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FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Newsletter: INSIDAN, 30 June 2022
Management news
Vice-Chancellor’s decision on five profile areas for Lund University 
On 23 June, the University’s Vice-Chancellor’s decided on Lund University’s five profile areas for 2022–2030. The five areas are:
  • Human Rights in a Polarized World
  • Light and materials – from fundamental understanding to industrial and societal needs
  • Natural and artificial cognition: 1, 2, many.
  • Proactive Ageing: Brain & Movement – From Molecular Changes to Engagement with Life and Society
  • Sustainable solutions in the climate change – biodiversity – social nexus – ClimBioSis
Researchers from the Faculty of Science are involved in all the profile areas except the first on the list above.
Read the more on the blog Identifying Profile Areas at Lund University
Prizes and awarded grants
Researchers receive scholarships from the King Carl XVI Gustaf 50th Anniversary Fund 
Three researchers at the Faculty of Science have received scholarships from the King Carl XVI Gustaf 50th Anniversary Fund for Science, Technology and the Environment.
  • Lettice Hicks, researcher at the Department of Biology, receives SEK 100,000 for research on the role of microbes in agricultural land’s fertility and ability to sequester carbon.
  • Romain Carrié, researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, receives SEK 85,000 for research on the role of pollinating insects in the agricultural landscape.
  • Milda Pucetaite, researcher at the Department of Biology, receives SEK 85,000 for research on the role of microfungi in carbon sinks in the soil.
Senior lecturer receives scholarship from the Sten K Johnson Foundation
Susanne Pelger, senior lecturer in science education and educational developer at the faculty office, receives SEK 150,000 from the Sten K Johnson Foundation. The funding is for the project “Nature detectives – fact meets fiction in children’s books about research”.
Apply for grants and scholarships
Nominate candidates for the L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science Award
The aim of the award is to recognise and reward women in research who have demonstrated great potential in science, medicine or technology. Each prize-winner receives SEK 150,000 and is invited to join a one-year mentor programme organised by The Young Academy of Sweden. The deadline for nominations is 27 September.
Read more and nominate candidates on The Young Academy of Sweden website
Research Professional will close down in the autumn and be replaced by Pivot-RP
Research Professional – the research funding database to which Lund University subscribes – will close down at some point in the middle of the autumn semester and be replaced by its successor Pivot-RP, which is already accessible.
Read more about how to use Pivot-RP on the Staff Pages
Support for online teaching
Theme: the survey tool Canvas Survey
Using the Canvas Survey tool, you can easily create and implement surveys, such as course evaluations, directly in Canvas. When you create surveys in Canvas Survey all students enrolled on the course in question will be included in the survey. They will be able to see the start and end dates of the surveys and whether they have already responded to a survey. Students are anonymous and individuals can only be identified if they choose to identify themselves in some way in the answers they submit via a survey.Courses and workshops on online teaching
A selection of upcoming courses and workshops:
See all upcoming courses and workshops (education.lu.se) 
What's on
Career development for academic staff
The initiative to provide career development activities for academic staff continues during the autumn semester. All activities are free of charge and conducted in English.  
The introductory course Basic Chemical Safety is now available in English 
Lund University has now produced an English language version of the introductory course Basic Chemical Safety. The online course, offered via Kompetensportalen, is intended for:
  • Staff who handle chemical products.
  • Technical and administrative staff who work in close contact with units that handle chemical products.
  • Staff who have work environment responsibility that includes chemical products.
Read more and sign up for Basic Chemical Safety via Kompetensportalen
Theses of the month
This month’s theses in science
This month, eight new theses will be presented at the Faculty of Science.
  • Juan Manuel Orozco Rodriguez, “Reconstitution of Membrane-Bound Enzymes for Neutron Scattering Studies: A Case Study of Human Dihydroorotate Dehydrogenase”.
  • Justin Bergmann, “Computational protein crystallography: How to get the most out of your data”.
  • Mihai Pop, “Probing and improving coherence in Free-electron lasers”.
  • Tiago Bozzola, “Design, synthesis, and evaluation of bacterial sialic acid uptake inhibitors”.
  • Sara Haddadi, “Polymer-mediated interactions and phase behaviours of polymer-particle dispersions”.
  • Omar Vazquez Rueda, “Study of the production of π, K and p in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV as a function of the Transverse Spherocity and the Relative Transverse Activity”.
  • Yi Liu, “Surface modification of III-V nanostructures studied by low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy”.
  • Yutang Li, “Symmetry in Asymmetric Catalysis and Hydrogen Bond-Based Self-Assembly: Synthesis and Investigations”.
Search for doctoral theses in the University’s research portal
See forthcoming public defences of theses – lu.se
Staff in the Swedish media
Climate researcher interviewed about record-breaking high temperatures
Markku Rummukainen, professor at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science and the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, was interviewed about the heatwave spanning countries such as France and Spain. “Climate change has increased both the frequency and intensity of phenomena such as heatwaves and cloudbursts. This heatwave is due to a low-pressure system out in the Atlantic that brings in warm air from the south, while global heating has made the air warmer,” says Rummukainen.
Pigs and heat deployed to combat invasive plant
Tina D’Hertefeldt, researcher at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about two research projects that examine whether pigs and heat could be used to combat the invasive plant Japanese knotweed.
Geologists hunt for fossils
Anders Lindskog (researcher), Johan Pettersson (visiting researcher) and Johan Lindgren (senior lecturer), all at the Department of Geology, were interviewed about the summer’s paleontological excavation at a limestone quarry outside Kristianstad. “The so-called Kristianstad Basin consisted of sea, rivers and river banks where animals lived. Here we are close to land and therefore hope to find remnants of the cadavers of land animals that regularly went into the sea,” says Lindgren.
The common brimstone is Sweden’s national butterfly
Lars Pettersson, researcher at the Department of Biology, was interviewed in many media channels about the common brimstone, which was recently named as Sweden’s national butterfly. “It’s a very good choice. It’s the first butterfly you see in the spring and the last you see in the autumn,” he says.
Senior lecturer talked on podcast about groundwater
Charlotte Sparrenbom, senior lecturer at the Department of Geology, talked about her book on groundwater, Grundvattenboken, in the podcast Lära från lärda – en fackbok en författare.
Researchers participate in H22 City Expo
Several of the faculty’s researchers are participating in the H22 City Expo, which is being held in Helsingborg from 30 May to 3 July. Johanna Alkan Olsson, senior lecturer at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was the moderator for the panel discussion “Citizens’ involvement for sustainable welfare and eco-social policies”. Georg Andersson, researcher at the Department of Biology, took part in the panel debate “The role of arable land in times of crisis”.
Astronomers to use the Lumi supercomputer 
Oscar Agertz and Florian Renaud, associate senior lecturer and researcher respectively at the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, were mentioned in connection with their plans to use the Lumi supercomputer to conduct a gigantic simulation of how two galaxies collide.
How flowers are affected by climate change
Magne Friberg, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about how climate change affects the blooming of flowers. Certain plants respond to higher temperatures by blooming earlier, whereas others seem instead to slowly move north or to cooler places. In his own research, Friberg has seen, for example, that mountain flowers move up to higher altitudes.
Professor interviewed about climate goals
Markku Rummukainen, professor at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science and the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, was interviewed in numerous media outlets about the importance of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees.
The threshold for using satellite data
Lars Eklundh, professor at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, was interviewed about how access to satellite data can be improved.
Last but not least
Stay up to date on the war in Ukraine
The University’s Staff Pages have information for staff regarding the war in Ukraine. The website is continuously updated with new information.
Stay up to date on the war in Ukraine (staff.lu.se)
Have a great summer!
The Insidan newsletter is back on 18 August.
About the newsletter
Sent to: People currently working at the Faculty of Science, Lund University (employed or organisational role).
Editor: Helena Bergqvist (helena.bergqvist@science.lu.se), Faculty Office.
Publishing schedule: The newsletter is published on alternate Thursdays. The next issue will come out on 18 August.
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