“We have to become much better at actively pursuing human rights issues in the public debate”, says Morten Kjaerum who since last spring is new director at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund. His goal is to make the Institute more visible: within the University, locally, nationally and internationally. Morten Kjaerum at Raoul Wallenberg Institute LUM’s meeting with Morten Kjaerum to a large ex

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/raoul-wallenberg-institute-has-become-more-visible-public-debate - 2025-08-25

“Leadership is our greatest challenge for the future. We will not be getting more money, so we must learn to use what we have in the best possible way. That means we must look at the whole picture, which requires a new type of leadership.” Torbjörn von Schantz. That’s the view of Torbjörn von Schantz, who is now approaching the end of his first year as Vice-Chancellor of Lund University. “It has b

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/torbjorn-von-schantz-leadership-our-greatest-challenge-future - 2025-08-25

Florencia Ravenna, from the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires in Argentina, was an exchange student at LTH in the autumn semester of 2014 and spring semester of 2015. Exchange student Florencia Ravenna. Why did you choose to be an exchange student on the other side of the Atlantic? – I wanted to experience living in a different culture and society, and Scandinavian countries have interested me

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/lund-i-felt-real-student - 2025-08-25

“We are dependent on one another globally – this became evident not least through the Ebola epidemic. For cooperation to work and develop, Africa cannot be left out of the loop”, says Benedict Oppong Asamoah, researcher and lecturer in public health. He hopes that the University’s focus on Africa will lead to more and better contacts Benedict Oppong Asamoah. Photo: Gunnar Menander Lund University

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/africa-strategy-shows-great-potential - 2025-08-25

Matching the blood of donors and recipients can be crucial to health, and sometimes even a matter of life and death. Blood researcher Martin L. Olsson wants in various ways to make this pairing as good as possible. Saranda Muhaxheri and Asma Al-Grety. Photo: Gunnar Menander Martin L. Olsson. Photo: Gunnar Menander Most people have heard of blood types A, AB, B and 0 (zero). But those are just some

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/blood-matching-matter-life-and-death - 2025-08-25

For many years, professor of Chinese Michael Schoenhals compiled a substantial archive containing material from the Cultural Revolution in China. He is now donating this unique collection to the Lund University Library. Michael Schoenhals. The Cultural Revolution took place from 1966 to 1976 – a period about which not much has been said for a long time in China. Michael Schoenhals began studying C

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/memories-cultural-revolution - 2025-08-25

“I am so happy to be here”, says Alvina Erman, this evening’s perhaps newest alumnus. She completed her studies in Lund in Sweden last year and, together with her Canadian friend and former Lund student Jean-Francois Trinh Tan, she has come to attend Lund University’s very first alumni event in Washington DC. House of Sweden. Photo from the Embassy. It is a warm November evening and as the dusk se

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/lu-breaks-new-alumni-ground-washington - 2025-08-25

Nowadays it is possible to produce plastics from sugar or vegetable oils, but up to now fossil oil has been too cheap for the production of bioplastics to be profitable. That explains why the plastic-producing bacteria, developed some years ago by researchers at the Centre for Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (Kemicentrum), are still waiting in the freezer. Professor Rajni Hatti-Kaul. Photo: Ken

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/huge-potential-bioplastics - 2025-08-25

Lars J Nilsson is Professor of Environmental and Energy Systems Studies at LTH and a member of the Seoul International Energy Advisory Council, an advisory body working on energy-efficiency enhancement and sustainable development in South Korea’s capital. Lars J Nilsson. What have you learned from your work on sustainable development in a megacity like Seoul? I have learned a lot about humility re

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/lund-researcher-gives-seouls-mayor-advice-energy-efficiency - 2025-08-25

Meet Ellen Hillbom, the economic historian, who, in cooperation with a Dutch and a German colleague, has created an online textbook on trends in Africa’s economic history. The book, which can be downloaded free of charge from the internet, has so far reached over 4,000 readers. Ellen Hillbom. Where did you get the idea for a free digital textbook about Africa? “At a world congress that is held eve

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/ellen-hillbom-about-free-digital-textbook-about-africa - 2025-08-25

Johannes Stripple was one of nearly 1,000 people who ran a relay race, organised by the Swedish theatre company Riksteatern, from the Arctic to Paris – for life and the climate. Each participant had their own reasons why they wanted to participate in this climate initiative. For Johannes Stripple, it was about the frustration that so little progress has been made in the climate policy negotiations

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/he-runs-climate - 2025-08-25

Researchers now believe that epigenetic changes, determining which genes are active and which are not, are involved in a number of conditions. These include everything from addiction and depression to cancer and blood disorders. David Bryder. “The research community has long focused on DNA alone. But the genome in itself is like a closed instruction manual, which only becomes interesting once it i

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/epigenetic-disorder-can-be-eliminated - 2025-08-25

“It was previously believed that you are stuck with the genes you were born with, regardless if they are favourable or unfavourable. But now it seems that you can affect how your inherited genes manifest themselves”, says diabetes researcher Charlotte Ling. Charlotte Ling. Because all the cells in the body have the same genetic makeup, epigenetics – when different genes are active or passive – is

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/lifestyle-can-affect-our-genes - 2025-08-25

Within 100 years, approximately half of the 6,000 languages in the world will become extinct. A window to the past is currently being opened in Lund, where you can listen to languages that are no longer spoken thanks to a special resource for digital language documentation. Niclas Burenhult. Every two weeks, a language is lost. Through an infrastructure project funded by the Swedish Foundation for

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/language-collectors - 2025-08-25

Professor Stina Oredsson and the owner of the women’s underwear store Kvinnligt under, Carolina Le Prince, have together created a calendar of partially nude women. This unusual way to raise money for cancer research resulted in SEK 235,000. Stina Oredsson (right) receives the collected money from Carolina Le Prince (in the middle). Carolina Le Prince shows us the calendar when we visit her store

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/calendar-girls-promote-cancer-research - 2025-08-25

Kimberley Nicholas is a researcher from California who came to Lund with a passionate commitment to climate issues and strong interest in food and wine. “What nature gives us is what makes life worth living”, she says. She was in Paris for the climate conference that generated hope for the future, and she is successful in sharing her thoughts and research through social media. Kimberley Nicholas l

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/working-healthy-planet - 2025-08-25

“Yes, academic life is uncertain and competitive. However, that’s the case even for those who don’t have families. I don’t think it’s any harder to have children if you are a researcher than in any other line of work.” Olga Göransson is also a member in the network WINGS (Women in Great Sciences). So says Olga Göransson, who heads a research group at the Department of Experimental Medical Science.

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/its-no-harder-researchers-combine-career-and-family - 2025-08-25

15 per cent of the population – almost one in seven Swedes – suffer from digestive problems in the form of bloating, abdominal pain, constipation and diarrhoea. But since these problems are not life-threatening, and the status of the digestive tract is low, medical researchers and funders have shown only moderate interest. Now this seems to be changing. Bodil Ohlsson gives hope to gastric patients

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/research-gives-hope-gastric-patients - 2025-08-25

Curiosity and the desire to learn are strong driving forces behind Almut Kelber’s research and her work as Pro Dean for research at the Faculty of Science. Almut Kelber says that knowledge about the animals’ solutions can also provide answers to general problems. “In my work as pro dean, it is important that I also continue with my own research – not least in order to subject myself to my own idea

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/captivated-colour-vision-birds-and-moths - 2025-08-25

Synchrotron radiation helps vision researcher Emily Baird create three-dimensional images of how insects see the world. In the future, this could lead to sighted drones that navigate through the air like insects, without being remote controlled from the ground. “I enjoy research more than anything, and the most fun part is that I am forced to be creative and make constant progress, says Emily Bair

https://www.staff.lu.se/article/studies-bees-can-enable-drones-see - 2025-08-25