This winter, restricted availability of electricity along with price increases are expected to necessitate lower energy use. If the electricity available is less than the demand for electricity, this results in what is known as a power shortfall. This could lead to short power cuts that can affect operations at the University. A Vice-Chancellor’s decision has now been taken which will clarify duties and responsibilities within the University in the event of a shortfall, and if it becomes necessary to disconnect the electricity supply for a short time. The faculty is actively working on this issue and has established a working group. Heads of departments will be kept informed.
Read the news item (staff.lu.se) |
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Sven Lidin writes about the reorganisation of the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, focus on environmental, geological and climate research, and the establishment in Science Village.
Read the dean’s bulletin (bwz.se) |
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| Johan Renner Hansen, professor at the Niels Bohr Institute and former dean of the Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, talked about the formation of the Niels Bohr Institute in 1993 and its development until today. He also spoke about how the University of Copenhagen works with the recruitment of academic leaders as well as technical and administrative staff, and how traditions are dealt with in the face of change and the challenges involved. |
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The University Management has produced a new platform for strategic work that is to act as guidance for the entire organisation and as a tool to focus, accelerate, structure and inspire development work. The platform consists of four prioritised areas with associated measures:
- Strong research today and for the future
- Education in transition
- A creative learning and work environment,
- Democracy and global engagement
Read more about the platform (staff.lu.se) |
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Three researchers at the Faculty of Science have been awarded grants by Formas.
- Charlotta Turner, professor at the Department of Chemistry, receives almost SEK 3 million for the project “Quantitative fingerprinting of chemical contaminants in pollinating insects – Green unified chromatography and advanced detection techniques supported by machine learning”.
- Martin N. Andersson, researcher at the Department of Biology, receives almost SEK 3 million for the project “Will Scots pine be the next victim of the Eurasian spruce bark beetle?”
- Tommy Cedervall, researcher at the Department of Chemistry, receives SEK 3 million for the project “Nanoplastics – toxic before they disappear?”
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| Björn Berglund, professor emeritus at the Department of Geology, has written a book “Östra skärgården i Blekinge – natur och kultur under 4,000 år” (Blekinge’s Eastern Archipelago – 4,000 Years of Nature and Culture) that has been named Local Heritage Book of the Year by the Swedish Local Heritage Foundation. An extract from the justification states: “A fantastic work that provides new knowledge about how climate change affects sea level and biological developments, but also humankind’s impact on the environment – knowledge that can be applied in other archipelago environments.” |
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Roberto García-Roa, postdoc at the Department of Biology, has won another prestigious photography prize. This time he was the overall winner in the Capturing Ecology photography competition, which is arranged by the British Ecological Society.
Read the news item on the Department of Biology website |
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Teaching staff can now apply for seed money within the three calls listed below. Funds can be used during 2023. The application deadline is 1 February.
- Develop courses with EUGLOH partners
- Develop joint programmes with EUGLOH partners
- Develop education projects with members of the U21 network
Read more and apply for seed money (staff.lu.se) |
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Researchers and teaching staff can now apply for seed money for projects that stimulate cooperation between Lund University and Universität Hamburg. You can apply for up to EUR 20,000. The application deadline is 15 February.
Read more and apply for seed money (staff.lu.se) |
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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) |
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| Do you want to find new ways to disseminate your research? Sign up for ScienceBrew, which is held roughly once a month at Café Ariman in Lund. The event is in the form of a science slam – each researcher gets 10 minutes to present their research in an easily accessible and interesting way. Contact Nejc Arh (nejc.arh@med.lu.se) for more information. |
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| Doctoral students at the faculty can now sign up for the following: |
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The year’s final open house at the Science Village office offers, among other things, an exhibition on what is happening in the Science Village area and Christmas refreshments. Time and place: 14 December 12:30–15:30 (drop-in) at the Science Village office, Ingvar Kamprad Design Centre (IKDC).
Read more about the event in the Science Village office blog |
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You can now register for the module “Beyond doctoral supervision – scholarship and academic values”. Among other things, the module covers academic probity and integrity, the supervisor and the teaching role, academic freedom, science and society, and collegiality and collegial governance. The course runs 20–30 March. The registration deadline is 13 February.
Read more and sign up via the faculty’s internal website |
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| Tönu Pullerits, professor at the Department of Chemistry, was interviewed about a new study in which researchers used mirrors to utilise light in an effective way. “We have inserted what is known as an antenna complex between two mirrors that are placed only several hundred nanometres from each other in an optical microcavity. You could say that we harvest the light that is reflected backwards and forwards between the mirrors in a form of captivity,” says Pullerits. The discovery may be usable for controlling the first stage of photosynthesis, which in the long term could be used to convert carbon dioxide into fuel. |
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| Caroline Isaksson, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about the positive and negative effects of feeding birds during the winter. “On an individual level it is good to feed birds during the winter months, particularly if they get a varied diet,” says Isaksson. However, she adds that in the long term, feeding may lead to an imbalance between bird species and have a negative impact on biodiversity. |
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| Per Munck Af Rosenschöld, adjunct professor at the Division of Medical Radiation Physics, was interviewed about Skåne University Hospital being the first in the Nordic countries to introduce a new radiation treatment technique – in which the radiation follows the cancer tumour’s movements during the treatment. The technique means that radiation treatment can be more precise, which makes it safer for the patients. |
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| Jessica Abbott, senior lecturer at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about the development of life on Earth, how organisms may develop in the future and how life on Earth could ultimately die out. |
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| Marcel Sayre, doctoral student at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about a new study in which researchers have analysed nerve tissue from a fossilised, worm-like protozoa. “Our results point towards a unified architecture that links together this 518 million-year-old sea worm’s brain with today’s modern arthropod brains,” says Sayre. The study casts new light on the debate about the composition of arthropod ancestors’ brains. |
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| Henrik Smith, professor at the Department of Biology and the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was interviewed about the intention of the world’s countries to agree on a new framework for biodiversity at the COP15 summit meeting in Montreal. “If you want to reverse the negative trend for biodiversity it requires ambitious conservation goals, but also agreements which mean that the conditions for meeting the targets are, and are perceived to be, fair. In the industrialised countries, we have already devastated a lot of our nature and can hardly expect that poorer countries will accept strongly increased nature protection without reasonable financial compensation,” he says. |
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| Lina Herbertsson, researcher at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about the threat to pollinating insects and how farmers can help these insects to thrive in different ways. |
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| Carl-Johan Hörberg, doctoral student at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about a new study concerning cultivated human nerve cells, which are often used in studies of diseases and disabilities. The results show that the way in which the cells position themselves also affects how they communicate with each other, something that was previously overlooked as an unimportant detail. “This is something that must be taken into account in experiments where you are testing the differences between two trials. A new drug may perhaps appear to affect the nerve cells’ communication, but it may actually only be the clumping together that is affected,” says Hörberg. |
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| Anna Persson, researcher at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was interviewed about the EU’s proposal for greener urban areas. “It’s important for many reasons. This EU proposal is primarily about biodiversity and that we are to make more room for nature,” she says. She considers that proximity to nature also provides many health benefits. |
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| Sven G. Nilsson (professor emeritus) and Anders Brodin (professor), both at the Department of Biology, were interviewed about the challenges small birds face during the winter and what to consider regarding feeding birds. |
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| Staffan Nilsson, doctoral student at the Department of Biology, was mentioned in connection with a lecture he held about how plants migrated to the artificial island of Pepparholm in the Öresund Strait. The lecture was held for the Botanical Society in Jönköping. |
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| Henrik Smith, professor at the Department of Biology and the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science, was interviewed about a new project concerning how companies and banks can be a driving force for a societal transition that can save biodiversity. “I am very excited by the possibility that this can have direct consequences for the preservation of biodiversity,” says Smith. |
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| Arne Hegemann, researcher at the Department of Biology, was interviewed about the initiative to cover power lines with plastic to protect eagle owls. Electric shocks from power lines are a common cause of death for Sweden’s eagle owls, which like to land high up on the pylons to look out for prey at night. |
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| Sven Lidin, dean of the faculty, and Bibiana Prinoth, doctoral student at the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics, were interviewed concerning the faculty board’s decision that the Department of Astronomy and Theoretical Physics is to be dissolved as an organisational unit as of 1 January 2023. |
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