News archive

We’re now a few weeks into the term, and our students - both freshers and those who have returned after the summer break – have been welcomed to Karolinska Institutet. We were once all at the start of our student careers – we need to remember this, to inspire the coming generation and include them in an enjoyable student life.

Welcome to a new academic year! Even though many of you have already returned to work after the summer break, it’s certainly when students start returning to our campuses that Karolinska Institutet becomes the gloriously vibrant place that a university is meant to be.

On 17 August the Swedish Security Service raised the terrorist threat level from 3 (elevated) to 4 (high) on a five-point scale on account of the increased threat of terrorism in the country. The Security Service believes that the threat will remain for the foreseeable future, and has raised the level as a signal to all public bodies that they must continue their efforts to reduce the risk of an attack.

I trust that many of you are already heading off on a nice, relaxing holiday and I too will soon be taking a few weeks’ break. But the spring term is an intense one even up to the last minute, and there are a few events and impressions I like to share before sun and sea take over.

The time for a welcome and well-deserved summer break is quickly approaching. It’s a welcome period of recuperation and relaxation, and I myself will be spending it with my family at home and in the Stockholm archipelago, which offers the time and space I need to relax and think creatively.

On 26 April it had been seven years since Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish citizen with a PhD in disaster medicine from Karolinska Institutet, was arrested during a visit to Iran.

Together – and with our partners around the world – we perceive the issues that enable KI as a university to generate the most effective societal benefit in everything we do. We cannot contribute in this way alone, we the university management are now inviting all KI staff to dialogue meetings.

Three weeks have now passed since I became the president of Karolinska Institutet, and it’s been an intense time, but also an exciting and occasionally slightly overwhelming.

I feel proud, honoured and humbled to be taking up the presidency of Sweden’s top-ranking university. Karolinska Institutet is a flagship amongst our nation’s universities and I hope that my background and experience will be of use in not only maintaining but also advancing this position.