GUJ7-2014English

NO 7 | DECEMBER 2014

Science should save the world Global health can be a civil rights movement, says Richard Horton WHO’S IN POWER AT THE TOP

GOVERNMENT CONTROLS

MEET KRISTIAN DANEBACK

GU Journal has the list

Criticism of research policy

Researcher on the Internet

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Vice Chancellor

Doubtful whether all these evaluations will lead to higher quality AT T H I S W R ITI N G , there is political chaos in Sweden. The Prime Minister’s decision to request a new election means that we do not know who the Minister of Higher Education and Research will be after 22 March, when the elections are to be held. What we do know is that the Alliance’s budget is to remain in effect during 2015, with likely adjustments in the Spring Fiscal Policy Bill.

This is what we have to go on when we are back after winter break and the New Year celebrations. Overall a very uncertain situation, at that.

But whatever Government we eventually end up with, excellence in research and education will always be in demand. We have also made this clear in Vision 2020. On the other hand, something that can and should be discussed is how one measures the quality, and if the measuring efforts actually lead to improvements in quality and further development. There are many of us at the Swedish universities and other institutions of higher education who feel that the requirements for constant reporting take up too much time and perhaps even have an inhibitory effect on the quality of our activities and our enterprise overall.

I N D I A LO G U E S W IT H various representatives for University, I often hear a questioning of the growing demands for constant reporting and monitoring. The reporting requirements are likely to continue to increase, not the least considering the EU Directive on monitoring and follow-up in order to be able to make comparisons at the European level. There is every reason to draw this issue to the attention of the Government.

We are now awaiting proposals for a future quality evaluation system. As for research, the Swedish Research Council has been tasked to develop a new model for the allocation of research funding based on quality. The proposal which is to be submitted to the Government is based on peer review, but where publishing will continue to be of significant importance. In addition, elements of joint collaboration and the extent of the potential of the research are to be taken into consideration.

There are many who have the view that this proposal, if adopted, will become time consuming and perhaps also preservative of the status quo. The research continues to be evaluated at the individual level and also in conjunction with major and minor applications for project funding. Many educational institutions would therefore prefer to do their own follow-ups, in a manner similar to our own evaluation of research, RED10. We presume that the Minister of Higher Education and Research will ensure that the Swedish Research Council’s proposals

A MAGAZINE FOR EMPLOYEES OF THE UNIVERSIT Y OF GOTHENBURG

December E D I TO R - I N C H I E F A N D P U B L I S H E R

Allan Eriksson 031 - 786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.se E D I TO R A N D V I C E P U B L I S H E R

Eva Lundgren 031 - 786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.se P H OTO G R A P H Y A N D R E P R O D U C T I O N

Johan Wingborg 031 - 786 29 29 johan.wingborg@gu.se G R A P H I C F O R M A N D L AYO U T

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

T R A N S L AT I O N

Charles Philps, Semantix ADDRESS

GU Journal, University of Gothenburg Box 100, 405 30 Gothenburg E-MAIL

gu-journalen@gu.se PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

will be submitted for public comment.

The evaluation of the educational courses which the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) is responsible for and which we have just undergone, has faced criticism from the higher education community. Last spring, all of the Vice Chancellors in Sweden collectively wrote a debate article about how the quality evaluation system must be be improved. The main idea is that the educational institution itself takes responsibility for, and can show during an audit, that they have systematic quality monitoring in place and are working with quality development. The proposal which University Chancellor Harriet Wallberg presented to the Government this December is in line with the higher education community’s thinking in this regard. Here too, I look forward to a request for comment and input as part of a public consultation, as soon as possible.

H I G H - Q UA LIT Y R E S E A RC H and education, along with joint collaborations, is essential for us as a university to be successful. To evaluate and measure is important in order to know that we do the right things, but it must be done in an efficient manner and in a way that promotes the development of quality.

A huge thank you for the past year. It has been very successful for the University of Gothenburg in so many ways, thanks to our high quality and the commitment of the entire University community!

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January 24 2015 M AT E R I A L

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Kristian Daneback Photo: Johan Wingborg

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Happy Holidays and a joyful New Year!

PAM FREDMAN

Contents

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

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Researching online

FROM THE VICE CHANCELLOR

2 Unreasonable to evaluate everything.

Kristian Daneback sees the Internet as a major asset for research.

NEWS

4 Who has the most power at GU? 7 Staffan I. Lindberg encourages more to become involved with Young Academy of Sweden.

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8 Claes Dahlgren criticises the government for controlling the universities via the back door.

Provocative certainties

10 He lets art explain science.

Richard Horton points out that the university’s task and responsibility is to create a better world.

11 Guest researcher Asha Mukherjee yearns to return to GU. 11 Five questions for Professor Ingrid Höjer, who recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award.

PROFILE 12 Kristian Daneback argues that the Internet offers entirely new possibilities for research.

REPORT 15 Georg Kuhn on how we can be creative­.

16 The university has a very essential role to play, maintains Richard Horton.

18 Still going strong after 40 years; Ulla Carlsson continues on her mission.

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20 Shalom Lappin is already at home in Gothenburg.

Computational linguist sees no boundaries

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Shalom Lappin is interested in how children learn a language.

Ulla Carlsson receives a prestigious position Leaving Nordicom after 40 years.

The Editors: Vital to preserve free debate I N T H I S I S S U E , we present our findings of who has the most power at the University of Gothenburg. This study is a repetition of a questionnaire on power that the GU Journal conducted some ten years ago. We asked 900 from the academic and other staff, who they think has the most power.

And the results did not produce any surprises, although the order of the Ten on the Top List is interesting. One conclusion is that the office of the Vice Chancellor appears to have strengthened its position, and that goes for the office of the University Director as well. The results additionally indicate that informal holding of power has

decreased slightly in importance.

This type of reputational method for research has a drawback, in that it does not capture the hidden power structures so well, but hopefully the study will contribute to a discussion of power and influence within academia.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who responded and especially the 93 respondents who took the time to write their own comments.

W E H AV E J U ST LE A R N E D of the planned cutbacks at GU Journal, with the corresponding loss of two issues per year, as a result of savings within the Joint Administration. We regard this propo-

sal as unfortunate, as it is contrary to the objectives the University has established, not the least in Vision 2020. It states there, among other things, that the internal communications must be strengthened. And according to the latest Work Environment Survey GU Journal is the common channel that has the largest distribution, and additionally is valued very positively.

In the policy the Vice Chancellor recently adopted, GU Journal’s independence, and the importance of providing information on what is happening at the University along with the encouragement of open and free debate, is emphasised. This is the task

and responsibility we take very seriously, but in order to be able to do so in a credible manner requires that the journal be published reasonably often.

AT T H E SA M E TI M E , we fully appreciate that the central administration must take measures to save money. But a savings at the expense of the staff’s legitimate needs for factual news journalism, analysis and debate, does more harm than good.

We wish all our readers a wonderful holiday time and great New Year!

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News

That was the question GU Journal posed in an online survey that went out to 900 academic and other staff. The results? It was not particularly surprising that Vice Chancellor Pam Fredman took a commanding lead at first place, that University Director Jörgen Tholin can be found second on the list, and following them ProVice Chancellor Helena Lindholm Schulz. The only dean on the top-ten list is Sahlgrenska Academy’s influential figure Olle Larkö. that the Vice Chancellor is at the top; that is where she should be. The survey shows that the University of Gothenburg is big.

For example, I am nog familiar with everyone on the top-ten list, which indicates that power seems to be a bit dispersed. If true, this is a positive thing. It would be interesting to know how many of the most powerful know each other,” remarks Mikael Gilljam, professor of political science.

– IT I S N O B I G S U R PR I S E

T H E S U RV E Y I S A repetition of the power questionnaire GU Journal made in 2004. At that time, it was the then Vice Chancellor Gunnar Svedberg who came in at the top; in second place was Pam Fredman, who at the time was the head of the Sahlgrenska Academy, closely followed by Lennart Weibull, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Power is the ability to influence other people’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. So the conventional definition reads, but to measure the power is notoriously difficult and complex.

So the definition that we chose together with political scientist Peter Esaisson was the following: “By ‘power,’ we mean the person or entity/position that has the greatest potential to influence the agenda at the University of­Gothenburg and affect the direc­tion of the enterprise and its activities.” This method is called the “reputational method” and has been used since the 1950s to capture people’s subjective perceptions of what power looks like.

This time we doubled the sample group and posed the question to 900 randomly selected academic and other staff.

The respondents were asked to name up to five individuals entirely on their own without being provided any suggestions. Based on this, we gave 5 points to the first name mentioned, 4 points to the second, and so on.

V I C E- C H A N C E LLO R Pam Fredman outperforms and is in first place, with a massive 521 points.

University Director Jörgen Tholin comes in second with 127 points, and in third place we

find Pro-Vice Chancellor Helena Lindholm Schulz with 71 points.

Immediately following, is Olle Larkö, Dean of the Sahlgrenska Academy at 69 points.

The reason why the Vice Chancellor received so many

that the University Director Jörgen Tholin is so high up on the list.

“I actually didn’t think his name was so well known, but apparently it is.”

Mikael Gilljam notes that studies of power are difficult to

»A rumour that someone has power is in and of itself a power resource, which shows the importance of ending up on the list.« GUNNAR FALKEMARK

implement and even more difficult to interpret.

“The nice thing about this study is that it has been done at a previous instance, as there is great value in repeating surveys over time and focusing in on the changes. Too many studies are unfortunately done only once.”

Björn Rombach

Gunnar Falkemark

votes was because more than 90 respondents put her in first place. Five people consider that the University Director has the most power, but Olle Larkö was, apart from the Vice Chancellor, the individual who received votes from the greatest number of people.

Political scientist Mikael Gilljam finds it a bit surprising

B J Ö R N RO M BAC H , who is Head of Department at the School of Public Administration, finds it surprising that there are so many university managers on the toplist even though they do not have a place in the hierarchy.

“Obviously the Vice Chancel­ lor ends up at the top, but then only one dean and one department head. This gives the impression that the respondents see a university manager line alongside that of the Vice Chancellor, dean and department head. They

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GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

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Pam Fredman

Jörgen Tholin

Helena Lindholm Schulz

Olle Larkö

Cecilia Schedin Seidegård

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Lars Nilsson

Staffan Edén

Bo Rothstein

Hans Carlsten

are regarded as having control but we are otherwise controlled by preparatory managers and a professor known from the news media.”

H E T H I N K S T H AT one should keep in mind that many who are considered powerful are considered so based on their reputation.

“How we talk about the organisation influences how employees and managers regard the distribution of power. If we say that certain people have power and highlight the heads/ managers, then these will be more powerful than if we were talking about them in another way,” remarks Björn Rombach.

The reputational method has its advantages, insists Gunnar Falkemark, professor of political science and who has been studying power issues for many years.

It is simple and cheap, but it often misses the hidden holders of power.

to distinguish between power over the university, within the university, and power over the surrounding community. Capturing the entire power structure, where hidden holders of power are included, requires a “decision-making methodology” which is more advanced and time consuming, where one examines a number of key decisions on the basis of

“ IT I S I M P O R TA N T

who took the initiative, who that person represents, who defined the agenda, and who participated and who stands in the way.

I would like to see such an analysis, for example for Vision 2020 and the autonomy reform.”

“A rumour that someone has power is in and of itself a power resource, which shows the importance of ending up on the list. But the question is what kind of power it provides: formal position, knowledge/expertise, financial resources, organisation, or control of the dissemination of opinions? On the list, 9 of the 10 have a formal position by virtue of their bureaucratic position.

There is only one person who stands out, Bo Rothstein. If the university had been less hierarchical, the list would have looked

10 Maria Jarl

different,” remarks Gunnar Falkemark.

At the same time, the survey shows that the group which is perceived to have power is quite small; in addition to the 10 names at the top, only 14 other names are mentioned. Björn Rombach comments on the results: “Power would not be power if it were equally distributed.

Additionally, at the university, what gives power is imprecise.

We are not a company in the sense of a commercial enterprise, but also, we are not a democracy.

Such surveys don’t provide all the answers, but nevertheless they capture something that should raise questions concerning power and influence.”

ALLAN ERIKSSON

HOW WE CONDUCTED AND SCORED THE SU RVEY After three reminders had been sent out to those who didn’t respond, a total of 30 percent had responded to the online survey, i.e. 300 people. The respondents were compared against the total population within the Uni­ versity of Gothenburg and it was found that the sample is representa­ tive, with the exception of the Faculty of Social Sciences whose response rate was higher than average and the

Sahlgrenska Academy which is slight­ ly underrepresented in the survey.

Half of the respondents are teachers and researchers, and a little over 60 per cent are women. Based on the re­ sults, we made a scoring where first place was assigned 5 points, second place 4 points, third place 3 points, fourth place 2 points and fifth place 1 point.

93 respon­ dents wrote their own comments.

Here is a few: “GU is a guinea pig for new organisational models: the Overhead Model, salarysetting discussions, and new public management models. We implement everything the present Government asks for and then other universities see what we did wrong and the problems we have. We have a consistent neoliberal governance at the University of Gothenburg, where everything has a price tag.”

“All the persons who decide over the allocation of money and employment for positions have the greatest power in the university. As an individual employee (employed with external funds), I have very little ability to influence my continued employment, and I am dependent upon that there are people who want to get me involved in teaching or want to find other ways to make continued employment possible. I feel this situation as very insecure, and because there is a large degree of arbitrariness, I feel I’m in a vulnerable situation where I have few possibilities to influence what happens.”

“My experience is that the power at GU is often informal and anonymous. Decisions are made and reforms are undertaken but one seldom knows why and by whom.”

“GU is extremely hierarchical. The researchers with money, have power. If a researcher has received good funding for their research, it is easier for them to get more research grants at future application periods; they have made a name for themselves. This can make it more difficult for the ‘newer’ researchers to come up, which ultimately means that those who are ‘known’ have the power.”

“The university has been flipped upside.

The content of the activities were the focus, now it is the operational form that is most important.”

“Institutions and departments have too little power. The Research Council has too much power.” }

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News

More comments. } “Too poorly familiar with what other people there are who have the power at GU.” “Researchers and teachers have too little power.”

“I don’t keep track of the university management. I do not even know what the ViceChancellor’s name is.”

“I feel that the power sits primarily in quiet rooms, and in the agreements that rarely see the light of day. I see a lot of informal power everywhere. It is of course very difficult to access and unfortunately affects everyone and reduces GU to a lesser workplace for many.”

“At my department people are divided in small informal groups. Weak, or perhaps nonexistent management, means that people with a strong sense of duty pull heavy loads.

Decisions are sometimes made ad hoc, without impact, things are delayed ad absurdum.

Splitting is also a way to rule.”

“Society’s general views on research and education are very important. Those with major economic and political influence have also great power over the university.”

“Administrators gain power through increased and time consuming bureaucracy.”

1 Pam Fredman, Vice-Chancellor

Jörgen Tholin, University Director

How do you view your ranking on the list?

How do you view your ranking on the list?

“I am delighted. My role as the Vice Chancellor is to lead the University of Gothenburg, and it feels good to have this confirmed.”

“According to the university’s arrangements concerning work responsibilities and delegation of authority, the University Director is a part of the university administration and one of the individuals at the university with the highest authority to make decisions. On this basis it is reasonable that the position of the University Director ranks high on the list.”

How do you define power?

“Power is to have the responsibility and authority in order to be able to lead and develop an enterprise, but for leadership to be successful, this requires the support, confidence and participation of those working with the enterprise and its activities.”

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Pam Fredman, Vice-Chancellor (521) Jörgen Tholin, University Director (127) Helena Lindholm Schulz, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (71) Olle Larkö,Dean of the Sahlgrenska Academy (69) Cecilia Schedin Seidegård, Chair of the University Board (26) Lars Nilsson, Head of the Finance Department (23) Staffan Edén, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (11) Bo Rothstein, professor of political science (10) Hans Carlsten, Head of Department of the Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy (9) Maria Jarl, Chair of the Board of Teacher Education (8)

List of entities/positions 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Dean(s) (98) Department Head(s) (73) The University Board (41) Grants awarders/funders (22) Faculty Boards/Committees (18) Board of Teacher Education (LUN) (18) Professors (15) Administration/administrators (13) Deputy Vice Chancellor(s) (12) The Swedish Government (10)

How do you define power?

How would you describe your relationship with power?

“Power is a multifaceted and multilayered concept. There are aspects of power that have a formal character, and others that are of a more informal nature. A simplified way of viewing power is to look at the influence of the discussions that are held and the decisions that are made.

The systems and arrangements that are set up concerning work responsibilities and delegation of authority determines the organisation’s distribution of power in the form of the power to make decisions, while informal power is largely about the ability to set the agenda for discussions.”

“For me, power is based on confidence and trust.

Those who have power also have a responsibility to respectfully guard that trust.”

How would you describe your relationship with power?

»For me, power is based on confidence and trust.«

FACTS TOP TEN List of Individuals (number of points in parenthesis)

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How are you affected by your power?

“It gives me a platform to engage in my activities both internally and externally, but there is also a parallel constant reminder of properly managing this position. Basically, it’s about learning, having an open mind and listening, and maintaining an open and critical dialogue with the academic and other staff and with the outside world in general.”

“In any large and complex organisation, it is important to have clarity regarding responsibilities and authorities. As the University Director, I have a wide influence on the discussions conducted and the decisions taken. Such influence is accompanied by a significant responsibility, both to make informed, well-founded decisions and sometimes the courage to make difficult decisions.”

How are you affected by your power?

“When you have a major influence, it is especially important to also take responsibility for ensuring that there are solid decision-making processes in order to make well-founded decisions. This includes transparency regarding how decisions are made and that those who are affected by a decision in various respects understand (but not necessarily agree with) the grounds for the decision.”

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

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Young Academy of Sweden Are you a young researcher with a strong commitment to issues surrounding research? If so, the Young Academy of Sweden may be for you.

“We are looking for new members and hopefully the University of Gothenburg will continue to be well represented,” observes professor of political science, Staffan I. Lindberg.

STA FFA N I . LI N D B E RG became a member of the Young Academy of Sweden this spring.

This was due to that he finally decided to stay in Gothenburg, instead of returning to the University of Florida.

“I knew that if I were to remain in Sweden, I would have to commit myself to be engaged in improving opportunities for research and education here.”

Therefore he applied to Young Academy of Sweden, an independent interdisciplinary forum that brings together some of the best young researchers in the country within all subject areas and fields of research.

“And both the institutions and the university administration listen to us; among other things, we functioned as a consultative body for the previous Government’s Research Bill and had activities going on

FACTS

Staffan I. Lindberg hopes that more researchers from Gothenburg will join SUA.

during Almedal Week. On top of this, we are also engaged in the recruitment of new researchers, for instance by organising a ‘summer school’ for upper secondary school students.”

The Academy has 40 members who hold their position for a maximum of 5 years.

The last day for sub­ mitting the applica­ tion to be a member of the Young Academy of Sweden is 13 January.

The call is open to out­ standing independent researchers in all disci­ plines, who defended their dissertation not more than 10 years ago (with a possible exten­ sion for parental leave, illness, clinical service, or military service).

The qualification re­ quirements are scien­ tific excellence and a warm commitment to research.

For further informa­ tion or to apply, contact: anna.kjellstrom@sve­ rigesungaakademi.se, 0706 73 94 45.

This means that the first members will be gradually leaving beginning next year in order to make way for new enthusiasts.

“Those who apply must be outstanding researchers and they must have received their doctoral degree within the past 10 years. But one must also have a passion for research issues as this is not a passive academy, members are expected to be actively engaged. But we are an awfully fun bunch, and come from a wide variety of backgrounds including the fields of medical research, technology and the humanities, and have a few artists in our group.”

All researchers contribute in the way that they find most appropriate for themselves personally, explains Staffan i. Lindberg.

“I hope that the benefit of my US experience can be put to good use, including with international recruitment of researchers and students. I myself have personally recruited postdoctoral researchers from Duke University, Penn State University, and University of California, San Diego; it works perfectly well, but you have to adapt to their system.”

TEXT: EVA LUNDGREN PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

Debate that divided Sweden In November, we saw the 20th anniversary of the Swedish referendum on EU membership. It is also 20 years since CERGU was formed.

In connection with this, a full-day conference was arranged where the participants were reminded that at the time it was a deeply divided nation that went to the polls.

M A LE N A RO S É N Sundström, political scientist from Lund University, pointed out that the general view in the immediate post-war period was that neutral Sweden could not join a European collaboration.

“But the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 gave Sweden a greater latitude to manoeuvre, and the economic crisis the following year led many people to believe that membership would bring investments. Sweden was of course a part of the EFTA, which negotiated with the European Community, however as the European Community dictated the terms, many thought that it would be better to be fully involved.”

That the Social Democratic leadership quickly swung in favour of mem-

bership took many in the grassroots by surprise.

“In order to reduce fragmentation, the party had both a ‘yes’ committee and a ‘no’ committee, but lost voters anyway.”

It was really important to act quickly, noted Kerstin Jacobsson, professor of sociology at the University of Gothenburg.

“Many Social Democrats were in favour of membership on the condition that it was not about a ‘Union.’ So what it really meant was to jump on the bandwagon without asking where it was headed.”

Of the 83 percent of eligible voters who voted in 1994, 52.3 percent said ‘yes’ to joining the European Community, while 46.8 percent voted ‘no’. On the other hand however, when in September 2003 Swedes would take a position on the European Monetary Union (EMU), the ‘no’ side prevailed with 55.9 percent with 42.0 percent voting for the Euro cooperation.

“The political objectives of the EU were so high that it seemed futile to discuss the monetary union. Therefore

Sweden did not negotiate about a derogation from the EMU. That we still remain outside of the EMU is largely due to ordinary people’s common sense; to have the Rutger Lindahl same level of interest rates in countries with such disparate and divergent economies is a bit like having a home in the far North in Lapland and another one in southern Sweden in Skåne, but both using the same thermostat halfway between the two in Örebro.”

I N T H E 1 9 9 0 S there was also a general anxiety that immigrants from Eastern Europe would take jobs away from people in Western Europe, explained Bo Stråth, professor emeritus of history at the University of Helsinki.

“In the public referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005, people voted against a European Constitution. The 2008 financial crisis favoured the nationalists and further

increased people’s hesitancy with the idea of a European Union.”

The moderator was Rutger Lindahl, professor emeritus of political science.

The day also included a politician panel with Marita Ulvskog, Ulf Dinkelspiel, Eva-Britt Svensson and Frank Belfrage, along with Daniel Naurin as moderator. In addition, there was a panel discussion with current and former European Studies Programme students Adam Cwejman, Magnus Nilsson, Kristina Lovén Seldén and Joel Furvik, with Ann Ighe as moderator.

The Centre for European Research at the University of Gothenburg (CERGU), Centre for European Studies, and Brännpunkt Europa/ Focal Point Europe were responsible for the programme. The day was introduced by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Helena Lindholm Schulz, Director of Studies for the Centre for European Studies Urban Strandberg, and Director of the Centre for European Research Linda Berg EVA LUNDGREN

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News

Too few get the chance The Government’s investments in strong research leaders will not solve the problems with Swedish research funding.

“The result is that many good researchers don’t get any funding at all,” according to Claes Dahlgren.

I N T H E S PR I N G of 2013, the Swedish Research Council (SRC) made the decision on behalf of the Government concerning three major initiatives: recruitment of top international researchers and giving the country’s most accomplished researchers and the most promising researchers substantial resources over the ordinary, and additionally that their funding would extend over a relatively longer period of time.

The thinking behind this initiative is that these researchers

will have the time and money to dare to invest in high-risk projects.

However Claes Dahlgren, Professor of Medical Microbiology, believes that it is rather more of a way for the Government to use the SRC to control the educational institutions.

“The Autonomy Reform gave the universities considerable independence, but the Government and the SRC are not really satisfied with the outcome and therefore find ways to make

the decisions. They seem to say that the universities are neither capable of providing resources to the best researchers, employing young talent, nor recruiting internationally.”

Claes Dahlgren

A M O N G OT H E R things, “Contri­bu­ tions to international recruitment of distinguished and prominent researchers,” is not based on any assessment and ranking of the candidates, in the opinion of Claes Dahlgren.

“Instead, the SRC has made an individual assessment of each applicant where it attaches particular importance to how convincing the various educational institutions describe their own commitments in the planned

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

project. The Swedish Research Council takes on a research policy role they should not be playing.”

Claes Dahlgren also believes that the task of choosing the most successful senior and junior researchers is impossible, and that the Swedish Research Council should refrain from making such assessments.

“A S T H E TA S K I S about appointing the best researchers within the entire scientific field, it doesn’t work to use ‘peer review.’ Who can determine if a scientific researcher in microbiology is more deserving than a social science researcher on special needs education?”

Claes Dahlgren feels that it is not about to appointing more or less well-deserving prize winners, but rather about research policy and about the Swedish Research Council’s credibility as one of the country’s main sources for funding research.

for the Swedish Research Council’s elite investment is that not even the country’s top ten scientific researchers will have the financial resources that allows them the possibility to freely formulate their hypotheses. If the Government’s and the SRC’s description of the research conditions in Sweden today is correct, the goal of ensuring the country’s top researchers decent and longterm financing is commendable, but the objective cannot possibly be achieved by using this type of investment. It can, by its very nature, only reach a very few, and the choice of the lucky recipients can never be anything but arbitrary and unpredictable.”

Good distribution of research investments in Sweden requires good researchers recruited at all levels, in the opinion of Claes Dahlgren.

ILLUSTR ATION: TOMA S K ARL SSON

“ T H E STA R TI N G P O I N T

»The Swedish Research Council takes on a research policy role they should not be playing.« CLAES DAHLGREN

must be based on publically announced calls for applications for university posts in open competition, as well as substantial research resources linked to the being hired for the position. The Swedish Research Council’s role should then be to provide the ablest researchers with additional resources.

“A N D T H I S R EC R U IT M E N T

EVA LUNDGREN

We give only to the best ones It is the institutions of higher education and the researchers themselves who have all the influence over who applies. This is the view of Sven Stafström, Director General of the Swedish Research Council. with the recruitment of international researchers, it is the educational institutions themselves who select the candidates. Following that, it is then the Swedish Research Council’s task to review the applications and approve grants to Sven Stafström those that have the highest scientific quality, irrespective of educational institution. The educational institutions who are granted support can then proceed further in its recruitment processes. With the successful senior and junior researchers, the simple fact is that the call for applications is completely open; anyone who meets the basic conditions may apply, and again it is the Swedish Research Council’s role to select the best.” “ FO R E X A M PLE ,

SV E N STA F ST RÖ M D E S C R I B E S how the process generally works.

“Within the senior and junior programmes, we have some key figures in terms of, for example, how many natural scientists or how many of those in the field of medical science are to be awarded a grant. But one can never get away from the difficulties in making assessments. The difference between those receiving and those who do not may be a fine line; those receiving grants are researchers of the highest quality, but there are also many in this category who do not receive anything. It’s not about a contest between researchers. Instead, it’s roughly much like the Nobel Prizes: there is a group of many qualified candidates, nevertheless only a few laureates are awarded a Nobel Prize each time and those who did not receive one in a specific year naturally have the possibility to be considered at a subsequent time.”

Sven Stafström believes that the initiatives in excellence are vitally important because they provide the very best researchers greater freedom to address the major research challenges. But he also thinks that it is unfortunate that the debate so often focuses on these initiatives, which represent only a small part of what the Swedish Research Council finances overall.

the Swedish Research Council granted approximately SEK 3.4 billion to be disbursed over the next five years. Of these, SEK 2.5 billion goes to unrestricted project grants, which are the foundation of our research funding.

In total, the Swedish Research Council supports approximately 2,400 researchers with project grants. The special focus initiatives on excellence is only a small part of everything we do.”

“ I N T H I S Y E A R ’ S D EC I S I O N S ,

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News

“Explainartist will complement other knowledge sources, such as Wikipedia and TED Talks,” says Dr Omokanye.

“Illustrations can be shared easily via social media, where two-way communication can be established between researchers and the general public. If we want the general public to become engaged in research in a meaningful way, they must have the opportunity to contribute with their experiences and thoughts.”

“Illustrations can simplify complex concepts and stimulate discussion,” says Dr Omokanye.

He lets art explain science A N E W W E B - BA S E D platform will soon be launched for open research communication, where the core of various research projects will be conveyed through basic, handdrawn illustrations and curated multimedia.

The concept was created by Dr Ajibola Omokanye at Gothenburg University’s Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and a startup grant was recently received from GU Holding.

All researchers need to communicate their research to the general public, but many lack the know-how for accomplishing this. Today’s media consumers are accustomed to quickly receiving information in a creative and easily accessible form, and this served as the starting point for Dr Omokanye’s solution.

“Illustrations can simplify complex concepts and stimulate discussion,” says Dr Omokanye, who also goes by Jib. “They are also a good way of overcoming language barriers.”

Dr Omokanye feels that science has become an all-too closed world. Many scientific publications are difficult to obtain for those not employed at a university. And if an article is obtained, it is often full of technical jargon that is not only incompre-

hensible for the general public but also for researchers in other fields.

The new communication platform is called Explainartist and will be accessible via www.explainartist.org. The platform is under construction, with a test site scheduled for launch at the beginning of 2015.

Dr Omokanye is recruiting illustrators for the project with varying backgrounds in science. Researchers all over the world will later be able to collaborate to simply and comprehensibly illustrate their research.

Explainartist will operate as a social enterprise, i.e. focusing on societal change rather than profit.

H E I S N OW WO R K I N G with an expanding network of illustrators and experts in multimedia. Among other activities, he will be holding a workshop in the spring at a research communication conference in France.

Dr Omokanye studied medicine in the United Kingdom, where he also received two masters degrees – one in pharmacogenetics, which deals with how hereditary factors influence the effects of pharmaceuticals, and one in public health science. Six months ago, he became a PhD student – with financing from the EU Commission Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship Programme – working in a project about vaccines for influenza pandemics with Professor Nils Lycke as supervisor.

Dr Omokanye says that his considerable interest in illustrating science has been a big help to him as a researcher: “If I’m working on an illustration and cannot quite manage to finish it, this is often because an important piece of the puzzle is missing in the research. And this piece can be the key to making the research complete.”

When the University of Gothenburg recently held its annual Science Slam in conjunction with Global Week, Dr Omokanye was one of those who competed by presenting his research in just three minutes, with the audience choosing the winning presentation. Although Dr Omokanye did not win the competition, he received style points for his poetic approach with his presentation being set in rhyme.

D R O M O K A N Y E SAYS that he is impressed by the strong forces for innovation in Sweden, and since moving here has recognized many products and innovations he uses everyday originated in Sweden. Even though he came up with his idea while studying in London, it was the positive innovation environment in Sweden that allowed him to transform that idea into reality. On his recent grant from GU Holding, he explained “I’m extremely grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from the Grants and Innovation Office. In particular, from Ana-Maria Popescu, Gia Kourouklidou and Andreas Dynefors-Hallberg.”

Explainartist will launch in January 2015, with illustration campaigns for global health and open access research.

If you would like to get involved with the Explainartist initiative, email hello@ explainartist.org.

TEXT AND PHOTO: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN

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M Y V I S IT TO T H E University of Gothenburg for one month during this autumn as a Visiting Professor at the Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion (September–October 2014), was a very unique and rewarding experience for me. This is even though I have visited many countries over the past last thirty years. The time I spent at GU has left me with many lasting impressions from my interactions with students and teachers through seminars, lectures and informal discussions. Based on a seminar on Social Justice in India from a Gender Perspective that I gave, I found the students at GU to be very keen to know about India and the life of Indian women and their experience. Our discussions continued after the seminar and are continuing via e-mail exchanges even after my return to India.

What I enjoyed the most was making new friends through intimate discussions and finding that the issues around the globe are so similar, that we can connect so well, even if we have so many differences in terms of culture, language, personal experience.

Minor difficulties in communication arise in some instances, due to language, but the heart has language of its own.

S U C H O PP O R T U N ITI E S help us to think and explore so many new issues and perspectives, which we might otherwise would never think of. I was working almost 20 hours every day on various projects (Academic Study of Religion in India, Swedish contributions to the Santiniketan School, etc.) and proposals together with Professor Åke Sander, as the opportunity to be in Gothenburg as a visitor provided me a space where I just could be away from the ordinary daily routine and devote myself completely to my work and have direct interaction with faculty and students at GU, Uppsala University and Lund University.

I was fascinated by the library facilities and resources at GU, just a click away. I found very committed and sincere students who work with most modern tools; in India we lack such students and facilities in general.

At the end of my stay I realised that one month at GU was too short a time in order to be able to do so much, and that the bonds with students and faculty at GU are much more profound than before – I look forward should the opportunity arise to return for a longer period of time someday.

I wish to express my thanks for my experience at GU, which was very special, enjoyable and memorable from every aspect.

ASHA MUKHERJEE

PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION VISVA-BHAR ATI CENTR AL UNIVERSIT Y, SANTINIKETAN, WEST BENGAL, INDIA

questions for Ingrid Höjer Professor of Social Work at the University of Gothenburg who recently re­ceived the Lifetime Achievement Award from the European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents (EUSARF).

What is your research about?

“For the past 17 years I have been conducting research within the field of child protection and child social welfare. This primarily is about foster family activities, young people leaving a youth in care situation, and foster families. The research work that was highlighted in connection with that I received the award is primarily about the inner aspects of a foster family’s life and how the biological children in such a home are affected and how they respond when getting a foster sibling.”

What have you found out?

“That the biological children are often sidelined by both the professionals and parents; their perspective is not taken into consideration. It should be, as foster care is so dynamic and complex. One must take everyone’s perspective into consideration in order that the foster family will be able to provide what is needed to the foster child. I have also met many biological children who are very proud to be part of a foster family.

They are sensitive, responsive and empathetic, and many times appear more mature than adults. Something that has been striking is how responsible they are; they would rather not be a nuisance; they think about and take into consideration the consequences it may have for both their parents and their foster siblings.”

You received the award in part on the grounds that your research is creative and has practical application.

It’s important to me that what I conduct my research in can be useful a simple way and that it can help contribute to others to develop their activities. As I have devoted a large part of my professional life as a practitioner within social work, it is quite easy for me to understand and relate to the work and challenges that exist.”

What motivates you in your research work?

“My children and the young people I met in the days when I worked as a foster home social worker. Many times after I left a visit with a foster family, I could not stop thinking about the situation of the biological children in the foster family; what was their perspective to the whole experience? I wished I could have had the opportunity to talk to them too. And now I can do that!”

“As a researcher, I am also motivated by a curiosity. It’s incredibly fun and rewarding to be allowed to be curious, pose questions, reflect, and analyse.”

What are you presently curious about?

What was meant by that?

“Parental strategies of the guest workers that we see coming to Sweden at an increasing extent.

The men and women primarily from Eastern Europe who leave their families in order to come here and work, doing labour such as construction workers or cleaners. What are their thoughts about their children’s future and the opportunities for schooling and jobs? A colleague and I will be studying these issues in the coming three years and I’m looking forward to the project.”

“That the issues are interesting and relevant to those working within the field of social work.

JENNY MEYER

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Profile

Explores freedom on the Internet How do you catch something that is constantly moving? This is a question that Kristian Daneback is constantly facing in his research on the Internet.

“The research process goes slow. But the technology and the way people use it is changing all the time, and what was clearly obvious a few years ago might not be true at all today.”

R I STI A N DA N E BAC K has recently become a professor of social work.

When I ask what it was that made him choose his path in life, he replies that he was certainly shaped and influenced by a wide variety of different experiences.

“My mom worked with children with special needs and dad worked at the refugee reception centre in Karlskoga. When I was a kid, the world came home to us in our living room, in the form of boat people refugees from Vietnam and asylum seekers from Iraq. So I realised early on that life is unfair.

As an 18–19 year old, I worked in nursing homes where among other experiences; I had to watch over the dying. For the older generations, simply having butter and cheese

on the table was sheer luxury. We modern people are spoiled and whine over trifles; we often forget that it is because that those in previous generations who wore themselves out that we have it so good today.”

O N E PE R S O N who had an especially great impact on Kristian Daneback was his maternal grandfather.

“As an eighteen year old he travelled to the US and lived in Chicago among other places, for 10 years. However during the Great Depression, he was no longer able to manage and had to ask his poor relatives back in Sweden for money to be able to travel back home. His formal education was limited to elementary school, and he started working at age 12, but he loved to learn things. He often explained that no burden is as light as knowledge, and he inspired me to continue studying.”

Kristian Daneback began studying in Örebro. For one term, he was in Topeka as a guest student, the capital of Kansas, a town where the infamous Pastor Fred Phelps led a regular Sunday protest against homosexuals and against ‘sinful Sweden’.

“For me, the United States was a strange experience because the country is both

like and unlike Sweden at the same time.

The safety net is very weak, and there are beggars and homeless people in the streets, something which before the psychiatric reform we almost never saw at home here in Sweden.”

T H E N A F T E R S I X M O N T H S in Kansas, Kristian Daneback travelled to San Francisco where he started working for the Coalition on Homelessness, an organisation that helps the homeless.

“Solitary homeless men can have a little romantic glow around their life as voluntary vagabonds. But in San Francisco, I became acquainted with families with young children who had absolutely nowhere to live.

At the same time, these poor people were extraordinary helpful. I was the foreigner and did not know the city, but the homeless helped me when I had free time on the weekends.”

IT WA S PRO FE S S O R of social work Sven-Axel Månsson who lured Kristian Daneback to Gothenburg in the early 2000s. It was about a study of love and sex online.

“Using the Internet in one’s research was regarded pretty much with suspicion back

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then and it had no self-evident place within the field of social work. But I thought it was exciting to be involved in developing a new field with new methods. Among those we cooperated with was the American psychologist Al Cooper, who in 1999 and 2000 published studies on sexuality in the United States.”

In the early 2000s, it was still mostly young men who were using the Internet, and therefore they were also over-represented when it came to love and sex online. But since then things have progressed quickly, and today there is virtually no gender difference when it comes to Internet usage.

“Much of the scepticism about the Internet that I experienced in the past has disappeared. On the contrary, more and more researchers recognise the benefits.

For example when sending out a questionnaire on paper you may never know why people do not respond. In an online survey, however, you can register right at the question people give up on and then analyse it.

Perhaps the background issues were too extensive. Or was it something that was difficult to understand or maybe it seemed irrelevant? It is also easier to get people to talk about intimate things online than faceto-face, so I think that web surveys provide more credible answers.”

O N LI N E , O N E C A N also study what people actually do, not just what they say they do, observes Kristian.

“I certainly do not want to belittle all the problems that exist with the Internet, such as bullying, pedophilia and internet trolls.

But it will be wrong if the debate focuses too much on the bad when most people have find it a great advantage to use the Internet.”

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Profile

In 2003, Christian Daneback participated in the report Love and Sex on the Internet.

Three years later he received a doctoral degree with a dissertation along the same theme.

So what has he found out?

“Of course prostitution and the purchase of sex occurs online, but actually to a lesser extent than many people think. The Internet can instead be a way to meet a partner, even if the pure dating sites seem to have diminished in importance. But during the time I conducted my researched, I got the feeling that people have become more open about their sexuality, at least on the Web, and the differences between what men and women do online in relation to sexual purposes only gets smaller.”

IT M AY S E E M surprising, but the latest study indicates about 90 percent said they use the Internet to search for information and knowledge about sexual matters.

“We have had sex education in the schools since the 1950s, so one may wonder why that is so. It that because it’s easier to ask questions online that are difficult to take up with a parent, teacher, counsellor or partner?”

The Internet also means a global student culture, at least for young people in the West.

“Whether they live in Germany, the US, Canada or Sweden, today’s young people watch the same television shows and the same news. Even if Americans in general have rather traditional values compared with Swedes, the student culture does not differ significantly, and the use of the Internet for sexual purposes is essentially the same.”

But to do research on what happens online is also problematic. Research processes go slowly; to formulate a hypothesis, apply for grants, research and then publish, takes maybe 4–5 years,” Kristian Daneback points out.

“If for example, I get the funding to do research on young people’s use of Facebook, the risk is that Facebook may be out of fashion by the time I finally receive my grant. The Internet is an exciting area, but difficult because it’s constantly changing and moving.”

A new approach to research in social work is to use big data, that is, the vast amount of information that is collected by such websites as Google, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. “ IT I S S O M E W H AT reminiscent of fractal geometry, a subject I was interested in my adolescence, especially what is known as the Mandelbrot set. Looking at a map of the UK, for instance, the coast looks like even dashes. But the more one zooms in, the more unevenness one sees with the irregular edge, and until the end rocks and cliffs can be discerned which makes it impossible to determine where the border actually is.

In a similar way, this is how it is with big data. It’s about using the quantity to attain quality; to see the uniqueness in the diversity and perhaps find that the normal may be

rations: Paul is 66 years old while Håkan has reached the age of 95. We reflect on the philosophy of science, philosophy, social work and what it means to be human in a way I never did previously.”

KRISTIAN DANEBACK PROFESSION: Professor and incoming deputy head of research and graduate studies at the Department of Social Work. Has written the report Love and Sex on the Internet, together with Sven-Axel Månsson, Ronny Tikkanen and Lotta Löfgren-Mårtensson, as well as the doctoral dissertation Love and Sexuality on the Internet.

RESIDES: In Gothenburg.

FAMILY: Wife and two sons, 10 and 6 years old.

AGE: 40 years old.

ROLE MODELS: Maternal grandfather Gerhard Carlsson, Professor Sven-Axel Månsson, and Professor Emeritus Håkan Törnebohm, to mention a few.

WHAT ISN’T COMMONLY KNOWN: I always make my own bed when I stay in hotels.

MAKES ME HAPPY: Food, music and exercise.

TO G E T I N S PI R ATI O N and perspective from older individuals or people from other cultures is important, reflects Kristian Daneback. That is one the reasons why five years ago he and his wife and children, then 5 and 1 year old, made the trip to the The University of Texas at Houston to spend one semester there.

“I had been invited by my colleague Professor Michael W. Ross, and to go abroad for a period of time in order engage in research was an old dream which came true. The only snag was the costs, which couldn’t be covered entirely, so I had to take out a bank loan of SEK 100,000 for housing accommodations and travel expenses. But it was worth it, this was a real highlight for my family and me.”

Another opportunity to gain international experience is the collaboration with Masaryk University in Brno, where Kristian Daneback works half-time.

“The Czech Republic has an entirely different situation, and it is very interesting to compare Sweden with the situation there.

Moreover, I share an interest in crosscountry skiing and cycling with the project

»If for example, I get the funding to do research on young people’s use of Facebook, the risk is that Facebook may be out of fashion by the time I finally receive my grant. «

GET SAD/ANGRY ABOUT: Jealousy and bad faith.

L ATEST BOOK: Björndansen [The Bear Dance], (the Military league).

L AST FILM SEEN: Dear Diary by Nanni Moretti, but mostly TV series and the last one was Breaking Bad. OTHER INTERESTS: I collect vinyl records.

much broader than we usually think. And openness to new technologies can enable new scientific innovations.”

Researchers in the field of social work tend to think it is important that their results will be of practical application.

“I think so too, that to work together with social workers in the field is essential.

However, a subject must also be constantly evolving theoretically. For the past few years, once a month I have been meeting with two other researchers, Pål Silow Wiig, senior lecturer in social work, and Håkan Törnebohm, professor emeritus of philosophy of science. What is particularly exciting is that we represent three different gene-

leader there, Professor David Smahel. I have competed with him in mountain bike orienteering in the Czech World Cup, and in late August we went to Cortina in Italy for cycling, including the steep uphill legendary Giro d’Italia climbs, such as the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Passo Giao. And next year, he will be coming here to participate in the annual Vasaloppet long distance cross-country ski marathon with me.”

S P O R T S I S O N E of Kristian Daneback’s main interests. He has been active in cross-country skiing, football, hockey, tennis, karate and climbing.

“But my most recent interest is actually chess, along with my sons. And at least so far I have been able to manage pretty well against them.”

TEXT: EVA LUNDGREN PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

Creativity in research

GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

15

Risk failure in order to succeed!

“The key to creativity is knowledge,” discloses Georg Kuhn, who conducts research on why exercise is good for the brain.

What does creativity mean to you?

“Personal creativity makes you happy and satisfied with what you created, even if there is nothing new about it. But if it is for the society-atlarge, you have to build upon what has been done previously. Within research, this means building upon what is already known in order to come up with good ideas for new experiments and projects. It means developing new methods, or modifying the existing ones. Within my field of research, it is to develop creative approaches to study what is produced by muscle cells that enter the brain and alters its functioning. If we know what molecules we should activate, we can create new therapies that stimulate the same mechanisms and help people who have limited opportunities for exercise and movement to recover and become healthy.”

Is creativity really needed in research?

“It is a fundamental requirement.

In formalised research, every possibility is controlled, while creativity can take detours. However, in order to avoid reinventing the wheel, this must always be based on a large body of knowledge.”

Can creativity be learned and be modified?

“I believe that everyone is creative, but that they must have the opportunity to find out that for themselves.

The Summer School Route 28 for doctoral students and post-graduate students is one example. The idea comes from a group of researchers, which I am a part of. It is a way to get away from boring lecture environments where there is a large distance between the lecturer and the student in large lecture halls where only a few students actually ask questions.

In the summer school, we take the best researchers who lecture on neuroplasticity and stem cell research for one week in a secluded setting in southern Germany. The students receive a research problem to solve or the task of presenting a new manner

of using a method. They have access to articles and information, and can test out their ideas on the lecturers who are present and available for the entire week. Everyone is incredibly enthusiastic. The results are presented in creative ways including through actions. We have found that it enriches the research afterwards due to the opportunity to get away from the mundane everyday routine and the problems in the home lab.”

How important is the environment?

“I think the psychological environment to foster and allow creativity is more important than the physical.

The group leader has the responsibility to create this atmosphere and provide the opportunities in a nonhierarchical environment.”.

How important is it to ‘dare to fail’?

“It’s exceptionally important and necessary. A failure triggers processes that will have you asking questions like ‘Why did I do that?’ ’What went wrong here; what do I need to improve and what steps should I take next?’ When one fails, one will have an experience that they can use in other contexts. It is a creative process in itself to overcome one’s shortcomings. At the university however, we are under financial pressure.

Therefore I cannot afford to let the students fail as many times as I might

»Yes, I believe that everyone is creative – but they must have the opportunity to find out that they are.« GEORG KUHN like; it is all about finding a balance with less risky and sometimes less creative projects. For a student with uncertain funding, the preconditions to be creative are made all the more difficult when thinking about possibly delayed publication of articles or one’s dissertation, and when grants not received sneak up on them.”

Can researchers distinguish what part of the brain is active when we are creative?

“Studies have been done comparing musicians playing according to sheet music to jazz musicians who are accustomed to improvising. They show that the brain’s prefrontal cortex, the part of the cerebral cortex in the frontal lobes’ lower part where impulsive behaviour is controlled, was less active during the improvisation and more active for those who were producing music by following notes on sheet music. Why or how the brain does this, we simply don’t know.”

When are you feeling creative?

“When I’m with my research group and we ask ourselves how we can solve a problem. Or when I’m not under too much pressure, when I get feedback from my students and when my students are creative. I feel creative, come up with new ideas, and process the daily problems, while out cycling and running.”

TEXT: HELENA SVENSSON PHOTO: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSON FACTS Georg Kuhn is Professor of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Clini­ cal Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, which is part of the Institute of Neurosci­ ence and Physiology at the Sahlgrenska Academy. He has recently received SEK 18.6 million from the Swedish Research Council which goes to the project: Child Development: the interaction between learning, development and the brain in educational practice.

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Global Week

»Science must be re-humanised!« “It is your actions that define you as a human being!”

This is the view of Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, who during a lightning quick visit to Gothenburg found the time to both present a lecture during Global Week and meet with GU Journal as well.

H E L A N C E T is one of the world’s oldest and most respected medical journals. Richard Horton became editor-in-chief in 1995, and was quite settled in with his job until one day in 2000 when he received a visit from Eldryd Parry, a man in his seventies.

“He asked if I had ever been to Africa. ‘No,’ I replied.” “‘You should be ashamed,’ he responded.

So I took out my time planner and set aside a week for a visit to Ethiopia and one for Ghana. I had previously barely thought about the concept of ‘global health’, but when I travelled to Africa together with Eldryd, a whole new world hitherto unknown to me opened up.”

A few years later another person came into his office, Jennifer Bryce.

“Jennifer also asked me a question: ‘What do you know about child health care?’ ‘Nothing,’ I replied.” “‘You should be ashamed. Twelve million children around the world die every year; how can you not know about this?’

Therefore we decided, in 2003, to publish a series of articles on child survival. So these are the two people I have to thank for everything, Eldryd Parry who opened a window for me, and Jennifer Bryce who made me realise that science can change the world.”

S I N C E T H E N , The Lancet’s vision is to bring together the best researchers to focus on a neglected problem in order to bring about social and political change.

Richard Horton travels the world to discuss health issues on-site with a wide-range of people in their own environments. He shares his impressions on Twitter.

“Twitter is the most democratic medium that I know of; it reaches people irrespec-

American colleagues who, instead of providing objective information, spread fear and played with what could be described as some sort of narcissistic entertainment.

The Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Thomas Frieden, was subjected to pure humiliation in the U.S. Congress and Ebola was discussed as if it were an American problem, not a catastrophe in West Africa.”

But the problems of the world are much more than Ebola, emphasises Richard Horton. Among other threats, we have an ongoing climate change crisis, pollution of the air and the seas, as well as an everdecreasing biodiversity. however comes directly from ourselves. For while we realise that we are destroying our world, we do nothing about it. Our civilisation has so far failed to manage these external threats, which are not belonging to anyone specifically but must be solved by all of us together. Nothing will happen as long as the US refuses to actually take action and China believes they must be allowed to develop in the same way as the Western world.”

Civilisations come and go, notes Richard Horton, and it is not certain that our culture will exist so much longer.

“We have a maybe 50 percent chance of surviving to the end of this century. I have no confidence in politicians, on the other hand however, I believe in individual people. Global health can be our century’s equivalent of the previous century’s civil rights movement, and science can become a catalyst for political change.”

For among all the research funding applications, the publishing of articles, and the search for academic appointments, researchers must begin to devote themselves to that which constitutes the very foundation

“ T H E G R E AT E ST T H R E AT

tive of age, gender, level of education, or wherever on earth they are.”

He came to Gothenburg on 17 November to talk about global health and to hold a panel discussion during Global Week.

Among the things he discussed, he took up the management of the Ebola epidemic. “ W H E N T H E WO R LD was hit by SARS in 2003, Gro Harlem Brundtland, the then-DirectorGeneral of WHO, acted admirably by immediately disseminating information to all relevant parties and to quickly map out the spread of the infection. But in the case of Ebola, WHO, against its better judgment, neglected to publish the facts and moreover, it reacted much, much too late. This has led to thousands of people dying when this was avoidable. This failure is a tremendous shame for the entire international community.”

In the United States the panic has spread.

“I am deeply disappointed with my

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During Richard Horton’s time as editor-in-chief of The Lancet, the journal has changed dramatically, from being a fairly ordinary medical journal, to becoming an active participant in with issues related to global health. He is also the recipient of an honorary doctorate from the Sahlgrenska Academy.

political. One example is women’s and children’s health.

“Norway is, as everyone knows, a rich country. However this is not because of all of the oil resources, but rather because women in Norway have decent opportunities to educate themselves and to engage in gainful employment. Even if one only cares about the economy and numbers, and ignores all the humanitarian aspects, education and access to work for women is what is the most profitable to invest in, and what is leading low-income countries out of poverty.”

»Global health can be our century’s equivalent of the previous century’s civil rights movement, and science can become a catalyst for political change.« RICHARD HORTON

of science: working for a better world, insists Richard Horton.

“Researchers live in a system that forces them to think in strictly financial terms. But when Diderot sat there in Paris in the 1700s and worked on his great encyclopaedia, he did so in order to create a better society. The entire Enlightenment, which forms the basis of the development for our time, was about justice. Today, we have forgotten that the universities are unique institutions, where different disciplines come together to play a role in the world’s development. This is something university administrations

often fail to see, even if the University of Gothenburg in particular, with its Global Week, is a terrific exception. But it is the researcher’s duty and responsibility to use his knowledge in order to communicate with a larger audience, even though it hardly contributes to their academic qualifications, and the university is the perfect place to manage the complex challenges we face today.”

Many researchers are not willing to admit that research and public policy are interrelated. But Richard Horton says that research at its fundamental basis, is deeply

YO U A R E K N OW N to be a very enthusiastic and energetic person, and furthermore one who speaks out very provocatively in the news media. Are you deliberately controversial?

“I do not think that what I say is particularly controversial; instead I point out the rather obvious. The system we have created is a perversion of the Enlightenment. We need to bring to us the 300 year old truths and start from scratch. How is it that people at that time sought out knowledge together? This was about something so amazing and beautiful as to create a better world. Science must be rehumanised. It’s all about us, our families, our dreams, and our hopes and expectations.”

Are you an optimist, despite everything?

“Absolutely! That’s why I love the issue of global health so much. And that is why I get upset over unfair generalisations. The world out there contains great diversity and you must get out there and explore it yourself.”

W H AT WA S IT that made you become so engaged and committed in the first place?

“Among other things, I have been influenced a lot by literature, which as we all know has a tremendous ability to change the way people think. When I was fourteen years old, I read Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, and was intrigued by the idea that freedom could lead to revolution. A little later I read L’âge de raison, where Sartre argues that what defines a human being is her dedication, what she believes in, loves, and works with.

We believe that we are biological creatures, but in reality we are a product of everything we do, and that way of thinking has followed me throughout the years.”

TEXT: EVA LUNDGREN & ALLAN ERIKSSON PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

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Learned early on to stand up for her cause

ULLA CARLSSON PROFESSION: Professor.

AGE: 64 years old.

CURRENT POSITION: Executive Director of Nordicom, the Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research.

UPCOMING POSITION: Holder of the world’s first UNESCO Chair in in Freedom of Expression, Media Development and Global Policy, at the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG).

On her C.V.: Honorary Doctorate at the University of Tampere (June 2014), wrote and/or edited over 30 books, a member of numerous boards and committees as an expert in the field of Freedom of Expression and Media Issues.

FAMILY: Husband and an adult daughter.

RESIDES IN: Gothenburg, and in the summers on Värmland’s Peninsula along Lake Vänern.

PERSONAL INTERESTS: Reading books, meeting up with friends, discussions and conversations.

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GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

She describes herself a bit like a slugger.

But it is her desire, curiosity and strong commitment that paved the way for her career. Now Ulla Carlsson is the holder of the world’s first UNESCO Chair in Freedom of Expression, Media Development and Global Policy. been Professor Ulla Carlsson’s passion and there is no mistaking this when we walk through the door into her office at the Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (NORDICOM) near Linnéplatsen. The walls are lined with bookshelves and stacks of books grow high on the desktop, the window bay, and all around her computer screen. It looks somewhat chaotic at first glance, but it also exudes a knowledge and creativity that the paperless office can’t get anywhere near.

“It’s a constant inflow and outflow of books and magazines and journals, and I’m a traditional reader: I want it on paper. But I know exactly where everything is,” Ulla Carlsson assures us.

O O K S H AV E A LWAYS

IT ’ S U N LI K E LY T H E R E is anyone who doubts this. Ulla Carlsson gives the impression of being in charge and having a clear direction with whatever she is doing. With her base as the Executive Director of Nordicom, over the past 40 years she has built up a large global network within the field of freedom of expression and media issues. Ulla has made Nordicom into a well-respected international publishing house while at the same time she herself has written numerous articles and books, and served as an expert in a number of networks and committees.

“I have always been interested in the transfer and sharing of knowledge, and the opportunity to build this in particular at Nordicom has been tremendous. Although at times we also had to fight against the threat of closure and were constantly in the pursuit of funding.”

Soon it will be time for her to clear the decks. In February, the moving boxes will go a few floors down in the same building to the Department of Journalism, Media and Communication (JMG), where the new UNESCO Chair will be located.

“It will be wonderful in many ways. I will have the ability to make ends meet, and I don’t have to chase after money. I get to dedicate myself to the issues I’m passionate about – and it feels fantastic.”

T H E R E W I LL A L S O be an opportunity for a committed working person to slow the pace down a bit and find a little more normal work rhythm in the last years before retirement.

But with the new UNESCO Chair, it is certain that Ulla Carlsson will not be idle.

Major challenges await here also.

“I want to build upon what I accomplished at Nordicom. For me, it is important to be engaged in interaction; to work both domestically and in the global arena.”

“I would, for example, like to elucidate the concept of the right to freedom of speech and expression. For Swedes, it’s so self-evident. But in many countries, they barely understand what we’re talking about. If we can elucidate freedom of speech and expression from various perspectives, we can create a greater understanding and greater success within these issues internationally.”

What do you think about the media climate in Sweden today?

“There is a serious situation prevailing, not least from a democratic perspective. We are seeing a downturn in the readership of the morning papers, and the viewing of the television news programmes. The young people of today are only looking for the particular information they are interested in, on the Internet.”

»We are seeing a downturn in the readership of the morning papers, and the viewing of the television news programmes.«

that the world could be changed.”

Ulla makes no secret of the fact that it was also difficult. Within her subject, political science, there were few women, and she had to fight in order to get anywhere.

“I think it made me a bit of a slugger.

Someone who perhaps sees resistance everywhere. But had I not been as I was, I certainly would not be where I am today,” she remarks.

Ulla believes her position as a slugger may sometimes result in that she perceived as a little fierce.

“I’m an open person who reacts openly. I want results and sometimes perhaps it goes a bit quickly,” Ulla thoughtfully reflects. “At the same time, I’m pretty hard on myself. I was brought up in an environment where one does not boast about themselves.”

If her temperament has perhaps sometimes been her weak point, she highlights her perseverance as one of her strengths.

Her will has been a tremendous force that has opened doors both in her career and private life, and which took Ulla Carlsson to some of the most remote places in the world. Among other places, in the early 1970s to the poorest parts of Africa, when she travelled around there for a year as a young woman. and rebellious, and I wanted to experience how people lived there. I learned an awful lot over the years and I always carry Africa with me in my heart ever since. Perhaps it was also the trip that paved the way my involvement in issues of democracy in general and freedom of expression issues in particular, and which now finds its culmination in the new UNESCO professorship.”

What do you hope to achieve during these next three years?

“I hope to be able to at least make a small contribution to increasing the understanding of the problems that we face with freedom of expression at the present time; the field is so complex. But it is not sufficient that we simply illustrate the problems; in the future the research community must also be able to come up with proposals for solutions.”

“ I WA S A DV E N T U RO U S

“A democracy is based on well-informed citizens. Today, there is more information available than ever before, but it has never been so easy as now to avoid being wellinformed.”

Personally, Ulla Carlsson is an avid paper reader of newspapers. “With a newspaper in your hands, you get a completely different overall picture: you can scan the pages and explore news that you never had searched for online,” she remarks.

“I get up at five every morning and read three newspapers: Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet and Göteborgs-Posten.

It’s a habit, a routine. I want my tea, my sandwiches, and my papers, and I always start with DN because this is the newspaper we had at home when I was growing up.”

U LL A C A R L S S O N I S from a village outside of Ulricehamn and growing up in a small community has had a significant impact on her character and her interests for the rest of her life. The library was the village centre and it offered books that opened the door to the world. Ulla grew up nearby one of Sjuhäradsbygden’s sewing factories and her father was politically active. But everyone in the family had their own individual opinion at variance from others, and at home Ulla learned early in life to debate and stand up for her cause.

“But I am also a child of my time. In the 1950s when I was born, we were in the midst of the development of society, everything was open, anything and everything was possible. I am influenced by the collective thinking that was prevalent around 1968. We continued studying at the university out of personal interest, not to pursue a career. There was indeed a belief

TEXT: KARIN FREJRUD PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG FACTS U NE SCO PROFE SSORSHIPS The UNESCO professorships were introduced by UNESCO in 1992 in or­ der to promote research and higher education between various countries’ educational institutions within the areas that UNESCO prioritises.

Today there are over 760 UNES­ CO professorships spread about at over 850 institutions in 134 countri­ es around the globe. Ulla Carlsson is Sweden’s seventh holder of a UNESCO Chair. Since 2008, the University of Gothenburg has had a UNESCO Chair in early childhood learning and sustai­

nable development: I­ ngrid Pramling ­Samuelsson.

In concrete terms, Ulla Carlsson’s professorship means that during the next three years she will work with the development of knowledge within the field of freedom of expression and media policy both in Sweden and internationally. In various different ways, she will be facilitate the disse­ mination of knowledge within the re­ search community and establish mee­ ting venues between research, policy and practical application.

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At home in little London A creative venue with room for experimentation and progressive research.

So describes the computational linguist Shalom Lappin the new Centre of Linguistics and Probability Theory at the University of Gothenburg.

“For me, it’s like coming home,” he says.

T I S A B O U T following problems.

Computational linguist Shalom Lappin’s research spans several disciplines and he always welcomes unexpected cooperation.

“I’m not interested in the passport, or boundaries, or which subject you have your degree in. What I’m interested in and what counts is what you can contribute to solving the problem,” he emphasises.

The curiosity and quest for an answer has taken him from philosophy to linguistics, from computer science to computational linguistics.

“I usually avoid telling people what I do. Or I explain it something like this: I

started as a philosopher; but got tired of people asking me about the meaning of life.

So I went on to linguistics; but got tired of people asking how many languages I spoke.

So I took up computer science; but got tired of people wanting me to fix their computer.”

“Now I focus my efforts on Computational Linguistics. No one knows what it is, so they leave me in peace,” chuckles Shalom Lappin.

His work has not only attracted him to move from one field of research to another, but also taken him to many countries, including Canada, Israel and the United States among others. In recent years, Shalom Lappin has been professor at King’s College in London, but from the autumn of 2015 he will land in Gothenburg at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science (FLOV).

Shalom Lappin is one of the four top researchers recruited to the University of Gothenburg, thanks to a grant from the Swedish Research Council. He will spend

the next ten years here leading the new Centre for Linguistic Theory and Studies in Probability (CLASP). The Centre will gather together linguists, computational linguists, logicians, computer scientists and philosophers, and is expected to become the European leader in its field.

“It really is extremely exciting. This is a serious commitment and I have very high hopes about what we really can achieve here,” comments Shalom Lappin.

T H E R E I S R A I N hanging in the air and the amber autumn leaves come slowly floating down towards the ground outside the window to FLOV where GU Journal visits with him at the end of October.

“I feel at home,” he says smiling and nodding meaningfully towards the leaden grey sky.

But it’s not just the “London-like” weather that is familiar. Shalom Lappin looks like he is quite at home in the Department’s hallways. For the past two years he has

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GUJOURNAL 7 | 2014

»Now I focus my efforts on Computational Linguistics. No one knows what it is, so they leave me in peace.« SHALOM LAPPIN

is like a large little town and it is possible to walk everywhere.”

Actually long walks are Shalom Lappin’s watering holes. The walks give him a chance to clear his mind while at the same time giving birth to many new ideas. When he visits Gothenburg in the near future his walks will however be focused on finding a nice area to obtain housing in.

“Haga would be nice,” he notes. “My wife and I will keep our home in London, but I’ll definitely have my base here.”

The new apartment should preferably be centrally located, but it also must be roomy. The couple’s four children and five grandchildren have already announced that they are keen on coming to visit.

“It’s nice that the distance between London and Gothenburg is not so great. I expect my family will be flying back and forth a lot.”

B E FO R E T H E N E W C E N T R E opens its doors for real in September 2015, a hectic time waits Shalom Lappin. On the one hand, he has commitments to wind up at King’s College London, while at the same time he’ll be participating in the recruitment to CLASP. There are a number of new slots for doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars, and several senior positions will have to be filled.

Do you see any difficulties or challenges with the new Centre?

Shalom Lappin is investigating how children learn their language, which can be used in Computational Linguistics.

worked closely with FLOV and been here both as a visiting lecturer and to participate in research projects.” here whom I respect immensely and highly value both as colleagues and friends. This is an environment that is fully supportive and it’s a new experience for me. It feels very progressive.

I’m really looking forward to moving my research here and being able to further develop it here.”

In recent years, Shalom Lappin has developed ground-breaking ideas concerning human language acquisition and cognition, and pointed out how one gradually learns a language. These are insights that are important for computer science and will influence how we construct computer programs and dialogue systems in the future.

Today, we have to be very precise when we communicate with our smartphone or our computer, but in the future, the computer might become more like a human being

“ T H E R E A R E PEO PLE

and adapt itself to the person whom it is talking with.

“At the new Centre, I want to take advantage of the strong connections in language technology between the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers that already exists. I also want to pave the way for collaborations with other universities in Sweden and the rest of the world, and also to ensure that we get a good working relationship with the private sector. It is important that what we do can be used in practice.”

Shalom Lappin lists a number of possible partners in companies, such as Ericsson, IBM and Google.

I N A D D ITI O N TO the great potential he sees in CLASP, he is also very excited about the prospects of settling in Gothenburg.

“I’m very fond of the Swedish west coast. It reminds me very much of Ontario, Canada, where I originally come from. I like the relaxed atmosphere; that Gothenburg

“Yes. Good research always involves challenges. Of course either administrative or financial problems can arise. It’s like in life, nothing ever works out as exactly as planned.”

“But instead of resisting challenges, we should embrace them. They will help you get on. In research, you can almost always be sure that you are wrong. But how can we rectify it? How can we achieve a better understanding? Research is demanding – but ultimately always worthwhile.”

TEXT: KARIN FREJRUD PHOTO: JOHAN WINGBORG

SHALOM LAPPIN. AGE: 64 years of age.

FAMILY: Wife Elena, four adult children and five grandchildren.

RESIDENCE: Presently London, soon to be Gothenburg.

INTERESTS: Spending quality time with his family, take long walks, and playing guitar. Has a blues band he likes to write songs for.

CURRENT POSITION: Professor of Computational Linguistics at King’s College London in the UK. AT THE UNIVERSIT Y OF GOTHENBURG: The Swedish Research Council has decided to support the re­ cruitment of Shalom Lappin with an investment of SEK 109 million while the University of Gothenburg contributes an additional SEK 55 million. Both allocation of funding run over a period of ten years. Shalom Lappin will be working at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, where he will lead the new Centre for Linguistic Theory and Studies in Probability (CLASP).