News archive

Early intervention targeting a key stress protein could protect against lasting behavioural and brain changes linked to childhood adversity, according to a study in Advanced Science led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry.

The Swedish government is introducing new migration rules for doctoral students and researchers. The rules will take effect on 11 June 2026.

At the end of May, KI’s President approved local guidelines for responsible internationalisation.

Junior researchers are invited to apply for funding to strengthen collaboration or to establish new collaboration with partners in low- and middle-income countries in Africa.

Join the NeurotechEU Doctoral Network - A European network empowering the next generation of interdisciplinary researchers.

On 21 May 2026, a delegation from Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing visited the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet. The visit, hosted by ARC and the Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care (TraCeDem), focused on the interaction between research, policy, and care practice within the Swedish health and social care system.

The step from working on Gotland to working in Afghanistan may seem a long one, but for anaesthetist Dr Anders Mattsson, it could soon become a reality. If it happens, it will not be his first time working on missions abroad. It is a way of working that he feels facilitates a two-way exchange of expertise, a philosophy that is entirely in line with the Centre for Health Crises’ and, not least, the idea behind the course ‘Anesthesia and critical care with limited resources’.

Humanitarianism is often seen as an implicit good. The dedication to preserve, protect and support human life, dignity, and the reduction of suffering. But its implicit goodness can also stand in the way of further analysis and debate about what it contributes to in practice. That is why Centre for Health Crises at Karolinska Institutet organised just such an evening of discussion.

More than 60 colleagues gathered at Karolinska Institutet’s annual internationalisation mingle, where the 2026 Prize for Internationalisation in Teaching and Learning was also presented in person to the awardees.

From 11–13 May, Karolinska Institutet hosted two major meetings within the European university alliance NeurotechEU. Hundreds of participants from across Europe gathered in Stockholm to discuss the future of education, research and innovation in neuroscience and neurotechnology.

Academic freedom is under increasing pressure worldwide. The SAR Sweden network and the CASI project invite you to a webinar.

Karolinska Institutet has been invited by STINT (The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education) to nominate three candidates to participate in the exchange programme for teaching staff called Teaching Sabbatical.

The Swedish government has decided to introduce changes to the current migration legislation that will affect students holding a residence permit for studies. These changes are scheduled to take effect on 11 June 2026.

The virtual SASUF+ AIMday event, 26-27 May is approaching. The regular registration period has closed but there are around twenty challenges, several within the theme of Sustainable Health, for which it is still possible for late registration.

Each March, the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS) welcomes students from Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) for a two-week academic exchange. This year, we hosted eight second-year students from four-year programmes: three from occupational therapy, one from physiotherapy, one from radiology, and three from nursing.

For a week, a conference room at the old Långholmen prison in Stockholm and the lawn outside were transformed into the fictional country of Marconia, when Sweden’s new emergency medical team initative met to conduct a training exercise. The week-long exercise was planned and carried out by the research group Global Disaster Medicine Karolinska Institutet (KI), which is a designated centre of expertise in the field by the National Board of Health and Welfare.

“What We Saw in Gaza” was the title of a seminar organised on 21 April by the Centre for Health Crises and the research group Global Disaster Medicine – Health Needs and Response. Researchers and healthcare professionals who had recently been working in humanitarian healthcare in Gaza, shared their experiences and answered the many questions posed by the engaged audience. The closing words – never to accept that a situation like this becomes normalised – echoed through the hall.

Ahmadreza Djalali has been imprisoned in Iran for ten years, facing the threat of execution. The case of this KI researcher highlights a growing threat to academic freedom – even in Western countries such as Sweden.

Rachel Fisher, together with Louisa Cheung and Jurga Laurencikiene, has been awarded the Prize for Internationalisation in Teaching and Learning 2026, a joint national award from the medical faculties in Sweden, for the international education initiative BalticSeaBioMed.

Through KI’s participation in the South Africa Sweden University Forum (SASUF+), researchers and doctoral students at KI can take part in the virtual AIMday event.

A new film presenting Karolinska Institutet has now become a reality. The film showcases both the breadth and excellence of KI’s education and research and can be used in seminars and conferences, as well as in other contexts where staff and students want to give an overall presentation of KI.

Through the South Africa–Sweden University Forum, SASUF+, researchers at SASUF partner universities can now apply for funding to develop new or strengthen existing research collaborations between Sweden and South Africa.

Through South Africa Sweden University Forum, SASUF+, researchers at SASUF partner universities can now apply for funding to organise a local Academic Industry Meeting Day (AIMday). 

For the first time, the course Sustainable Health and Development was offered to master’s students within the Master’s Programme in Global Health at Karolinska Institutet. While the course has previously been delivered to undergraduate and doctoral students, it now offers new opportunities for interdisciplinary learning at the master’s level and for international collaboration.

On 15 April, Karolinska Institutet will host an open seminar on threats to academic freedom, with a special focus on imprisoned researcher Ahmadreza Djalali.

A group of senior leaders from Flemish organisations working with older people (In4Care) visited the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet on 25 March 2026. The visit, hosted by the Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care (TraCeDem), focused on how research, policy and care practice interact within the Swedish system.

The Swedish Research Council has published national guidelines for responsible internationalisation.

Karolinska Institutet is offering collaboration awards to strengthen its long‑term partnerships with the University of Tokyo and RIKEN.

Karolinska Institutet is recognising three students who, during the academic year 2024/2025, have offered particularly engaging accounts of their international experiences.

Joint seed funding is available for research collaborations between the University of Tokyo and Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.

Are you studying medicine, biomedicine, or life sciences at KI and curious about the future of brain research?

KI is part of NeurotechEU, a European University Alliance. The NeurotechEU collaboration funding has opened, offering up to €10,000 to support educators who want to develop meaningful, cross‑institutional learning activities with a focus on challenge-based learning.

The Internationalisation Board at KI has allocated limited competitive funds for KI faculty and staff for grant applications to strengthen collaborative interactions within research and education.

The application for Minor Field Studies (MFS) for the autumn semester of 2026 is now open. The scholarship provides students with the opportunity to conduct a field study in a low- or middle-income country as part of their degree project. The application deadline is 17 April, 2026.

NeurotechEU, the European University alliance that KI is part of, is launching a new self-paced online training on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to help students, educators and support staff in intentionally designing more inclusive higher education learning environments.

Reykjavik University, member of the European University Alliance NeurotechEU that KI also is part of, is organising a staff week 19 - 22 October 2026.

You can now nominate a teacher or a teaching team for the Prize for Internationalisation in Teaching and Learning 2026, established by the medical faculties in Sweden.

The Vietnam–Sweden Health Partnership Forum, co-organized by the Embassy of Vietnam in Stockholm and Karolinska Institutet, brought together leaders in government, research, and healthcare to mark more than 50 years of bilateral collaboration. The event also outlined an ambitious new phase of research-driven cooperation centered on innovation, capacity building, and maternal and newborn health.

The School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shandong University, offers laboratory - based research internship designed for international students

Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, offers the possibility to participate in International Summer School of Lab Internship on Basic Medical Science during July, 2026

In December, 18 researchers from Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and Stockholm University gathered in Stockholm and Brussels for Stockholm Trio's annual EU course. This year's course gave participants the opportunity to visit the European Commission and meet with its representatives.

The Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH) has released a film that tells the story of Professor Stefan Swartling Peterson and a 25-year collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University in Uganda. Through his personal reflections and experiences in Uganda, the film highlights long-term partnerships, sustainable health systems, and the impact of cross-border collaboration on improving maternal and child health.

The University of Toronto invites doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows at KI to apply to the summer course “Summer in Design” given by “Medicine in Design” given the 8-17th of June 2026.

During 1–10 December 2025, doctoral students participated in the hybrid doctoral course “Sustainable Health and the 2030 Agenda." The course provided students and early-stage researchers with an in-depth orientation to sustainable health within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the interconnections between the Sustainable Development Goals and global public health. The course will be given again in December 2026.

When Oluwatobi (Tobi) Ayodele came to Sweden to start Karolinska Institutet's global Master's Programme in Health Economics, Policy and Management, he was prepared for challenges. But they were different from what he had thought from the beginning and they had unexpected results. Tobi Ayodele shares how what seemed limiting at first has actually changed his academic and professional goals and life outside the classroom for the better.

A Karolinska Institutet (KI) delegation led by KI Vice President Martin Bergö visited Hong Kong and mainland China in November to deepen academic partnerships and connection with KI alumni and to participate in a joint KI-SDU symposium.

The Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Shandong University (SDU) held their Joint Symposium in Jinan, China, on November 17–18, 2025, on the theme of cross-disciplinary medical research.

The Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) hosted their annual joint symposium in Stockholm on October 21–22, 2025, bringing together leading experts to strengthen high-level research collaboration.

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Four students in the master's program in public health sciences have been awarded a Minor Field study grant, which is a Sida-funded stipend for first-cycle and second-cycle students who want to conduct field studies in low- and middle-income countries to collect data or materials for their theses. Congratulations!