The battle for real democracy in the Middle East will largely be decided in schools. The role of education in a democracy was also the theme of a workshop in Alexandria, where Swedish researchers met their Egyptian counterparts. The USI network organised the event on a hot topic in a country that needs to fight for democracy if it is to take root.   “Democracy in Egypt isn’t going to work unless p

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/battle-democracy-decided-schools - 2025-09-11

Animal ecologist and pike researcher Anders Nilsson was the first doctor of the Millennium at Lund University. Now, 13 years later, he has just been appointed Professor of Aquatic Ecology. We caught up with him to find out what had happened since our last meeting, and had a long discussion on careers, creativity and the value of colleagues who provide a helping hand when times are hard. Anders Nil

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/journey-doctor-professor - 2025-09-11

Larry W. Swanson was among 100 most cited researchers in the world, all categories, between 1980 and 2000. In mid-May, he was invited as this year’s Segerfalk Lecturer to Neuroscience Day, organized by the Segerfalk Foundation. Larry W. Swanson has developed the so-called four-component model of how the brain works. Larry W Swanson ”Humans have been thinking about how the nervous system works sinc

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/renowned-researcher-offers-new-brain-model - 2025-09-11

USI, Universities and Swedish Institutes in Collaboration for Internationalisation, has held its annual meeting in Athens. Collaboration with partner universities in the host countries around the Mediterranean is intensifying. The new thematic seminars initiative has proved fruitful and it is hoped it will become a permanent feature. The Acropolis watches over the Swedish Institute’s roof terrace

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/fieldwork-across-disciplines-and-borders-inspires-new-research - 2025-09-11

“The state sold us for 49 years.” These are the words of one of the farmers that doctoral student Mine Islar has interviewed in Turkey. Her recently completed thesis is about the conflicts that have arisen when the government gives private companies the right to the water in several Turkish rivers. Mine Islar. “The rivers are ‘leased’ to the companies for 49 years. However, the fact that the lease

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/local-community-protests-against-leasing-rivers - 2025-09-11

Cross-disciplinary collaborations, the development of new technology and investment in a technical laboratory are key success factors, according to Professor Susanne Åkesson, coordinator of CAnMove, which is now preparing for its mid-way evaluation. The research in CAnMove was awarded a Linnaeus grant in 2008. Susanne Åkesson, the programme coordinator, is pleased with how the project has progress

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/cross-disciplinary-approach-factor-canmoves-success - 2025-09-11

Two full-time technicians help biology researchers to realise new ingenious ways of gathering data on how animals move. Thanks to computer chips, wireless communication and nanotechnology, the researchers can achieve groundbreaking results. Johan Bäckman and Arne Andersson sort out the technology for CAnMove projects.Photo: Lena Björk Blixt We walk along one of the corridors on the second floor of

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/research-facilitators - 2025-09-11

For a mathematician, the waves of the sea are related to differential equations, and particularly complex ones at that. Mathematical research can help to improve understanding of how waves form and move – which could be useful, for example, in the work to predict dangerous monster waves. The sunlight glistens on the rippling waves. The calm expanse of the sea is spread out before Lomma beach. Erik

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/monster-waves-mathematical-challenge - 2025-09-11

All over the world, thousands of experts are sitting entering information about their home countries into a huge democracy database. Soon, three quarters of the world’s countries will have been entered. “In my megalomaniac moments, I usually compare the database to the CERN particle accelerator. It will be as important a tool for political scientists as CERN is for physicists”, says Jan Teorell, w

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/gigantic-database-stores-information-about-democracy-worldwide - 2025-09-11

Infant mortality in Malawi is among the highest in the world. In a new EU-funded project, researchers from Lund, Cork and Oxford will develop new mobile technology to help health care staff in the country diagnose and treat serious diseases earlier and more effectively. In rural Malawi, aid organisations’ health care staff use a disease manual called IMCI, developed by the World Health Organisatio

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/mobile-will-save-childrens-lives-malawi - 2025-09-11

Using harmless viruses to insert genes that produce healthy, healing substances into the brain... transplanting cells, possibly from the patient’s own skin... or, most sci-fi of all, controlling special treated nerve cells with light signals in the brain. These are three different paths to a possible treatment for epilepsy that are being tested by a research group in Lund. To help them, the resear

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/new-paths-treatment-epilepsy - 2025-09-11

Lund University is welcoming this autumn’s new international students. Around 2 000 students from around the world will be arriving in Lund to study for a semester or longer.   Students from over 85 countries are expected on Arrival Day. The highest numbers of exchange students come from Germany, the US, France, the Netherlands and Spain. The highest numbers of students admitted to a Bachelor’s or

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/lund-welcomes-students-around-world - 2025-09-11

She is a new ‘Hedda’ professor, but has a long career behind her. Biologist Ellen van Donk now hopes that she can serve as a role model for female students who dream of a future career in research. Biologist Ellen van Donk is a new professor in Hedda Andersson’s name. LUM meets ecology researcher Ellen van Donk on a beautiful summer’s day. She comes from the Netherlands and is in excellent spirits

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/new-professor-wants-be-role-model-female-students - 2025-09-11

For the next four years, Lund University will coordinate a new exchange programme with India. Over 100 Indian scholarship recipients will get the chance to study or do research in Europe. Lund University hopes that many of them will choose Lund as their destination. “We are pleased that the European Commission has put its trust in us again. We can now further develop the relationships we have buil

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/lund-coordinate-new-eu-exchange-india - 2025-09-11

Entry phones can cause problems. For elderly people with a visual impairment or reduced mobility, getting into one’s flat can suddenly become a challenge. However, researchers can also experience problems. One person who knows is occupational therapist Elina Taurina, who has mapped environmental obstacles for elderly people in Latvia together with researchers from Lund University. “A number of tim

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/swedish-elderly-research-exported-latvia - 2025-09-11

Meet Jean-Pierre Filiu, Professor in Middle East Studies at Sciences Po., who visited Lund last week during the conference “Everyday Life in the Middle East”, hosted by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University. He is a former diplomat with long experience from the Middle East. This summer he visited Syria to see how the revolution affected people’s everyday life. We asked him about h

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/syria-waiting-enough-enough - 2025-09-11

“Thy throne rests on mem’ries from great days of yore, when worldwide renown was valour’s guerdon...” is the translation of the words of the Swedish national anthem, which tries to construct a memory of a glorious national past. This type of attempt is not unusual, nor is its opposite – the suppression or alteration of shameful events. “We like to think that history is set in stone. However, it is

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/collective-memory-sand-sculpture-can-be-re-moulded - 2025-09-11

Where did I put my sunglasses? Where have the car keys got to, what is the door code to Lisa’s building, and what did I do yesterday afternoon? We all know how irritating it can be when our memory doesn’t work as it should. However, it can be difficult to know what is a ‘normal’ poor memory and what is the result of disease. Susanna Vestberg is a researcher in psychology and has also worked at the

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/multiple-explanations-memory-problems - 2025-09-11

The scent of a madeleine dipped in lime blossom tea awakened a flood of childhood memories for the main character in Marcel Proust’s famous novel about ‘lost time’. The madeleine is an example of a clue for the memory. In Proust’s case, the clue worked subconsciously, in other cases we can use clues to consciously try to recall the memories for which we are searching. Mikael Johansson puts a gel o

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/clues-can-awaken-hidden-memories - 2025-09-11

“Education and knowledge are the way to change society for the better. I want to make a difference and help to give young people the same fantastic opportunities I had”, says alumna Monica Getz Silfverschöld, a new board member for the Lund University Foundation (LUF). LUF is an independent foundation that aims to strengthen Lund University’s ties with the USA and American alumni. Monica Getz Silf

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/dedicated-alumna-launched-minnesota-model-sweden - 2025-09-11