Hello, Stefan Eriksson, KI's new Vice-Dean of Infrastructure!

Hello, Stefan Eriksson. You’re the new Vice-Dean of Infrastructure at Karolinska Institutet, focusing on research infrastructure. What does your new appointment involve?

“In general terms, it concerns the new research settings that are being set up, animal experiments, imaging activities with heavy, expensive equipment and bio-banks, and not least research data and how such data is managed, and KI’s activities at SciLifeLab.

It also means assisting and contributing to any national applications that KI participates in, where support can be provided for infrastructure. At the moment we’re also planning to establish an infrastructure council that is to draw up a strategy for KI’s overall research infrastructure. The rapid changes in health and medical care will have a drastic impact on how we access clinical data and process it.”

Why is a vice-dean needed for this?

“An overarching, well-considered plan is required for KI to be able to prioritise and finance the future research infrastructure – an increasing focus has come to be placed on the university’s own responsibility and possibilities to finance research infrastructure.”

How does it contribute to research?

“Extremely advanced equipment is needed in many cases. And keeping pace with developments in different areas with different kinds of equipment requires highly specialised skills that need to be coordinated between the various sites Bioclinicum, Neo – the Ana 8 laboratory of the future and Biomedicum, and the other departmental activities and operations at KI, and the different needs that researchers have. We also need to constantly improve interaction with the health and medical care sector.”

What is your mandate as Vice-Dean?

“I’m not allowed to make decisions about things. Decisions are made by the Board of Research but it is my and the infrastructure council’s task to draw up underpinning information, prepare matters and create prerequisites for the board to make well-considered decisions and prioritise on the basis of the information we daw up.”

How difficult will it be?

“It’s a challenging task – but an interesting one. And it’s of course a complex task that is to cover operations with a turnover of seven billion kronor.”

Text: Stina Moritz