Ceremony, joy and world-class research as KI honours its new professors
At the installation ceremony for KI’s 22 new professors, Aula Medica was filled with music, laughter and academic pride. The annual professorial installation is as much a tribute to knowledge, diversity and research as it is a ceremonial occasion. Also honoured during the evening were the recipients of various awards, including KI’s Grand Silver Medal, Silver Medal and the Lennart Nilsson Award.
It is a chilly October evening, but the atmosphere in Aula Medica is warm and expectant. Outside, guests in their finery chat around the traditional hot-dog truck, while professors and award-winners get ready behind the scenes for the upcoming procession.
The professors spent the afternoon trying out their gowns and hats. The mood is upbeat and expectant. Someone makes a joke about a champagne breakfast, while others are silenced by the magnitude of the moment.
A trumpet fanfare echoes from the balcony, the student ushers parade in with their banners and the audience rise to their feet. It’s time to celebrate Karolinska Institutet’s new professors – 22 researchers who have reached the very pinnacle of their fields.
“We are created as human beings to have different opinions, and it is through these differences that the truth will eventually emerge,” announced KI president Annika Östman Wernerson in her opening address, inspired by Carl von Linnaeus. “We live in a free society, where everyone has the right to express their opinion. Only time will judge us.”
In saying so, she touted the value of scientific integrity and academic freedom, stressing that research had to be both evidence-based and socially engaged.
“The world is facing enormous challenges, and the need for evidence-based knowledge and socially engaged researchers has never been as pressing,” she continued.
Prizes that reward contributions to society
Several prestigious prizes were awarded during the evening. KI’s vice-president Martin Bergö presented Karolinska Institutet’s Silver Medal to seven prominent figures who have made significant contributions to education and research. His comments on the recipients, all of whom have helped to make the world a better place, were truly inspirational.
Among them, Louise Nygård, who has led the world’s largest research group in occupational therapy and dementia care, and Jan Albert, who did pioneering work on HIV and led Karolinska Institutet’s COVID 19 team.
Louise Nygård, professor emerita in occupational therapy at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at KI and an expert on dementia, received her Grand Silver Medal with pride:
“It’s an incredible feeling to receive the Grand Silver Medal. It’s a huge honour and makes me happy that my work, that all I’ve been so passionate about over all these years, is valued. There is certainly a growing need for my research field, which concerns the problems older people with early dementia or cognitive decline have in our digital world.”
Industrialist and entrepreneur Carl Bennet, who was awarded KI’s Grand Silver Medal for his long-standing commitment to global health science, stressed the importance of investing in research.
“Investments in research are what propels Sweden forward,” he said. “So it comes completely natural to me to engage with this development by investing in research collaborations. It’s especially rewarding to do this with the world-leading Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital. This is why I’m so involved.”
An emotional Maximilian Ackermann, recipient of the Lennart Nilsson Award, praised the KI environment and the organisation of the event.
“I think this entire ceremony is amazingly well organised, unique and suits Karolinska Institutet down to the ground,” he said. “I’ve been at KI several times to do research, and feel immensely proud to receive the Lennart Nilsson Award and honoured to be able to show my photographs and what I do alongside my clinical research.”
The installation of the professors was at once ceremonial and personal.
From chocolate to brain research
The researchers talked about their lives and research in short films that were shown on a big screen; one loves riding motorbikes, another learnt to swim after the age of 40, and a third has used chocolate in his research on jaw pain.
“I've always loved chocolate, ever since I was a boy...but my mum is also a dentist!” laughed Nikolaos Christidis, professor of stomatognathic physiology.
Ronny Wickström, professor of neuropediatrics, held a moving and much appreciated installation speech. In it, he talked about his research on the brain, it being the one part of the body for which there is still so much to discover, and about how he has promised himself, as professor, to do his utmost to help advance our understanding of life and work towards the better health of all.
“In order to do that, we must not forget the important task of communicating to the general public what we know and do not know,” he said. “Only by doing so can we help them and us all to make the right informed choices in our daily lives and in whom we elect for political office. So tonight, we celebrate, tomorrow we roll up our sleeves again and I will see you back on the barricades!”
Many distinguished KI prizes
KI’s new adjunct and visiting professors were also presented during the ceremony.
Professor Ewa Ehrenborg, academic vice president for education, presented KI’s Pedagogical Prize to Anna Pettersson and Anders Sondén, the Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg Prize to David Marlevi and Bahira Shahim, and the Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize to Xinxin Luo. Joyce Noble and Björn Reinius received the KI Prize for Innovation and Utilisation.
The President rounded the ceremony off by reiterating the importance of the professor’s title:
“You now have the opportunity to fully utilise the resources and support that Karolinska Institutet offers. Follow your ideas and cultivate your interests – it’s what academic freedom is all about.”
The ceremony closed with the classic musical number “Don’t rain on my parade”, sung by Gunilla Backman, and afterwards the professors were embraced by proud family members, friends and colleagues as the celebrations continued.
Text: Miriam Mosesson
Translation: Neil Betteridge
More photos from the ceremony
