Published: 13-01-2017 14:20 | Updated: 16-01-2017 09:41

Martin Ingvar given new role in Karolinska Institutet’s management

Martin Ingvar has been appointed KI’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for coordinating issues concerning external collaboration. The position is a new one in the management organisation and the aim is to support the university’s efforts to attract donations.

Work on donations is coordinated within the Development Office at Karolinska Institutet, to which the assignment belongs. Many people work to bring in donations, also known as fundraising with the help of philanthropic support, at Karolinska Institutet. But now a coordinating, strategic function is to be instituted in the university’s management to support the vice-chancellor.

“This is in line with Karolinska Institutet’s Strategy 2018, where philanthropic support is one of the areas that are given particular emphasis. Clarity and continuity are needed in our dealings with our donors and there we need a deputy vice-chancellor who can put in the necessary time and energy and provide support for the vice-chancellor,” says acting Vice-Chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright.

“Fundraising and philanthropic support are important for a university today”, she explains. Putting the issues on the management’s table is fully in line with how universities in other countries work and Martin Ingvar has worked with such matters before.

His earlier appointment as KI’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor with special focus on the healthcare of the future ended at the turn of the year – perfect timing to be able to take on his new assignment. He will keep some of his earlier responsibilities but will now focus on making Karolinska Institutet stand out in fundraising contexts.

“We need to forge external relations in a number of areas, for example long-term pioneering projects for which regular funding is not available. In order to be considered, Karolinska Institutet needs a well-reasoned policy to achieve it, a more systematic process and a strategy established within the organisation,” says Martin Ingvar.

Interfacing with donors and distributing funds internally will still involve many people.

“I will be responsible for reading the map,” he says.

Text: Madeleine Svärd Huss