Academic Elections 2026 - Candidates for Dean and Deputy Dean

What motivates you to be a candidate?

My long experience of educational issues at all levels, strategic competence and passion for pedagogical development together with almost six years as vice chair of the Committee for Education makes me feel both competent and motivated to tackle all the challenges of education, which include: 

• teacher supply and the merit value of engaging in teaching
• economic conditions for high-quality research-based education
• the need for lifelong learning and digital skills – a combination that is likely to require smart priorities and choices in the future.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Teacher supply that ensures continuity and research connections and where active participation in teaching and pedagogical improvement is really meritorious.
• Financial conditions that enable education of the highest possible quality based on modern, scientifically grounded pedagogy with a focus on student-activating teaching.
• Secured VIL/VFU for our professional educations, which is crucial for quality and feasibility.
• An education system that takes into account increased demands on student focus, flexibility, mental support and work-life connection.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

Creating collaboration and participation is about building a culture where people feel included, heard and engaged. I would therefore like to work for:

• clear and open multi-way communication
• decision-making processes involving all concerned (including students).
   

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am motivated by a long-term commitment to educational quality, academic leadership, and the strategic role of education at Karolinska Institutet. Through my work as a programme director and as the first dentist elected to KI’s Pedagogical Academy, I have extensive experience in leading and developing education in complex settings. I see this role as an opportunity to contribute to KI’s continued development through strategic governance, collegial and student engagement.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Quality and coherence in first- and second-cycle education, with a focus on clear governance structures, sustainable educational design, and fit-for-purpose assessment.
• Strengthening the conditions for professional programmes, faculty capacity, and the integration of education, research, and clinical practice is central.
• I also see the quality assurance system as an active tool for educational development.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

I aim to work through open dialogue, transparent processes, and close collaboration with departments, programme committees, and student representatives. 

Collegiality and student participation should be integral to decision-making and educational development. 

Through clarity, responsiveness, and trust-building, I seek to foster shared responsibility for education at KI.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

The position as Dean for the Committee of Higher Education is one of the most central tasks to ensure KI's university mission, i.e. an assignment that consists of both education and research. 

I currently hold the same position as Academic Vice President for Higher Education, and it is one of the more stimulating commissions I have had, and I absolutely want to continue to take part and contribute to ensuring KI's strong position as a world-leading university.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Improve collaboration with Region Stockholm, municipalities, other universities and the Life Science sector to develop education and ensure high quality in work-based education (VIL/VFU).
• Ensure access to competence based on educational needs and utilise KI's research, including recruitment, clear career paths and career opportunities.
• Ensure that the content and implementation of the education demonstrate an up-to-date scientific basis by strengthening the link between research and education.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

• I want to increase internal collaboration with and between departments and programmes in order to strengthen collaboration and develop collegial and interprofessional learning.
• In the Faculty Board, I will contribute to create and solve KI's challenges through collaboration between Deans, Academic Vice Presidents, teacher representatives and students, and to provide well-prepared documentation from the committee for Higher Education.
• In the group for strategic competence provision (GSK) I will contribute with documentation that enables analysis and identification of needs for skills that are lacking in the short and long term, thereby contributing to a strategic competence provision.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am highly committed to contributing to KI's strategic development and further strengthening the position of education. With extensive experience as an academic leader, I aim to create a dynamic and inclusive environment that promotes excellence and global competitiveness. I see this role as a unique opportunity to turn vision into tangible results—results that make a real difference for both staff and students.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

My key priorities are to ensure sustainable competence supply through:

• strategic analysis of educational needs
• attractive career paths for staff with significant teaching responsibilities
• systematic quality assurance to deliver education of the highest standard. 

I also aim to strengthen collaboration with regional and municipal partners to ensure high-quality education and secure access to clinical training placements. Through these efforts, KI can strengthen its position as a leading international university.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

I aim to foster a culture of openness and dialogue where teachers, researchers, administrative staff, and students feel actively involved in development and quality improvement. By continuing to build bridges between departments, programs, and professions, we strengthen collaboration and enhance engagement in education. 

My goal is for every voice to contribute to KI's progress and success.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

My vision is to contribute to ensuring that all education at KI is of the highest quality and appropriately aligned with societal needs.

I am well suited to the appointment through my strong commitment to educational matters and my extensive leadership experience at multiple levels. I am analytical, proactive, and have a clear holistic and systems-oriented perspective. I have extensive collaborations within Karolinska Institutet and with other higher education institutions, as well as a thorough understanding of KI's organisation and its collaboration with Region Stockholm through my joint appointment in primary care.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• To ensure that all programmes at KI maintain high quality, including research-based education, evidence-based pedagogy, modern learning environments, and effective quality assurance processes
• To promote clearer and more robust career pathways for teachers that stimulate pedagogical competence development and ensure sustainable academic staffing
• To further develop collaboration with Region Stockholm and municipalities, including the expansion of clinical placements (VFU).

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

• Work with open communication and transparent processes, supported by clear structures and support functions
• Promote KI's shared objectives through close interaction with the departments
• Incorporate multiple perspectives and demonstrate respect for diversity in decision-making processes.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I have extensive experience in leading and developing education at various levels at KI and currently serve as a teacher representative in the Committee for Higher Education (KU). I want to continue contributing to strengthening and developing education. This role offers the opportunity to build on the important work already carried out within KU.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Create strong career opportunities for teachers with major educational responsibilities.
• Develop and maintain KI’s education quality system to ensure high-quality courses and programs and ensure that clinical placements (VFU) maintain high standards and provide sufficient positions for our students.
• Further develop education to meet the demands of responsible internationalisation, crisis preparedness and AI competence in a changing world.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

I want to ensure that education is regarded as a shared responsibility and a central priority for everyone at KI, with transparency and opportunities for engagement. I will continue close collaboration with persons responsible for education, departments, and teachers to jointly develop education. Our students should feel that they can influence and play an active and meaningful role in shaping KI’s educational activities.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am motivated by a strong conviction that doctoral education is one of KI’s most strategically impactful activities. Over more than three decades at KI, I have seen how essential strong structures, clear supervision, and stimulating environments are to promote creative and sustainable conditions for doctoral students to develop into independent researchers and future leaders in academia, healthcare, and society. I want to draw on my experience from academia, the clinic and the Faculty board, to strengthen these conditions and thereby enhance KI’s future competitiveness.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Promoting the best possible conditions for doctoral students and supervisors, by building on existing structures and the strong work already underway, in close collaboration with doctoral students, supervisors, and KI’s 21 Directors of Doctoral Studies. One model does not fit all departments or doctoral candidates, and the conditions for e.g. clinical doctoral students need to be strengthened.
• Strengthening internationalisation and strategic partnerships, ensuring that KI remains an attractive university for international doctoral education while further enhancing its global societal relevance.
• Purposeful and proportionate administration, where administrative processes are supportive rather than burdensome, guided by the principle of “wise administrative choices”.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

I would work through an open, responsive, and inclusive leadership style, where dialogue between doctoral students, supervisors, directors of doctoral studies, department leadership, and university management is central. Through low-threshold forms of dialogue—such as an open-office hours for the dean for a few hours each week—I want to contribute to a vibrant, inclusive, and long-term sustainable doctoral education at Karolinska Institutet. 

My experience of leading complex organisations has taught me that transparency, trust, and a long-term perspective are essential for successful leadership.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I want to contribute to a doctoral education of the highest quality and have a long-standing and strong commitment to doctoral education issues. I am well acquainted with the organizational structures and decision-making processes within both KI and Region Stockholm, and have extensive experience in influencing and driving issues related to research and education. I have a high work capacity, enjoy turning ideas into action, and hold a joint position with Karolinska University Hospital, which provides me with broad insight into and experience of collaboration between academia and healthcare.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Create the best possible conditions for supervisors through stable doctoral funding, high-quality supervisor training, and accessible support functions.
• Improve conditions for clinical doctoral students and supervisors through a deepened and structured collaboration with the healthcare sector (Region Stockholm).
• Expand the number of doctoral schools to strengthen coherence and quality in the education and enhance the doctoral training environment at KI.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

• I aim to promote an inclusive and creative doctoral education environment.
• Ensure a cohesive doctoral education at KI, with good and equitable conditions for doctoral students across the full breadth of the university.
• Contribute to making it easy to do things right, through clearer processes, expectations, and support for both doctoral students and supervisors.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am applying for this position to help shape the strategic direction of doctoral education and to establish the conditions necessary for sustained quality, innovation, and excellence. I am driven by a clear commitment to building an inclusive academic culture that fosters critical thinking, collaboration, and international competitiveness, enabling the next generation of researchers to thrive. To me, this role represents a meaningful mandate—to invest in the future of knowledge and to help steer the research that will shape tomorrow’s society.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

I will prioritize a doctoral education that is high-quality, relevant, and future-oriented—firmly aligned with labor market needs and grounded in an inclusive environment free from discrimination. My priorities are to: 

• improve the working conditions for doctoral students
• strengthen supervisor competence and resources
• ensure access to mandatory and high-quality courses along with clear guidelines for educational components.

I will harness digitalization and AI to: 

• develop learning platforms with global reach that elevate quality, efficiency, and innovation
• deepen collaboration with Region Stockholm to further support clinical doctoral students and build integrated research and educational environments.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

• Strengthen collaboration and engagement across KI by building on existing joint forums and faculty-wide networks for doctoral students, supervisors, and administrative staff.
• Transparent communication through open information channels and inclusive decision-making via working groups with broad departmental representation to develop shared strategies.
• Prioritize continuous professional development for supervisors and doctoral students and deepen academic–clinical collaboration with Region Stockholm to create integrated, high-performing research and educational environments.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am applying for this position because I am genuinely interested in doctoral education and feel a strong desire to contribute to the continued development of our doctoral education in a way that truly makes a difference for both doctoral students and supervisors, as well as for KI as a whole.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

My priorities are to simplify the administration of doctoral education to strengthen the focus on research and quality, ensure a more systematic follow‑up of doctoral students’ progression, and enhance the recruitment of both doctoral students and supervisors within the clinics.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

To strengthen both engagement and collaboration within the organization, I prioritize transparency in decision-making, promote dialogue, and clarify our common goals.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

For many years, I have been actively engaged in doctoral education and have a strong interest in the interaction between education and research, with societal needs in mind. With extensive experience, I wish to contribute to an inclusive, collaborative, and quality‑driven doctoral education that promotes both excellence and humanistic values. This role offers the opportunity to translate well‑established experience into practice, thereby strengthening the conditions for medical research and generating real benefits for society and human health, which I am deeply committed to as a clinical researcher.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

A doctoral education at KI should generate clear value for the doctoral candidate, for KI, and for society at large. A KI doctoral degree should be universally recognized as being of the highest possible quality and should provide newly graduated PhDs with a distinct competitive advantage. We can achieve it by supporting and developing doctoral education with a clear focus on quality, excellence, and sustainable research environments for both doctoral students and supervisors. 

Ensuring the quality of doctoral education must lead to graduates who are attractive and competitive in the work market and meet societal and workforce needs, with the capacity to contribute to development and implementation of new scientific knowledge and clinical practice, as well as to innovation and job opportunities across academia, healthcare, and industry.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

An excellent foundation of doctoral education is built on open and continuous dialogue through close collaboration within KI and with its relevant external stakeholders. We need to further strengthen efforts to ensure that doctoral students and supervisors can thrive in active research environments that promote inclusion, clear goals for subject development, and supervisory teams that provide engagement, structure, as well as constructive feedback. This requires continuous training for both supervisors and doctoral candidates, and regular follow-up to ensure conditions for innovative and durable research are in place.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am motivated by a strong desire to contribute to KI's continued development as an internationally leading medical university with high academic quality, strong collaboration with the healthcare system (Region Stockholm), and a research environment which enables both groundbreaking basic research as well as clinically relevant breakthroughs. 

I am eespecially motivated by issues concerning clear career pathways, good conditions for early career researches, sustainable research environments, and strengthened collaboration with Region Stockholm, and I see the role of Dean of Research as an opportunity, together with KI's Leadership, to take responisibility for prioritized questions and for KI:s long-term research quality and attractiveness.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

I will listen to the priorities identified by the fcaulty while at the same time working to:

• ensure open and competitive calls for positions at all levels to attract the best candidates
• advocating for the introduction of a state-guaranteed minimum salary level for professors to maintain national and international competiveness
• contribute to the continued development of KI's new Journal List as one of the cornerstones of the activity-based resource allocation system, as well as a regular follow-up and revision of the new research alloaction model
• work to create incentives for clinicians to engage in research earlier in their carreers
• develop and strengthen KI's strategic initiatives in data-driven research, AI, open science, as well as ATMP and precision medicine in collaboartion with Region Stockholm.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

• I want to strengthen participation and colllaboration through regular visits to deparments and open dialogue meetings, and to create a closer link between eduation and research.
• Clearly communicate current priorities and career requirements, support efforts to improve working conditions and strengthen support for postdoctoral researchers and early-career faculty together with the KI Postdoc Association (KIPA) and Junior Faculty (JF).
• Continue to develop KI's structures for research collaboration.
• Deepen our collaboration with Region Stockholm and continue to drive improvements and development initatives and processes in the relevant bodies in which the dean participates in close dialogue with KI leadership and the collegium.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

After eight years as a research representative in the Committee for Research (KF), I want to promote researchers’ voice in KI’s strategic decisions. I see a particular need to strengthen the value of international and national collaboration as well as clinical research. Other guiding principles are to protect academic freedom and democracy.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

Develop a KI-wide strategic approach towards funders, both nationally and at the EU level. Develop cohesion and trust within KI and in collaboration with Region Stockholm. Build a KI where career pathways and support structures are clear and predictable, with fair, equitable, and equal opportunities for all researchers.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

Strengthen our collegial influence in KI’s decision-making processes where all researchers can contribute through the new Faculty Forum. Enhance collaboration between KI’s decision-making bodies by more clearly linking the committees with the Faculty Board and its organs, such as the Infrastructure Committee and Research Incubator KI. Promote a general culture that stimulates cross-institutional research.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

KI should remain an attractive destination for researchers and retain its position as the leading research establishment within Sweden. In order to achieve this, we need a strategic plan for modernizing and increasing the effectiveness of our research culture. I welcome the possibility to lead this activity and to continue to develop research leadership at our university through active and decisive leadership of the Committee for Research.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

The situation for postdocs at KI has received little or no attention for the last 20 years, and after I recently presented a 5-point action plan for postdocs to the Faculty Board, implementation of this should now be initiated by the Committee for Research.

I believe that researchers at KI should be empowered as academic leaders, and as there is currently no system to provide career development within academia at KI, this is something I aim that the Committee for Research will develop.

As KI’s competitiveness is threatened both by the increasing loss of top performing research group leaders leaving KI and the emergence of several new research-strong universities globally, these two issues require a strategic plan for research development at KI, which we are currently lacking, and that will be a major focus for the Committee for Research to prepare for the Faculty Board.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

• By being a clear, communicative and inspiring leader, this will be my foundation for promoting further collaborative development of the research culture at KI, as people need to be both inspired and empowered to contribute.
• Creating clear strageties for how we interact with internal, local, national and international partners is critical for people feeling ownership of the work.
• There is a relatively underutilised potential for multidisciplinary research being conducted within KI, and further funding schemes to promote this are needed.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

KI's new organisation has challenged collegial governance. The initiatives that have been taken to strengthen it are very good and, as dean, I want to take responsibility for maintaining and developing the direction that has been set. I also want to contribute with an increased focus on collaboration between experimental and clinical research and believe that my background and experience in both areas can be of value for this.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

With its anchoring in the faculty, the committee for research has both the breadth and mandate to shoulder overarching issues at KI and needs to take the lead on questions of infrastructures, dimensioning, strategic recruitments and financial conditions for our research groups. 

One important area is to strengthen collaboration between our experimental research environments, and another is a further focus on a transparent climate of collaboration with Region Stockholm. 

Animal activities, biobanks and physical conditions for clinical research in the healthcare environment are other issues I want to prioritize.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

The committee for research and its dean needs to become more visible at KI and clearly show that they intend to take overall responsibility. Regular visits by the dean to the departmental groups' meetings are important, as is specific dialogue with heads of department about current challenges. A matter of course is intensive collaboration with the deans for education and doctoral education to secure optimal development of KI’s in a synergistic way.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am motivated by the opportunity to leverage my long leadership experience together with my focus on scientific quality and relevance to strengthen KI’s research and development in the important collegial structure. By combining an analytical approach with an inclusive leadership style, I aim to create conditions for innovation, collaboration, and long-term excellence to develop in parallel. I have always been driven by strengthening people and teams, and I see this as an opportunity to make a difference at a strategic level.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

• Strengthen KI’s international competitiveness through strategic investments in groundbreaking research collaborations within KI and with external partners
• Develop research structures that enable researchers to reach their full potential, with a particular focus on junior researchers and interdisciplinary collaborations
• Ensure that KI’s research strategy aligns with international challenges and promotes scientific influence

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

My strength lies in actively listening and motivating others, which enhances both quality and engagement. I believe in creating a collegial culture of dynamic collaboration and participation through openness, inclusiveness, and forward-looking goals. I see this role as an opportunity to work together with colleagues to shape the future of medical research and contribute to KI's vision to promote knowledge about life and strive towards better health for everyone.

What motivates you to be a candidate?

I am motivated by the opportunity to strengthen KI’s research environment and increase our global impact through close collaboration with healthcare as well as with national and international stakeholders. I am convinced that effective research leadership today requires not only scientific excellence, but also the ability to build long-term structures, inspire colleagues, and develop dynamic and well-functioning collaborative ecosystems.

Which issues or areas do you want to prioritise during your time in the role?

I aim to strengthen research quality and international competitiveness through 

• strategic recruitment
• the development of sustainable research infrastructures
• targeted support for early-career researchers. 

I also prioritize interdisciplinary collaboration in close partnership with healthcare, as well as a responsible and inclusive research culture with a particular focus on open science and innovation.

How do you want to work to encourage cooperation and participation within KI?

Through close collaboration with the Committees for Education and Doctoral Education and their deans, I want to enhance coordination between research, education, and career development. My goal is to build sustainable collaborative structures that promote openness, dialogue, and participation across KI, while also further deepening and improving collaboration with healthcare.