They receive an award for internationalisation in education

Rachel Fisher, together with Louisa Cheung, department of Medicine Solna, and Jurga Laurencikiene, department of Medicine Huddinge at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the prize for Internationalisation in Teaching and Learning 2026 by the national prize committee. The prize is a joint national award from the medical faculties in Sweden. It recognises successful and strategically important initiatives that strengthen internationalisation in education.

A collaboration between six universities

The prize honours the BalticSeaBioMed initiative, a strategically important long-term collaboration between six Nordic and Baltic universities that receives funding from Nordplus. Through shared online courses, annual international summer schools and innovative learning formats, the initiative reaches a wide student audience and addresses global challenges related to planetary health, environmental impact and sustainability.

Being part of the BalticSeaBioMed network is a very rewarding experience. It has strengthened internationalisation both within and beyond the formal curricula of our programmes and widened the perspectives of both students and teachers. It has been extremely fulfilling to perform pedagogical development work with colleagues from different countries and universities, according to the awardees.

Strong educational innovation

The nomination committee particularly highlights the initiative’s strong educational innovation, including jointly developed digital courses and a virtual educational escape room.

The award was presented in connection with thedeans’ meeting in Umeå and was received by Ewa Ehrenborg, Academic Vice President for Higher Education at KI.