The President’s Speech at the Inauguration and Conferment Ceremony 2025

A warm welcome to Stockholm University’s Inauguration and Conferment Ceremony 2025!

Today we have gathered, in solemn and traditional academic manner, for the inauguration of the University’s new professors, conferment of new doctorates, honorary doctorates and jubilee doctorates and celebration of our medallists and recipients of pedagogy prizes. In recent years I have had the pleasure of sitting in the audience as an invited guest, witnessing this academic ceremony, which feels particularly solemn right here, in the Stockholm City Hall. Standing here, myself, today, exactly 40 years since I began my university studies at Stockholm University, and to be a participant in the ceremony, feels at the same time a little unreal and also as an immense honour.

What is a university and what is the core mission of a university? This question was asked a year ago by my predecessor in her speech here in the City Hall. You might wonder why we presidents ask just this question? Should it not be selfevident to us who have been chosen to lead the work of the University? I can reassure you all that it certainly is, but it is nevertheless necessary to pose the question, just as one more reminder of what the work of the university is. Astrid Söderbergh Widding answered the question among other things by referring to Johan Östling’s book
entitled ”Kunskapens stora hus” (The Great House of Knowledge) and pointing out that the university has from the start been the place of knowledge, enlightenment and the search for truth. The Swedish Higher Education Act clearly states
that the mission of universities and colleges is education, research and cooperation. In addition, I and many others consider the university to be a place for the free exchange of thought, a place for education and a place where research generates new knowledge. Education that benefits society through skills supply and skills development, students leaving university with subject and occupational skills prepared for working life, but also with their own, evolved critical and independent thinking. Knowledge that contributes to solutions for many social challenges, perhaps more important now than ever before, in view of the geopolitical developments we are witnessing, an accelerating climate crisis and technological development, especially within the AI field, with consequences that are difficult to comprehend.

With this, the universities have an important responsibility, an underlying social contract based on mutual exchange and mutual respect. This academic responsibility means that we who are involved with academic work have a mission to
ensure that such work is scientifically correct and ethically sustainable. That we demonstrate, in our relations with the surrounding society, that we are able to preserve public trust in academic research and higher education.

To sustain this responsibility it is necessary for the universities and their researchers to enjoy a high degree of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. In both research and higher education we must be able to be independent of both political and financial pressures, be free of undue governance and able to freely generate and disseminate knowledge, thus responding to society’s need for knowledge and skills supply. It is impossible to overstress that academic freedom is a precondition for the ability of universities to carry out their mission with quality and credibility, thus serving as one of the foundations for society’s defence of democracy as the form of governance.

Naturally, I mention this because of the developments we are seeing in many parts of the world. Increased polarisation and distrust of the establishment by certain political orientations, which exert strong pressure on the cornerstones of democracy. When democratic principles are under threat, it is primarily culture, media, the judiciary and academia that suffer attacks and thereby see their freedom restricted. We are not there yet in Sweden, but the tendencies exist. For instance, where is the limit of academic freedom and what can politicians instruct universities and colleges to carry out? We are happy to assist politicians by providing scientifically based information to
enable them to take sensible decisions, but we are not a tool to be used to carry out assignments derived from political agreements. Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, Professor of Political Science at Uppsala University, has expressed this as follows, I quote ”A free academia must not be instructed to carry out assignments for the Government. Ensuring real academic freedom is far more than the special interest of academics. Scientific freedom is a decisive precondition for the cultural climate, for a healthy democracy, a dynamic economy and for society’s overall ability to develop.” End of quote. I can only agree!

In December of last year, the Government introduced its research bill “Research and innovation for the future, for curiosity and for benefits”which is now adopted. One of the elements of the bill is a relaunch of strategic research areas. Eight different areas, all with relevance to different societal challenges have been identified, and it is pleasing to see that Stockholm University possesses very good competences within all these areas. Intense activity is now under way, devising applications that describe how we, jointly with other universities in the country, are able to create sustainable – and hopefully successful – research environments where our researchers can help bring out new knowledge for the development of society. Several of the planned collaborations will be carried out together with our sister universities Karolinska Institute and KTH within Stockholm Trio, an alliance that is increasingly visible both nationally and internationally and therefore reinforces Stockholm as a very dynamic and successful academic city and region. Stockholm University already has several strong research environments, something that is illustrated by the many awards and research grants received by researchers at the University, as well as the scientific findings that have been presented in reputable journals during the academic year just finished. The European Research Council has awarded three of the University’s researchers an ERC Advanced Grant, and of 21 ERC Starting Grants this year awarded
to researchers at Swedish universities, five are to be found at Stockholm University. Moreover, the five researchers are active in five different departments within three different faculties, demonstrating that Stockholm University has broad excellence within both its scientific areas. We are also delighted that the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation have
decided to award extension grants to five of the University’s Wallenberg Academy Fellows, one of whom in addition has been upgraded to be a Wallenberg Academy Scholar. Furthermore, the same professor received the very prestigious Göran Gustafsson Prize for his scientific endeavours. Stockholm University has also received a donation of 40 million SEK from the Anders Sandrew Foundation, which will be used to develop the research fields of film and theatre science. This was just a few examples of all the grants awarded to the University’s researchers, and as its President I am proud that Stockholm University is an attractive and successful university, attracting excellent students and staff from all over the world, something that we will all be able to witness during today’s inauguration and conferment ceremony.

New professors, new doctors, honorary doctors, jubilee doctors, medallists and receivers of pedagogical prizes, tonight you are the ones we are celebrating, and through you the advances of science, by virtue of your successful efforts within those research environments where you are or have been active. My warmest congratulations and very
best wishes to each and every one of you, from me personally and on behalf of the whole of Stockholm University! I also want to take the opportunity to thank all staff and students at the University for your amazing efforts which have further strengthened Stockholm University’s core activities – research and higher education. All of us together make Stockholm University what it is and I am proud of all your achievements.

Thank you!