News archive

To facilitate new and existing contacts between researchers and doctoral students as well as increase research collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, KI’s Internationalisation Board is pleased to announce the availability of limited competitive funds for a lab visit.

Karolinska Institutet and the National University of Singapore offer a short-term exchange program for hosting up to two PhD students from each university per year.

Are you interested in contributing to Karolinska Institutet's (KI) collaborations with Hong Kong?

DATAETHICS Winter School 2024: Ethical, social and legal considerations of Biomedical Big Data (BBD) handling ‘Big Data Divide’ and governance of BBD Platforms.

Eurolife's DATAETHICS project has been awarded for its innovative work on data ethics and Big Data in (bio)medical education, and has received funding for an international conference in December.

Don't miss to apply to The KI Network Medicine Alliance collaborative awards 2024 open to KI faculty, staff and/or students to conduct collaborative interactions within the fields of network medicine, systems medicine and AI. Possibility to apply for:

•Travel grants
•Data collection
•Preparation for writing of a larger grant proposal
•Organising workshops, and external lectures
…and more within the fields of network medicine, systems medicine and AI.

Deadline September 16 2024

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) will be teaming up with specialists from KI again this year for a vaccinology course aimed at healthcare professionals and researchers from around the world. The course also now forms part of doctoral education at KI.

Epidemiologist Moa Herrgård has spent six months seconded to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Centre for Health Emergencies in Amman, Jordan. The overall focus of her work has been to enhance health emergency preparedness and response in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East Region. Looking back, she thinks the secondment has taught her a lot that will benefit work at KI.

Are you interested in contributing to the development of Karolinska Institutet’s (KI) overall collaborations with Brazil, particularly in the São Paulo region?

On May 25, the Swedish Institute (SI) hosted a diploma ceremony at Stockholm's City Hall, celebrating its scholarship recipients. Among the scholars were seven students from Karolinska Institutet (KI) on site.

Global health challenges are the focal point of two collaborative projects coordinated by KI: WISDOM and Changemaker. Under its pillar II "Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness" programme, Horizon Europe has awarded the projects a total grant of EUR 14 million, of which KI controls the equivalent of just over EUR 3 million.

Catherine J. Wu, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, USA, is a pioneer in research that may result in the development of personalised vaccines to treat cancer. She is now awarded the Sjöberg Prize, worth one million US dollars, for her work. Catherine J. Wu will give a lecture in Aula Medica at KI on April 12 in connection with the Karolinska CCC Day.

The EU Horizon Changemaker project, led by Kristi Sidney Annerstedt, on sustainable adolescent nutrition in Kenya, Tanzania and Burkina Faso, successfully completed the first Consortium meeting.

Are you thinking of applying for an exchange while studying a programme at KI, but don’t know where to start? Get inspiration from a current exchange student and read the answers to some of the most common questions.

The organisation Students for Sustainable Development (SSD) is run by KI students who are passionate about environmental and sustainability issues. The group organizes everything from seminars and workshops to clothing exchange days and movie nights.

Karolinska Institutet is one of 24 partners in AD-RIDDLE, a collaborative project that aims to increase healthcare providers' ability to diagnose, prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease. The project, supported by, among others, the EU's Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), started in January 2024 and will run for five years.

An article in The Conversation written by a KI researcher broke a record in the number of readers. Associate Professor Karin Modig's article on centenarian biomarkers received almost 2.4 million reads and was translated into several languages.

Zambia is currently experiencing the worst cholera outbreak in over two decades. The acute diarrhoeal disease can be deadly if not treated, however with rapid and correct help, the majority of people affected can be treated successfully. The Centre for Health Crises as seconded members of staff to cholera outbreaks before, and on the 26th of January, Caroline de Groot went to Zambia, via the Centre’s collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The eastern mediterranean region is currently facing a brewing health crisis, brought on not least by the war in Gaza. The danger of spread of infectious diseases means that effective epidemiological surveillance and action is key. To assist in these efforts, the Centre for Health Crises has seconded epidemiologist Moa Herrgård via our membership in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN).

The European Research Council (ERC) awards a Starting Grant to promising young investigators in a variety of research fields, to kick off their careers. Alessandro Furlan, Assistant Professor at the Department of Neuroscience, who investigates how the brain and body work together to regulate critical physiological processes, is one of the early-stage scientists to be awarded this five-year grant.

The newly launched global training programme, Leadership for Transformative Change, gathers 22 leaders from all over the world who are working to contribute to transformative social development in their countries. The programme is offered by Uppsala University in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The Master's programme is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet, Universidad de Oviedo in Spain and the University of Nicosia in Cyprus.

On 6 December, the European Commission published the names of the experts appointed to its newly established working groups on science diplomacy. Maja Fjaestad, expert coordinator at the Centre for Health Crises and affiliated to research at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME), is one of two Swedish university researchers who will be part of the working groups. The working groups will develop a potential future European framework for science diplomacy.

Dementia diseases cost Swedish society around SEK 80 billion per year. The EU has now awarded funding to the Prominent project, which aims to improve both diagnostics and treatment for these diseases. Karolinska Institutet is responsible for the project in the role of coordinator.

A successful KI Alumni China Chapter 2023 networking event was arranged in Shanghai in November, gathering a large crowd from all over China.

The UTokyo-KI LINK programme was officially launched at a kick-off symposium at the University of Tokyo on November 9, 2023.

In conjunction with KI's visit to Tokyo in February 2023, connected to a workshop within Stockholm Trio for a sustainable future, we hosted an alumni event for about seventy guests from KI, KTH and SU. The evening offered, among other things, a talk with KI alumnus Takeaki Dohda, currently director of investments at Google in Tokyo (left in picture). With alumni, students, researchers and university representatives on site, collaboration was the thread of the day.

The global and professional alumni network of KI engages former students, researchers and employees of KI, promoting knowledge, research, education and interaction. We hope to inspire alumni involvement, professional networking and international collaboration, all vital to a dedicated and sustainable alumni network. On November 9th, we hosted an alumni dinner in Tokyo for this very purpose, strategically in conjunction with the launch-event for the new UTokyo-KI Link collaboration.

Professor Robert A. Harris is made honorary doctorate at the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF) Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The honour is given in recognition of Bob Harris’ exceptional contributions to the development of the university, especially in the context of the European University Alliance NeurotechEU project.

Vinnova (the Swedish governmental agency for innovation systems) is to finance the project "For efficient and sustainable use of health data through the integration of the DIGITAL-projects and GMS in Sweden (DIGIfor1healthSE)" with a grant of SEK 12 million over a period of four years. The project, which is designed to gather Sweden’s expertise on health data, involves TEF-Health at Karolinska Institutet and has SciLifeLab as the national coordinator.

The programme is given in collaboration within the framework of the University Alliance Stockholm Trio; Karolinska Institutet (KI), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Stockholm University (SU).

Global health is becoming increasingly complex, ranging from pandemics and climate change to wars, migration and deteriorating mental health. There is an urgent need for a new generation of global health leaders, equipped with the skills to navigate different political environments and drive change. The Stockholm School of Economics and Karolinska Institutet are now launching a new initiative to meet the challenges ahead.

Twelve international master students from ten countries received Karolinska Institutet's Global Scholarship during a ceremony in Aula Medica.

A training programme hosted by KI and partners in Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia and Uganda has led to concrete changes at policy level and on the ground. “It is having a huge impact”, says Dr. Miriam C.A. Wagoro, Associate Professor at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and part of the coordinating committee.

KI and Karolinska University Hospital have signed a memorandum of understanding with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, one of Europe’s largest and most eminent university hospitals and medical universities. The signing of the MoU intensifies cooperation between the organisations.

With only six years left until 2030 when the Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved, this year's Sustainability Forum was organised with a focus on the role of universities in sustainability work. The organisers were the University Alliance Stockholm Trio. 

The yearly StratNeuro retreat gathers neuroscience researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Umeå University, and the Royal Institute of Technology for a couple of days of networking and getting up to date with the latest research from across the spectrum of neuroscience topics aligning with the interests that the StratNeuro constellation represents. This year, our retreat took place on the 29th and 30th of May, at Djurönäset, in a picturesque location by the Stockholm archipelago.

Karolinska Institutet, in partnership with universities in Sub-Saharan Africa, has for the last three years implemented an impactful training programme on innovation for managers within the health sector. “We really need these kinds of efforts to achieve sustainable health. The programme empowers the participants to work together in addressing complex challenges,” says Dr. Rawlance Ndejjo, lead of one of programme's modules.

Medical student Julie Cheung from Karolinska Institutet (KI) recently won first prize at the prestigious Global Undergraduate Awards thesis competition in the category of Medical Sciences.

The Swedish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology annually awards the best doctoral thesis of the year. 2023 the award goes to Ritah Bakesiima, who completed her dissertation at the Department of Women's and Children's Health last year. Her research studies the barriers to contraception among adolescents, and enlightens the importance of peer counselling in increasing contraceptive uptake.

The Nordic Congress of Gerontology (NKG) is arranged every second year in the Nordic countries and next year Sweden will be hosting the event. The 27th edition will be held at Karolinska Institutet on 12–14 June 2024. It is anticipated that 800 people and scholars from different parts of the world will take part, offering a diverse array of distinctive perspectives on the challenges and opportunities linked to population ageing. Registration will open on 2 October 2023.

The Centre for Health Crises is currently supporting the WHO’s EMT (Emergency Medical Teams) initiative, through mentorship to the Ministries of Health in Georgia and Armenia in their development of EMTs. The director of the Centre, Professor Johan von Schreeb, has just returned from spending ten days in the two countries, working with the Ministries and other partners.

KI has been approved continued funding from the Swedish Institute (SI) to implement a capacity building training programme for professionals in sub-Saharan Africa during the period 2023 - 2024. The programme, which has been running since 2020, has resulted in significant positive changes in the field of reproductive, maternal and newborn health.

STINT, the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, annually publishes an index measuring the internationalisation of Swedish higher education institutions. It has now given the maximum of five stars to Karolinska Institutet.

For the eleventh time, the international week was organized by the international occupational therapy team and their partners. The event started with Uganda in 2012, through the Linnaeus-Palme program.

For the eleventh time, the International Week has been arranged by the international team of occupational therapy in collaboration with international partners. It all started in 2012 with Uganda through the Linnaeus-Palme program.

Congratulations to Samer Yammine at the Department of learning, informatics, management and ethics (LIME), who received the award "Male entrepreneurship educator of the year", an award included in The Triple E Awards!

Federico Iovino and his lab members have been awarded with a grant from the ItsME Foundation to enable their research on the prevention of neuronal damage caused by bacterial infections. The ItsME Foundation was founded in 2019 by Jur Deitmers and has its base in The Netherlands, with the goal to fight Meningitis and Encephalitis.

In June 2023 representatives from Karolinska Institutet visited Washington DC and New York City in the US. Connected to several collaborations important to KI and with strategic plans to increase alumni activity in the US, the visit included a SIREUS event hosted at the House of Sweden in DC, as well as two planned alumni events in DC and New York, along with valuable alumni visits to Rockefeller University and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

SFO-V regularly announces calls for partial financing of sabbaticals within health care sciences. This past spring, Susan Guidetti, professor at the Division of Occupational Therapy and Eric Asaba, docent and senior lecturer at the Division of Occupational Therapy were granted funding for sabbaticals in Ugandan and USA, respectively.