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FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Newsletter: INSIDAN, 24 November 2022
Prizes and awarded grants
Two biologists awarded ERC Starting Grants
Courtney Stairs and Sissel Sjöberg, associate senior lecturer and researcher respectively at the Department of Biology, have each been awarded more than SEK 15 million in starting grants from the European Research Council, ERC. Stairs will study marine interactions between microorganisms, while Sjöberg will investigate complex migratory bird behaviour.
Read the news item on the university website
Researchers receive millions in funding from the Swedish Research Council
Many researchers from the Faculty of Science have been awarded grants in the Swedish Research Council’s large call for applications in the fields of science and technology.
See all approved grants (vr.se)
Researchers receive funding from the Swedish Cancer Society
Two researchers at the Faculty of Science have been granted funding by the Swedish Cancer Society. Marita Cohn, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology, has received SEK 2.4 million for the project, “The role of subtelomeres in cell survival”. Filip Szczepankiewicz, associate senior lecturer at the Division of Medical Radiation Physics, has received SEK 2.4 million for the project “Diagnosis and radiotherapy monitoring in prostate cancer by multidimensional MRI”.
Apply for grants and scholarships
Apply for university-wide funding for equal opportunities
The University has announced funding for a visiting professor of underrepresented gender, alongside initiatives to promote equal opportunities, gender equality and preventative anti-discrimination work. The application deadline is 31 January.
Apply for equal opportunities funding (staff.lu.se)
Apply for funding for writing an EU-application
The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research has announced funding for researchers in science, technology and medicine who apply for the role of project coordinator within the Horizon Europe programme, and the part known as pillar 2 (Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness). The application deadline is 1 March.
Apply for funding for writing an EU-application (strategiska.se)
Find more calls for applications in Pivot-RP
You can search for calls for applications and funding bodies from all over the world and across all research areas in Pivot-RP. You can even search for grants to take part in academic conferences and postdocs funding.
Read more about how to use Pivot-RP (staff.lu.se)
Support for online teaching
Topic: What is most important for students in the digital learning environment? 
Sandra Nilsson, educational development officer and lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH), has written a column about a study that shows what students think is most important in the digital learning environment, as well as how teaching staff can make use of the results. The three most important points for students are:
  • The structure of the material
  • Opportunities to plan for oneself (accessibility)
  • Opportunities to work actively oneself and to feel motivated to do so
Read the whole column (education.lu.se)
Courses and workshops about teaching online
Below you will find a selection of upcoming courses and workshops. The links lead to the University’s website Teaching and learning online.See all upcoming courses and workshops
What's on
Watch the talk about the opportunities and challenges Science Village represents for the Faculty of Science and LTH
You can now watch the recording of the lunchtime lecture in which Sven Lidin, dean of the Faculty of Science, and Annika Olsson, dean of LTH, talk about the possibilities and the challenges of the establishment of Science Village.
Watch the recording (sciencevillageoffice.blogg.lu.se)
LINXS events in November and December
LINXS Institute of advanced Neutron and X-ray Science invites you to the following events:
  • Virtual Town Hall meeting on LINXS developments, highlights, and activities for 2023. Each LINXS theme will also present their upcoming activities.
    Time: 29 November from 15:00 to 16:30.
    Read more and register for the event on 29 November (linxs.se)
  • Seminar with Paul Langan, Director General of the neutron research facility Institut Laue Langevin. He will highlight how neutron technologies could be used within a broad spectrum of scientific areas and the technologies of the future, by describing, for example, how various scientific discoveries by researchers at the facility have been made.
    Time: 30 November from 11:00 to 12:00.
    Read more and register for the event on 30 November (linxs.se)
  • Seminar with Robert McGreevy, STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He will talk about how to maximize the exploitation of the increasingly large volumes of data produced by synchrotron and neutron facilities, particularly “next generation” sources such as MAX IV and ESS.
    Time: 2 December from 14:00 to 16:00.
    Read more and register for the event on 2 December (linxs.se)
  • Christmas Open House. Director Trevor Forsyth will present LINXS work and highlight possibilities related to X-rays and neutron science.
    Time: 15 December from 15:00 to 18:00.
    Read more and register for the event on 15 December (linxs.se)
Theses of the month
This month’s theses in science
During this month, ten new theses will be presented at the Faculty of Science.
  • Fiona Maungo Nermark, “Application of subcritical and supercritical fluids in coal extraction and analysis”.
  • Eleni Skorda, “Search for Dark Matter in events with missing transverse momentum and a Higgs boson decaying into bottom quarks with the ATLAS detector”.
  • Eric Andersson, “The galactic scale impact of feedback from individual stars”.
  • Simon Fridolf, “NMR studies on lipid-peptide co-aggregation between ganglioside-containing membranes and alpha-synuclein”.
  • Bernice Hwang, “Impacts and drivers of insect herbivory on element cycling in forests globally”.
  • Daniel Mikkola, “Stellar kinematics in surveys and simulations”.
  • Didac Pascual, “The Torneträsk System – A basis for predicting future subarctic ecosystems”.
  • Mathias Wiemann, “Enzymatic conversion of β-mannans: Analysing, evaluating and modifying transglycosylation properties of glycoside hydrolases”.
  • Mujtaba Hassan, “Novel glycomimetic inhibitors and proteolysis-targeting chimeras for human galectins”.
  • Weihua Lin, “Excited state dynamics in low-dimensional perovskite nanocrystals”.
Search for doctoral theses in the University’s research portal
See forthcoming public defences of theses – lu.se
Staff in the Swedish media
New study reveals extensive clearcutting of Sweden’s natural forests 
Anders Ahlström, senior lecturer at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, has been interviewed in a range of media outlets about a new study showing that almost a quarter of Sweden’s last remaining unprotected old-growth natural forests were lost between 2003 and 2019. “At the present rate of logging, the last of these unprotected, old-growth forests will disappear in Sweden in the 2070s. This loss of old natural forest will define our landscapes for centuries, because Swedish and other boreal forests grow so slowly,” he says.
Continued mild weather may hit hedgehogs hard
Torbjörn Tyler, curator at the Biological Museum, has been interviewed in several media outlets about whether the continued mild weather may lead to hedgehogs not going into hibernation as they should, and cause them to stay awake instead, despite there not being enough food around.
Forests under climate stress change their scent
Thomas Holst, researcher at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, has been interviewed about how changes to the climate affect the scent of trees. The pleasant scents given off by the trees are terpenes – organic gases that researchers are studying just like the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Terpenes are the trees’ defence mechanism, activated by air pollution, high temperatures and insect infestation as a result of the climate changing. “Even if the trees’ gases smell good, they are often a sign that the balance of the forest has been affected and that the trees are under some kind of stress, which is down to the climate changing, amongst other things,” says Holst.
The Earth is spinning faster
Rebecca Forsberg, doctoral student at the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, was interviewed about the fact that the Earth has started rotating increasingly quickly. Forsberg explains that last summer, a very fast day was recorded – almost 1.6 milliseconds faster than normal. “It is not clear what has caused this, but it could have to do with glaciers melting, movements within the Earth’s molten core or some seismic activity,” she says.
Why our lakes are turning brown
Emma Kritzberg, professor at the Department of Biology, has been interviewed about why the water in Lake Bolmen, for example, is turning increasingly brown. “The ground beneath spruce forests releases more organic carbon than deciduous forests. The more spruce trees growing near a lake, the browner the water gets. The older the forest, the greater the amount of organic material that can leach into the water,” she says, adding that one possible solution might be planting more deciduous trees close to lakes.
Biologist features as expert on TV programme
Marie Dacke, a professor at the Department of Biology, is taking part in the TV programme Studio Natur, which has returned for a new series.
The tipping points worrying climate researchers
Markku Rummukainen, professor at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science and at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was interviewed about so-called tipping points – critical elements of the global climate system that risk “tipping over” and reaching a point where the negative trajectory can continue by itself, even if humanity’s climate impacts are reined in.
New study reveals black hole in our part of space
David Hobbs, senior lecturer at the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, was interviewed about a new study of a sun-like star that moves in an unusual way. The results show that this is down to an invisible companion – a black hole. The system is only 1,600 light years away, less than half the distance to what was previously the closest known black hole.
Biologists answer questions about animals and nature
Susanne Åkesson and Mikael Sörensson, professor and visiting lecturer respectively at the Department of Biology, answered listeners’ questions on the Radio Sweden programme, Naturpanelen.
Artificial reef to help Baltic cod to thrive
Anders Persson, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology, has been mentioned as he is to lead a research project which is a collaboration between Lund University, Marine Centre Simrishamn and Hanö Cod Reef Association. The project is about artificial reefs that will benefit cod by offering the fish shelter from predators such as seals and cormorants.
Professor interviewed about climate meeting
Markku Rummukainen, professor at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science and at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was interviewed about the final document from the UN’s climate summit COP27, which concluded last week. “We are to aim for 1.5 degrees, but the clock is ticking. It would have been good if more progress had been made on that track too. It would give a general direction and a joint signal that the world agrees that we must stop using fossil fuels,” he said.
Warmer climate favours fruit fly
Marcus Stensmyr, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology, has been interviewed about how the fruit fly is affected by an increasingly warm climate. “It will have a positive effect on them. I think we can assume that there will be more fruit flies earlier in the year, and that they will be more active further into the autumn,” he says. Stensmyr also revealed a study of 200-year-old fruit fly DNA that researchers believe can reveal how the fruit fly has been affected by human beings’ impact on nature.
Large sources of emissions tracked with satellites and artificial intelligence
Marko Scholze, senior lecturer at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, was interviewed about the organisation Climate TRACE releasing a database of the largest individual sources of carbon dioxide emissions around the world. The database collates information from 300 satellites and 11,000 sensors on Earth with the help of artificial intelligence. Emissions monitoring is important to complement the sometimes flawed reporting of carbon emissions by individual nations, Scholze says.
Biologist talks about soil
Håkan Wallander, professor at the Department of Biology, has been interviewed about life in the soil in Torna Hällestad outside Lund.
Professor interviewed about climate change crisis 
Markku Rummukainen, professor at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science and at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was interviewed about the scientific evidence for us being in a climate crisis. “We are faced with an accelerating climate change. More people will be increasingly affected by its consequences, and there is an urgent need for action. In that sense, we are in a climate crisis, both in the wider world and here in Sweden,” he says.
Biologist talks about the flora around lake in Småland
Sven G. Nilsson, professor emeritus at the Department of Biology, has been interviewed about his inventories of endangered plants on the shores of Lake Möckeln. Low water levels in the lake are a recurring problem for local boat owners who struggle to launch their boats. However, varying water levels are a prerequisite for the survival of several threatened species, Nilsson says.
Debate on the benefits of wetlands
Björn Klatt, researcher at the Department of Biology, is a co-author of a debate piece about the importance of preserving and reinstating wetlands in our landscape.
Researcher interviewed about mass death of birds
Arne Hegemann, researcher at the Department of Biology, has been interviewed about the possible reasons why a large number of Bohemian Waxwings were found dead next to a bus shelter made of glass. Hegemann believes the birds flew into the glass at full speed. “Waxwings are very fast fliers, so when they fly into a window it’s all over, sadly,” he says.
Debate on the Church of Sweden’s forestry management
Anders Liljas, professor emeritus at the Department of Chemistry, is co-author of a debate piece about what the directive on investigating the church’s forestry management should look like.
Last but not least
Researcher publishes popular science article on the website The Conversation
Erik Svensson, professor at the Department of Biology, has written an article entitled, “The study of evolution is fracturing – and that may be a good thing” that has been published on the website The Conversation, where Lund University is a member.
Read the article (theconversation.com)

Would you also like to be published on that website? Contact the editor, Miriam Frankel, (miriam.frankel@theconversation.com) for more information.
Lund University top employer for natural scientists in Skåne
A questionnaire-based survey conducted by trade union federation Naturvetarna has shown that Lund University is the most attractive employer for those working in life science, the environmental sphere or bioproduction and living in the Skåne region.
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.
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