A word from the Dean, October 2024

Lena Mäler. Photo: Sören Andersson

Strategies and a new action plan – what is important to the Science Academic Area? 

The semester has started, and it feels like autumn begun today. The Science Academic Area is currently working towards defining a new action plan – a task that sometimes can feel a bit abstract in its nature. These actions should aligned to both our own and to Stockholm University's central strategies, which sometimes can be perceived as abstract as well. Therefore, I would  like to remind you of these and give you a few examples of how they are connected to ongoing work that is of central importance to the Science Academic Area. The strategies are divided into four areas, each dealing with topics that are of central importance for the university. In this context, I will list a few examples of questions that are particularly important to the Science Area. 

• International leading research that drives the emergence of new knowledge
  Some of the key questions for developing the research at the Science Academic Area is to ensure that researchers have access to world class research infrastructure and their ability to apply for external funding. We are also discussing resource allocation and whether it would be beneficial for the Faculty of Science to take a greater responsibility. This is a challenging question, but nevertheless it is one that needs to be addressed.
   
• Broad, research-based education of high international quality for individual and societal development
  "Informationsberedningen" together with "Samverkansberedningen", our two boards that deal with communication, outreach and engagement, are doing a fantastic work to promote our education, emphasize the strong connection between education and research and how our education is relevant to society. This is just one of many examples demonstrating how we work strategically with science education.
   
• A well-functioning organisation with strong academic environments that work strategically with recruitment and skills provision
  The Faculty of Science has appointed a working groupt tasked with investigating measures to increase the value of pedagogic merits. Another important question that concerns this strategic area is our physical work environment. For a long time, our Area has been concerned about increasing rent costs and premises that are not optimised for our activities.The Property Management Office has produced an ambitious plan on how to optimize the use of our premises, which has been approved by the President of Stockholm University. The goal is to save money, be more environmentally friendly, and at the same time provide better premises for all who work at the University. I am pleased to see how far this work has come.
   
• A force in society that contributes to democracy and sustainable development
  This part of the strategy document concerns Stockholm University's work with stakeholders outside of academia, and efforts to promote sustainability in its broadest sense. Over the past year, the Science Academic Area has been working towards increasing awareness concerning communication and engagement with society. The aim is naturally to become more active when it comes to, for example, interacting with external partners. 

This was a short summary of some of the important issues that are currently high on the agenda for the Board of Science. Needless to say, there are other equally important questions, but these issues serves as good examples of how the Science Academic Area works with topics that are aligned with the central strategies at Stockholm University. This is, of course, reassuring, but it also highlights how strategies actually are formed – by us together, identifying what is important for us, and what makes a university successful. 

Lena