we let the machines take responsibility for our actions?

These types of issues need to be discussed by society as a whole; the time is past when we humanists and social scientists could hide behind the fact that we do not understand the technology.

Lund in 2014 that led to cross-disciplinary discussions.

In addition to Gregor Noll, the philosopher Daniel Steuer and the Art Historian Max Liljefors participated.

“I have known Daniel since my studies in Frankfurt and I met Max in connection with the theatre”, says Gregor Noll. We had the idea to write a book together precisely because we come from such different disciplines. To be able to discuss issues we had to find a common language, which resulted in a book for people other than experts. Modern warfare, where human capabilities are combined with the extreme speed of computers, is simply an area that is too extensive to be discussed in just one discipline, such as law.

The book is special in a number of ways, partly because it was written entirely without any external funding.

“IT MAY SOUND strange, but the advantage was that we were able to work at our own pace and according to our own interests.” Now, after about five years, it is finished.

The structure of the book is also unusual. It consists of three chapters written by each of the main authors.

Each chapter also has commentary from a researcher in the field, which creates a kind of dialogue between the writers. The final chapter is a sort of manifesto that the main authors have developed together.

Modern warfare is based on the notion that everything that moves, be it humans, animals or machines, can be controlled in the same way. The person is a part of the machine.

“However, the Western legal system is based on Christian ethics, according to which man is special,

THE MESSAGE OF the book is to be sceptical of the

EVA LUNDGREN

Facts War and algorithm was written by Gregor Noll, University of Gothenburg, Daniel Steuer, University of Sussex, and Max Liljefors, Lund University. The commentary was written by Howard Caygill, Kingston University, Sara Kendall, the University of Kent and Allen Feldman, New York University. Rowman & Littlefield have published the book in hardback, paperback and as an e-book.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

29

PEOPLE

From the EU to GU “There is already plenty of knowledge at the University of Gothenburg, what I hope to contribute is experience”, explains Cecilia Malmström, who will be a visiting professor at the School of Business, Economics and Law next year.

She has devoted twenty years of her life to the European Union, the last ten years as a Commissioner in Brussels.

NOW, SHE HAS moved back to Gothenburg and to her old university where she once did a doctorate and has also been a lecturer.

As a European Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström was responsible for trade for the past five years.

She has negotiated a total of fifteen free-trade agreements with several countries, including Japan, Canada and the South American trade block Mercosur.

“Actually, no other global body concludes more international trade agreements than the European Union. Nowadays, they are also public, which improves credibility and is something I have worked hard to achieve.”

In addition, the agreements have increasingly come to involve political values, such as labour laws, human rights and the environment.

“FOR EXAMPLE, we do not negotiate with countries that do not comply with their commitments under the Paris Agreement.” Sustainability is a priority, as the new President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has pointed out. An agreement is currently under way with Japan on green shipping. Trade agreements are important for their own sake, but also because they create collaborations in other areas as well, not least in research.

However, the five years during

30 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

which Cecilia Malmström was responsible for trade have not only been about progress. The agreement with the US, TTIP, which has been discussed since 2014, has not become a reality. On the contrary, the US has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium products from the European Union and Donald Trump has even claimed that the EU poses a threat to US internal security.

“SWEDES MAY NOT react very

strongly to this, but on the continent, where I have colleagues who have fought with Americans in combat, this is an almost incomprehensible insult.” Fortunately, the United States is much more than the current administration and, of course, cooperation is still important. Maybe we can create agreements within certain sectors, such as abolishing the requirement for the clothing industry to certify a product both here and in the US; this would save billions.

The United States has also refused to appoint new judges to the WTO Appellate Body, which means that the trade organisation is no longer able to apply sanctions against countries that violate agreed rules.

Nevertheless, the European Union and Japan cooperate with the United States on new WTO statutes.

“The fact that there are rules for world trade is important, even for

Instead, the European Barometer has shown that the European Union has record levels of support among its citizens, not least among Swedes.

CECILIA MALMSTRÖM

countries that violate them”, Cecilia Malmström points out.

“China has been a member of the WTO since December 2001. But they do not fulfil their obligations. Instead they massively subsidize their own industries, dumping prices and forcing the parties with whom they cooperate to transfer their technology. At the same time, it would be bad for China too if the WTO collapsed, because the country benefits so much from being involved. Instead of a trade war, which poses a threat to the entire global world order, it is important to invite people to the negotiating table, which is what happens in the civilized world.”

THE EUROPEAN Union is now facing

a completely new situation as the United Kingdom is expected to leave the Union at the beginning of next year.

“When it became clear that the United Kingdom had voted to leave, the entire European Union was in a state of shock. Many people thought that the whole Union would collapse.

However, that has not happened.

Instead, the European Barometer has shown that the European Union has record levels of support among its citizens, not least among Swedes.

Naturally, we will continue to work with the United Kingdom, which is a neighbour and a close friend, but everyone I know thinks the European Union will be duller without them.”

At the same time, new countries are banging on the door of the European Union, for example in the Balkans.

“For Northern Macedonia, the country’s very name has been a thorny issue, but as they have worked really hard to resolve it, the

country should be allowed to start negotiations. The fact that President Macron of France has opposed it is unforgivable.”

After 20 years of involvement with the European Union, there is scarcely anyone in Sweden who knows more about the EU than Cecilia Malmström. But knowledge is perishable commodity, she points out.

“As a visiting professor, I will lecture, hold seminars and maybe lead round-table talks. The role will take up 20 percent of my time and the remainder I will devote to getting my life back. For 20 years, my calendar was fully booked continuously and my bag was constantly packed. I love swimming, I’m very interested in literature and also have a family to devote myself to, so there are a lot of things that I hope to have more time for.”

Facts In 2020, Cecilia Malmström will b ­ e

the holder of the Assar Gabrielsson’s Visiting Professorship in Applied Corporate Management at the School of Business, Economics and Law. Together with the political scientist Urban Strandberg, she has also started the International Youth Think Tank to bring together politically engaged young people.

Cecilia Malmström graduated in 1998 from the Department of Political Science, where she was also a senior lecturer from 1998 to 1999. She was a Member of the European Parliament from 1999–2006, Minister for EU Affairs from 2006–2010 and Sweden’s Commissioner to the EU from 2010–2019.

She holds an honorary doctorate at the Faculty of Social Sciences and was appointed International Swede of the Year in 2019. Cecilia Malmström is married with two children and lives in Gothenburg.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

31

PEOPLE

Global Evening at the Ågren Residence About eighty guests were present when Welcome Services organised an international evening at the Ågren Residence for the 21st time.

“I am here first and foremost to have a pleasant time”, said Ali Yildirim, Professor of Pedagogical Work. But maybe I will also meet someone with whom I can start a collaboration.

ALI YILDIRIM BLEV proAli Yildirim became a professor at the University of Gothenburg two years ago.

Previously, he worked at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara where he has been a professor since 2003.

“I try to attend this kind of event as often as I can. Of course it is nice to meet people from other parts of the world, but networking is also important for professional reasons.

For example, last year I came in contact with a researcher in sociology who is interested in education for immigrants. We have now started a collaboration to develop new tools for that particular group, which may have different kinds of difficulties.

That collaboration would likely not have happened if we had not met at an international evening.”

A YEAR AGO, Ali Yildirim’s wife also

came here on an exchange programme.

“She is a visiting professor at the Department of Applied Information Technology. But it is much more

32 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

difficult for academics to get jobs in Sweden than in Turkey, where practically everyone who has a PhD gets a job. At the same time, the conditions are very favourable here, and it is easy to get funding for research.

In Sweden, people socialise, network and collaborate much more at work than they do in Turkey”, Ali Yildirim explained.

“IN ANKARA, I almost always conduc-

ted research alone.

You are much more socially active in your spare time instead, unlike here. The fact that social contacts in Sweden are more difficult can of course also be due to the language.

That is why I am taking courses to learn Swedish.”

Nils Pasi Nävert from Welcome Services gave the welcome speech.

He began by saying Good to see you here, with an emphasis on good, see and here.

“We are a city university, spread out across the city, which means limited opportunities for spontaneous meetings. But it is during personal

Ali Yildirim

interactions that magic can occur.

“Christmas always comes as a surprise, but soon it will be upon us”, Nils Pasi Nävert continued.

“I always hope that there will be snow outside my window, but that will not be the case this time either.

Many people celebrate Christmas by hanging decorations, I prefer a song.”

Then he performed Gläns över sjö och strand.

After that, the party really got underway with a big buffet.

Text: EVA LUNDGREN Photo: ALLAN ERIKSSON

Facts On November 28, Welcome Services held their annual Global Evening at the Ågren Residence for visiting research fellows and staff from the University of Gothenburg. John Nilsson, a student at the Academy of Music and Drama, and Robin Elsmoortel, a former student at the Academy of Music and Drama provided the musical entertainment at the event.

Welcome services arranges an international evening every term. Below is Nils Pasi Nävert, who gave the welcome speach.

DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

33

EVENTS

We must lead by example Do not fly! Take the train here and bring your own water bottle, so you can fill it up with tap water. When waste management scientists hold a conference on waste management and sustainability, the message is obvious – we must lead by example!

AROUND 15 MILLION “waste pickers”

collect and recycle plastic, bottles and all kinds of waste around the world. They can mainly be found in the global South, where they organize themselves into cooperatives and their work is extremely beneficial for the climate, as functioning waste management infrastructure is frequently lacking. Despite this, they rarely receive any appreciation, on the contrary, they are usually stigmatized.

– I think there will be a lot of discussions about what kind of solutions exist to improve their conditions. How does it work in practice?

And what are the consequences of sending electronic waste from Sweden to Ghana, for example?

– Waste is also closely linked to consumption. For example, clothes have a tremendous impact.

Consumption will also be discussed from a social science and humanistic perspective.

Researcher Maria José Zapata talks about what the participants can

34 GUJOURNAL DECEMBER 2019

expect from the interdisciplinary conference, Re-opening the Bin – Waste, Economy, Culture and Society, which will be held at the University of Gothenburg in June this year.

But they can also expect a different setup, where meat, ostentatious fruit baskets, sweets, disposable packaging and plastic bottles of water are conspicuous by their absence. Instead, there will be vegetarian food provided by small socially sustainable cooperatives and served on porcelain plates, which Maria José Zapata and her colleagues will do their best to assemble.

The fruit in the break may not look particularly appealing – it is “ugly fruit”, removed from supermarket shelves because it does not meet the industry’s cosmetic standards – but it is perfectly edible. And water, yes, you will always find a tap somewhere. Bring your own water bottle.

– WE ARE TRYING TO minimize the

amount of waste at this conference as much as possible. This is extreme-

We are trying to minimize the amount of waste at this conference as much as possible.

MARIA JOSÉ ZAPATA

Maria José Zapata

ly difficult as the entire procurement system is based on a different logic, a financial logic that says, the bigger the better. But it is not necessarily the most sustainable from an environmental or social perspective, she says.

– OBVIOUSLY, IT is easier to call one

of the large event management companies who can arrange everything.

We have six or seven contacts to keep track of now. But if everyone at the University of Gothenburg decided to go for what is climate smart, I think it would have been much easier, says Maria José Zapata, who points out that the University of Gothenburg should be a role model for students and society as a whole.

– Our environmental impact as a university is considerable, not only in terms of travel, but also the fact that we are big consumers of food and furniture. The University of Gothenburg has recently signed the climate framework and now we can show how we can make our operations more sustainable.

NEWS

For Patrik Zapata, Professor of Public Administration, it is also about keeping the conference fee down. If you come from certain parts of the world, you cannot afford to go to a conference that costs several thousand krona. In order not to exclude anyone, the fees are lower and scholarships are provided for participants from the global South and some other countries.

– When we send out the conference invitations, we also mention that participants can travel here by train.

▲ Plastic waste is huge problem in the developing countries.

I think most people from Europe will do so. Flying here will be a bit embarrassing, says Patrik Zapata, who emphasizes that there are many benefits to taking the train.

– I took the train to a conference in Manchester recently. It went extremely well. Sure, it took an extra day, but it didn’t matter because I had an internet connection and was able to work in peace and quiet all the way there.

Footnote: The conference, Re-opening the Bin – Waste, Economy, Culture and Society, which will take place on June 11–13, 2020, is being organized by GRI (including Sandra Samuelsson), the Centre for Consumer Research (Ulrika Holmberg), Department of Business Administration at the School of Business, Economics and Law, and Lund University, Lancaster University, Universidad National de Quilmes and the University of Victoria.

Lars Nicklason and Allan Eriksson DECEMBER 2019 GUJOURNAL

35

Mer r y & H ap C h r i s t m a s p Next y New Yea I s s ue w ill b r out i n e Febr u ary

THE MOMENT WHERE: The Academy of Music and Drama.

IN SHORT:

WHO: Hedvig Olsson and Matilda Ernkrans.

Matilda Ernkrans, Minister of Higher Education and Research, was offered a packed programme when she visited the University of Gothenburg for the first time, on November 12. At the Academy of Music and Drama, she met Hedvig Olsson, who is in her second year of the Music and Sound Production programme. After a tour of Artisten, it was off to the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Wallenberg Laboratory where she met management, researchers and Photo: Johan Wingborg students.

WHEN: November 12, 2019.

GUJournal EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Allan Eriksson 031–786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eva Lundgren 031–786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se

PHOTOGRAPHER Johan Wingborg 070–595 38 01 johan.wingborg@gu.se

LAYOUT Anders Eurén 031–786 43 81 anders.euren@gu.se

Address: GU Journal, University of Gothenburg, Box 100, SE-405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden E-mail: gu-journalen@gu.se Web address: gu-journalen.gu.se ISSN: 1402-9626 Please feel free to quote but give us credit. Translation: Hero Tolk.