SPaDE

SPaDE has 20 senior researchers, 5 postdocs, and 3 doctoral students active at the Department of Sociology, the Department of Human Geography, and the Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI). Another 10 to 20 researchers are affiliated with SPaDE, which also engages in extensive collaboration with national and international partners. For example, the Centre coordinates a large EU project and has started a Nordic research network.

The research at SPaDE is deemed to be of very high quality and has been recognised internationally.   In addition, the researchers frequently appear in the media and are invited as guest speakers by various authorities and organisations. The reviewers write in their recommendations that “SPaDE is an excellent research centre with specific opportunities for future research” and recommend a maintained annual funding of 7 MSEK.

Professor Elizabeth Thomson, Director of SPaDE, stresses how they have been able to start interdisciplinary collaboration on population issues and involve parties outside the University. The Centre’s researchers have also been successful in bringing in external research funding. These funds are used primarily to build an extensive computer infrastructure.

“What we have managed to create at SPaDE is an environment that enables young researchers to quickly establish themselves on the international research front. What is also characteristic of SPaDE is an openness towards collaboration, high methodological expertise, a well-developed computer infrastructure, and, not least, enthusiasm for the research,” says Elizabeth Thomson.

OKC

OKC accommodates about 100 researchers who are also employed by the Department of Physics and the Department of Astronomy at Stockholm University, as well as the Department of Physics at KTH. Its research is deemed to be world-class. Since the Centre’s creation, its researchers have published about 800 scientific articles and are involved in several international high-profile research collaboration projects, including ATLAS at CERN in Switzerland. Fermi, Pamela, and IceCube are other large international projects in which OKC researchers play a leading role.
The reviewers write in their recommendations, “Research on some of the most profound mysteries of the universe, such as the nature of dark matter, is being conducted in OKC at the highest international levels”, and recommend a maintained annual funding of 7.7 MSEK.

“We are pleased that the international research council panel recognises the quality of the research at OKC. We did see a ten per cent increase in our funding following the first evaluation after two years, so perhaps it would have been too much to ask to receive another increase this time,” says Professor Lars Bergström, Director of OKC.