News archive

A decision was made by KI’s President on Tuesday regarding compensation for the freezer failure in Neo. The Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) will be compensated with a total of SEK 30 million to be distributed to the affected researchers for costs incurred, and to begin recreating the collection of research material that has been lost.

On 10 October, University Director Veronika Sundström held a digital staff meeting for KI's Professional Services (PS). During the meeting, she presented an upcoming decision on the new organisation of PS. Below is a summary of the information shared.

The President has decided on a clarification of the instructions on the employment procedure for teachers at KI. The revision will make things clearer and more transparent for both the applicants and the ones assessing them. The updated instructions come into effect on 1 November 2024.

Sweet September has arrived, bringing some good news and some wait-and-sees. After the government presented its budget for 2025 on 19 September, it’s still not clear what kind of resources will be available for higher education.

Welcome to the 2024 autumn term! The new term officially kicks off on 2 September and I look forward very much to seeing all our students back on campus.

The external review of the previous internal investigation into the freezer failure in Neo during the Christmas holidays 2023, supports the conclusions and recommendations of the internal report. This was clear when the external investigation was presented to KI's management and affected staff on 20 August.

Students, alumni and staff from KI participated in the colourful Pride parade under the universities' Adacemic Pride flag in Stockholm on 3 August. The atmosphere was great and this year's theme was clear – we are stronger together.

Anders Ekbom, Professor of Epidemiology and former Vice President of Karolinska Institutet, has died aged 76. He passed on 29 July after a long illness. Anders Ekbom had several roles and assignments at KI. ”His importance for Karolinska Institutet cannot be overestimated”, says KI’s President Annika Östman Wernerson.

Nobel laureate and former president of Karolinska Institutet, Bengt Samuelsson, passed away at the age of 90. Bengt Samuelsson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1982, along with Sune Bergström (1916–2004) and John R. Vane (1927–2004), for their discoveries related to prostaglandins – hormone-like substances that regulate several important processes in the body. Bengt Samuelsson also served as president of Karolinska Institutet from 1983 to 1995.

The activities of the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition has been wound up and merged with the Department of Medicine, Huddinge. This means that the Department of Medicine, Huddinge is growing and that the activity at the department broadens.

In a debate article, President of Karolinska Institutet Annika Östman Wernerson and other leading representatives of the board of the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions call for continued and strengthened activities for the researcher, doctor, KI alumnus and Swedish citizen Ahmadreza Djalali. Since 2016, Djalali has been imprisoned on fabricated charges in Iran, in the prison that the Prime Minister recently described as hell on earth.

This spring, we embarked on an important and comprehensive change process to optimise our internal resources and to create even better conditions for our core activities and departments. This work is now entering a more concrete phase.

As Israel continues its military campaign in Gaza, students in Sweden and around the world have been staging protests on their university campuses, calling for all ties with Israeli universities to be severed. KI itself has seen smaller, peaceful demonstrations in which individual students have protested against Israel’s actions.

A reinterment ceremony for Christina Larsdotter, the famous Sami woman whose remains were rediscovered in KI’s anatomical collection in 2022, was held in Malå on Saturday, 25 May. KI’s request to repatriate Larsdotter’s remains to Malå’s Sami Association and Malå Sami village was granted by the government last September.

Last Friday, 150 new KI doctors and two honorary doctors were presented with their academic awards at a formal ceremony in Stockholm City Hall. The evening was one of stirring entertainment, academic tradition – and an academic vice president in a Barbra Streisand wig.

On 25 April it was eight years since Ahmadreza Djalali, Swedish citizen and doctor of disaster medicine at Karolinska Institutet, was arrested while on a visit to Iran. Karolinska Institutet’s president, Annika Östman Wernerson, and vice-president, Martin Bergö, have written an open letter to Sweden’s minister for foreign affairs and minister for education, calling on them to use all means available to increase the pressure on Iran to free Dr Djalali and other Swedish citizens.

The Swedish Government has decided that Karolinska Institutet may return the Finnish remains in KI's anatomical collection. The issue of returning the Finnish remains was raised by the committee for the return of Finnish remains in 2018. KI has been working towards this possibility for a long time.

During Kulturnatt Stockholm (Culture Night) on 20 April, The Cell opened to visitors. The Cell is a place where art helps to explain the complex world of life science. The National Museum of Science and Technology is responsible for the initiative and Karolinska Institutet is involved as a knowledge partner and a bridge between the world of research and the public events at The Cell.

Last Friday, 12 April, the internal investigators looking into the freezer malfunction that occurred in the Neo building over the 2023 Christmas break presented their report. The researchers and personnel most affected were invited to a staff meeting where, among others, Dean of KI South Matti Sällberg and Chief Security Officer Magnus Håkansson, who led the investigation, gave an account of their findings.

Swedish Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard and Minister for Education Mats Persson visited Karolinska Institutet on 8 April to present a forthcoming investigation about the opportunities for foreign citizens to work and study in Sweden. KI welcomes the investigation, whose mission is in line with previously expressed views by the university, however KI emphasizes that changes are urgent.

The Swedish government has appointed an advisory group in the field of life science. The group includes experts from academia, industry and healthcare. KI's President Annika Östman Wernerson is one of the members of the group, whose purpose, among other things, is to contribute to the implementation of the national strategy for life science.

The internal team investigating the freezer malfunction in Neo is entering the final phase of compiling its incident report. The report has taken time in order for it to be as complete as possible, as all aspects of the malfunction, from organisational causes to the technical failure, need to be included. The report must be ready by 27 March as IVO (amongst others) has issued a request to receive it. [Following the publication of this text, the finalisation of the report has been postponed.]

On Wednesday, March 6, the university management, President Annika Östman Wernerson, Vice President Martin Bergö and University Director Veronika Sundström visited the Department of Global Public Health, to gain a better insight into the department's activities. Key issues discussed included global awareness, the department's strengths and how dialogue can strengthen cooperation. In addition to the university management, the department's management team and Dean Carl Johan Sundberg participated.

Last week, the University Management visited CNS as part of their tour to meet all of KI’s Departments.

The government has decided to appoint Sophia Hober as chairman of KI's board effective 1 February 2024. She replaces Göran Stiernstedt, who becomes chairman of Karolinska University Hospital's board.

Karolinska Institutet is to be an engine driving the realisation of Sweden’s potential in the field of life science. As an important step in this direction, Professor Anna Martling has been appointed Scientific Director Life Science at KI. Professor Martling has spent the past three years leading KI’s efforts to implement precision medicine in healthcare, a remit that is now being expanded to cover KI’s overall work in life science.

January is already turning into February, but I’d still like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone back to a new year at KI! 2024 began with our first departmental meetings with the departments of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME) and the department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital (KI DS) on 17 January.

Minister for Health Care Acko Ankarberg Johansson had a busy schedule when she visited Karolinska Institutet, where she spent an afternoon discussing research conditions and how to create sustainable infrastructures that can increase the interaction between education, research, development and healthcare today and tomorrow.

As the year draws to a close, I would like to join Vice President Martin Bergö and University Director Veronika Sundström in taking this opportunity to thank all our staff and students for the important work you have done in 2023.

The Ministry of Education and Research has recently tasked Bertil Lindahl with producing source material for a renegotiation of the national ALF agreement (ref. no U2022/02845). The ALF is a national agreement entered into between the government and certain regions on collaboration on medical education, clinical research and healthcare development.

KI’s residential management conference in October among deans, heads of department, administrative managers, academic vice presidents and heads of office proved as conducive to healthy debate as it was to pleasant socialising. Our discussions were based on the nine focus areas that have crystallised out of our dialogue with students, staff and managers about what KI needs to focus on in order to attain the goals and vision set out in Strategy 2030.

Next spring, the National Museum of Science and Technology will be opening a branch – called The Cell – in Stockholm’s Hagastaden, with KI as knowledge partner. The Cell will be a venue where science meets art through fascinating and inspirational activities designed to educate and engage more people in the development of tomorrow’s life science field.

Last Wednesday (11 October), the Research Funding Commission presented its report to Minister of Education Mats Persson. Its findings are likely to inform a forthcoming bill reflecting the government’s research and innovation policy.

As of January, next year, a new term of office for KI's Deans will begin. Deans have a line assignment and are appointed by the President. The role is undergoing change and development - an important task for the new Deans will be to participate in this process. As a Dean, you are part of the Faculty Board. It is the university management's intention to clarify the Dean's assignment in KI's line organization.

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.

Lifestyles, the pandemic and dental care were some of the topics under discussion when Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Jakob Forssmed visited Karolinska Institutet on 28 August, the same day as the autumn term kicked off.

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.

At its meeting of 22 June, the government made the decision to stop all grants disbursed by the Swedish Research Council itemised as development research, effectively pulling the plug on a great deal of planned research in the field. Researchers in the sector have protested publicly against the decision, which has also been condemned by KI president Annika Östman Wernerson.

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.

KI-Region Stockholm is the ALF region that best meets the quality criteria in the National Board of Health and Welfare’s evaluation of academic healthcare (USV). The results of the evaluation were compiled into a report published on 31 May. Research is the Stockholm region’s strongest area, but the report also comments positively on its innovation, pedagogics education and interaction with patients and their families.

An important meeting was held on 11 May in Aula Medica for the KI-Region Stockholm management group. It turned out to be a packed strategy day that focused on common issues facing the group, including the work following on from the recently released Swedish Research Council audit, conducted under the ALF evaluation.

350 cardamom buns awaited KI’s students as they gathered for a coffee and chat with the new president Annika Östman Wernerson, who had arranged the informal meeting with the student unions to encourage a closer dialogue with the university management.

Karolinska Institutets former President Ole Petter Ottersen has received two nice recognitions: the 2023 Friend of Stockholm's students award from the Stockholm Federation of Student Unions (SSCO) and the "Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star" from the Japanese government. Sten Lindahl, former professor at Karolinska Institutet, is also recognized with the Japanese order in the class "Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon."

The Karolinska Institutet University Board (konsistoriet) has gained two new members: director Sarah McPhee and Professor Emeritus Jan Nilsson. The decision was made by the government on 27 April in its appointment procedures for chairpersons and other external board members for 30 state higher education institutions. Their term office will run from 1 May 2023 to 30 September 2024.

The government’s decision to shorten the term of office for new board members for the country’s higher education institutions has sparked critical reactions from the sector. Annika Östman Wernerson, president of Karolinska Institutet, shares their concerns.

On April 26 it has been seven years since Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish citizen who received his PhD in disaster medicine at Karolinska Institutet, was arrested during a visit in Iran. Karolinska Institutet and The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies now urge in an open letter to Sweden’s prime minister, foreign minister and education minister to try all means possible to ensure the release of Djalali.

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.

Veronika Sundström is Karolinska Institutet’s university director as of 17 April. Her job is to lead KI’s central administration consisting of ten offices and over 500 staff. The president, vice-president and university director together comprise the university’s senior management. [The interview was published in spring 2023 when the university management took office.]

Training the medical professionals of the future. Facilitating groundbreaking research. And working towards a knowledge-based society enriched by academic freedom. It’s a major undertaking that Annika Östman Wernerson shoulders as Karolinska Institutet’s 24th president. But she won’t be doing it alone – everyone at the university will have to do their bit.