nyheter

n u m b e r 5 | o c t o b e r 2 0 1 0

Back to the farm

they’ve brought in the most money news 4

t h e to p 1 0 0 F e e s m a k e a B i g i m pac t g ö sta wa l i n

gU risks losing students news 6

exaggerated climate threatshonorary doctor 16

the horses get anders oldfors to relax

UNIVERSITY OFGOTHENBURG

nyheternotiser

2 g u j o u r n a l e n 5 | 1 0

Reg.nr: 3750M

Reg.nr: S-000256

words from Vice- chancellor

october

Get help from the best!

T h e s e a r e T h e f i r sT words of this autumn and things have been in full swing for a while – as is the work with a new organization structure at Gothenburg University. Many have asked me why we have to initiate a re-organization, and why at this particu-lar time. This is clearly a relevant ques-tion. As far from everyone is familiar with the background, I’ll take a look back on the past.

The first thing I want to say is that the question of a change in organiza-tion is not new. It was already an issue during my predecessor’s, Gunnar Svedberg’s, time. We who were heads of faculties then agreed on the need of a better decision-making and manage-ment organization at GU. The strategic plan that was then developed for the period 2007-2010, in which I myself was active, says:

– Make the management and decision-making organization clear and stimulate administrative coopera tion within the entire uni-versity.

– Conduct an overhaul of the faculty and institution divisions.

– Develop a holistic analysis to allow for strategic choices.

i T wa s c l e a r to most of us who were involved in the process of the strategic plan that it was necessary to modern-ize our way of working. The reason was that we experienced the organization as difficult to steer and difficult to get a good overall view of. There were many reasons for this. One important factor was the expansion of the University during the 1970s and ‘80s. This made it necessary to expand activities on the faculty and institution level. The current faculty secretariats were created in the

1980s. They were still central bodies but they were completely focused on their respective faculties. At the beginning of the 1990s the responsibility for financial and personnel questions was delegated to the faculty secretariats. A few years later we got a new financial system that gradually led to the division into three levels that we have now. Developments that have taken place since the begin-ning of the 1990s have slowly created considerable differences within our organization. To shed more light on these we started several investigations in 2008. There has been a particular focus on the personnel and education processes. The investigators have held that the University has often acted as different authorities and that the facul-ties tend to apply orders and rules in dif-ferent ways. Another consequence was the increase in “double work” – when different faculties work on the same thing.

It isn’t wrong in itself that the facul-ties are different. On the contrary, edu-cation and research have to be adapted to the particularities and demands of the different activities. But what has been shown is that differences also exist in areas where they shouldn’t within one and the same authority. The cultur-al differences that have developed over the years can lead to misunderstandings because the names used for the same position can be different at different faculties and institutions. This has not least been criticised by our students, who sometimes have difficulty orienting themselves in the University.

a s w e c a n s e e , there are a large num-ber of factors that have led to our current situation. They are the back-ground to bringing up to date the for-mulations from the strategic plan and

starting an investigation. A close look at the directives shows that the over-all starting point is that Gothenburg University has to become a totality: we want to create an organization that makes use of the University’s breadth by working against administrative obstacles to crossing boundaries and thinking in new ways. It has to do with keeping our many different fields inside the University and function like a University outwards.

In addition to these factors, which we ourselves arrived at, the Government has also decided that universities and colleges be given greater autonomy. This means that the university regulations that previously regulated our internal organization will disappear as of January 1, 2011. We are then expected to take responsibil-ity for our organizational structure and make sure that it is adapted to the reality of today. The directive also establishes that a changed organiza-tion must not injure academic tradi-tion and our strong trademark. It is now the task of the two investigators to offer suggestions that correspond to our demands at the same time that we internally think about how we together can strengthen our common university.

Pam fredman

w e lc o m e To a new number of GU Journal. If you’re wondering where the pages in English are, take it easy – they’re not gone. We are now issuing a mini version of the magazine com-pletely in English.

It’s exclusively on Internet as a pdf to browse through that can easily be sent on, commented and downloaded. We agree that the University has to be more international, but including two pages in English in a magazine written in Swedish doesn’t feel like the right way to reach our foreign teachers and

researchers. Visit www.gu-journalen.seIn this number we have the 100 top

researchers in bringing in grant money. Not surprisingly, half of them are in medicine, and the runners up are in the natural sciences. It is truly impres-sive to see how much money it adds up to. Several of the researchers we’ve spoken with do not think that GU uses its broad competence to its advantage to a great enough extent. Why not do as Kerstin Johannesson suggests – use the competence that the most success-ful people have in terms of writing

applications?Research is also under debate by Sven Hemlin in his editorial. He points out the strange fact that the University itself seems to have a dif-ficult time using research results. There is namely stronger evidence that crea-tive research doesn’t very often have to do with being biggest. There’s a lot more to read in the three page editorial section, such as the need for a code of honour in academics. No one should be able to purchase titles.

allan eriksson & eVa lundgren

Why we need a new organization

a few words from The ediTorial deParTmenT

e d i T o r - i n c h i e f & P u b l i s h e rAllan Eriksson 031 - 786 10 21 allan.eriksson@gu.see d i T o r & d e P u T y P u b l i s h e rEva Lundgren 031   -   786 10 81 eva.lundgren@gu.seP h o T o g r a P h y & r e P r o d u c T i o nJohan Wingborg 031   -   786 29 29 johan.wingborg@gu.seg r a P h i c d e s i g n & l ayo u TAnders Eurén Björn S Eriksson c o n T r i b u T i n g a u T h o r sSally Boyd, Pam Fredman, Dhruv Ramnath and Åke Sander.T r a n s l aT i o nJanet Vesterlund P r o o f r e a d e rRobert Ohlson, Välskrivet i Göteborg

a d d r e s sGU Journal, Gothenburg University Box 100, 405 30 Gothenburg e - m a i lgu-journalen@gu.sei n T e r n e Twww.gu-journalen.gu.seP r i n T i n gGeson Hylte Tryck i s s u e6   200 copiesi s s n 1402-9626i s s u e s7 issues/year. The next number will come on november 17th. l a s T d aT e f o r T e x T sOctober, 27, 2010m aT e r i a lGU Journal does not take respon-sibility for unsolicited material. The editorial department is responsible for unsigned material.

You are welcome to quote, but indicate the source.c h a n g e o f a d d r e s sInform the editorial department of a change of address in writing. c o V e r Pa g eAnders Oldfors, Photography: Johan Wingborg

UNIVERSITY OFGOTHENBURG

A JOURnAL FOR GOTHEnBURG UnIVERSIT Y’S EmPLOYEES

conTenTs

g u j o u r n a l e n 5 | 1 0 3

4 topping in grants What do Jan Borén, Roger Säljö and Kerstin Johannesson have in common? They’re all GU masters at bringing in grants.

6 Fees reduce number of studentsnow GU has to look for students, primarily in Europe. Otherwise it will lose around 20 million.

8 Quick actionGU rector Pam Fredman thinks there’s no reason to wait and wants a new organization in place by 1012. Göran Bexell and Christina Rogestam have started interviews.

9 Big names get people involved in global weekHans Blix and Jan Eliasson will be here when GU arranges an inter-national week in november.

10 on the hunt for medical puzzlesA researcher sometimes has to be something of a detective, says cardiologist Anders Oldfors.

13 it shouldn’t be possible to buy titlesEditorial: GU needs an honorary doctor, according to Sally Boyd and Åke Sander.

14 Far from BollywoodCooperation has started between Bangalore and the School of Film Directing at GU.

16 greenhouse effect is exaggeratedGösta Walin pops the bubble on what he sees as myths about the climate and overpopulation.

16

10

9

14

6

4 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

a relatively small group of re-searchers bring in the really large grants. The 100 most successful have together brought in 920 million crowns to gothenburg university in the past eight years. some research leaders have gotten together over 100 million.

T h e n u m b e r s, which come from the financial system, speak clearly. The 100 researchers who have brought in the most money stand for about 40 per cent of all revenues. The top 300 on the list have brought in 60 per cent. The conclusion is that a rather small group of researchers win the large grants.

Why is this so? GU Journal called Jan Borén, professor of cardiovascu-lar medicine, which is number one on the top 100 list with a total of 148 million.

“That’s really something,” he says, a little surprised. “But you have to remember that that covers both research grants to our research group and larger, common grants, not least to our strategic research center for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascu-lar diseases that includes about 15 research groups. That cooperative work gives a lot in return.”

“You can do much more together than you can on your own. We usu-ally also read and discuss each others’ applications. And we have a little “grants office” where Rosemary Perkins, scientific editor, gives us very professional support.”

i n T h e sT r u g g l e for the really large amounts, Lund University has done better than Gothenburg University. Jan Borén doesn’t think that’s strange.

“An important reason why GU fails so badly is that we lack visions and long term strategic work. That isn’t some thing you can bring about in a short time. Lund University started working with these questions very early, and it gave a great bonus. Here in Gothenburg it feels like we focus more on organization than on activities.”

Jan Borén confirms that Gothenburg University needs to be much better at giving researchers support and service in writing appli-cations and that the latest efforts in

professional organization, and GU’s new effort with research counsellors is the right way to go.”

But Roger Säljö would very much like to see more cooperation over fac-ulty borders.

“GU’s policy has been for every-thing to go out to the faculties, and in this way resources have been spread out. Maybe this worked 15 years ago but the landscape is completely dif-ferent now. Gothenburg University gets very little out of its size and broad competence and thus the areas that have been developed and grown strong are extremely important.”

k e r sT i n J o h a n n e s s o n is a professor of marine ecology and works at the

cooperation over borders is the key to success

top researchers bring in the most moneyresearch counsellors is a first step in that direction.

“But by building up a service on a central level you miss the local connec-tion. When you write an application, everybody has to be very familiar with the work going on. It’s not enough to just package the application – it has to do with so much more.”

Jan Borén, who has received a number of prestigious prizes and awards, doesn’t think that being well known plays any big part.

“The people who go through applications are very professional. What’s important is that you put time and effort into writing them. It’s something that you learn with time, nothing you can do right from the

eral different educational institutions are involved.

“We work much more profession-ally today. We get together in differ-ent groups and formulate the theme together. Good administrative sup-port is also extremely important.”

Roger Säljö stresses the point that you have to learn to write applica-tions.

“They have to be treated like research reports and be critically evaluated. What we’ve learned is to bring up issues that also give infor-mation about the users’ perspective.”

“The danger in today’s research is otherwise that it becomes too special-ized and falls into a niche, so that as an individual research you risk losing

beginning. I’ve had the advantage of judging many applications, and that teaches you how an application should be written.”

r o g e r s ä l J ö, who runs a large num-ber of research projects, comes in third place, with 105 million crowns. Among other things he’s the scientific leader of KK Foundation’s LearnIT and director of Learning, Interaction and Media Communication in the Complex Society (LinCS), which is financed with Linné support.

“Time has spoken in our favour, but we’ve also spread our risks by having many different grant financ-ers. Unbelievably much has happened in recent years in our field. The rapid technical development and transfor-mation of the knowledge society put a focus on questions about human learning. Great efforts have also been made in these areas.”

In Roger Säljö’s view, there have been considerable changes in the way grant money has been sought in recent years. Developments go toward larger and more complex application series, often in which sev-

the whole picture,” says Roger Säljö. “The solution to this is working across borders. The thing is to culture your view over a whole field.”

r o g e r s ä l J ö’s r e s e a r c h group has grown over the years, thanks to efforts in education for researchers. Today these include about 55 people. One of the reasons for success is that so many of them have chosen to stay.

“Our strength and a cornerstone of our work is that it includes many sciences and goes over borders. For example, we work together with the IT faculty, Sahlgrenska Academy and the College of Library Science in Borås.”

“When it comes to large, overlap-ping applications that involve many educational institutions, there is often a great deal that has to be kept in mind, different calculation models, overhead costs and ways of account-ing. This can feel like an overpower-ing task for anybody, but it demands cooperation and good administrative support,” Roger Säljö explains.

“It’s a high threshold to step over. A lot that must be known and under-stood. That’s why there has to be a

research station at Tjärnö. She has received the prestigious Linné sup-port of almost 8 million for ten years. She’s brought in a total of 86 million over the years.

“It’s wonderful to have such long term support. We are ten senior researchers who together with our research groups form a long term cooperation that is very creative. My experience is that we are consider-ably more innovative than in shorter projects that I’ve been involved in previously. People dare to make effort when they know that they’re going to be working together for such a long time. A research application has to light a fire, something has to happen on the very first page. But the ques-tions also have to be explained and put in a broader perspective.”

“The basic thing is to have an excit-ing issue, sell it and dare to be vision-ary. Beside the scientific approach there has to be a societal interest.”

As an experienced reviewer of research applications, she has also learned what’s popular among financ-ers. Her advice is not to write for your closest colleagues.

Jan Borén Roger Säljö Kerstin Johannesson

g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0 5

Kerstin Johannesson leads large marine research projects that have to do with biological manifoldness and how species change as a result of environmental changes in oceans – questions that have received a great deal of attention in recent years.

“The marine sector has been favoured in the last ten years because politicians and others have learned about the great environmental chang-es in oceans. Since my time as a doc-toral student I’ve worked with species formation among shells – but how interesting is that without putting it into a broader context? If you connect what’s happening with shells with questions about biological manifold-ness and environmental changes, it’s immediately a very current topic. It has to do with following the debate, being able to “read” your surround-ings and knowing that politics can swing quickly.

What can Gothenburg University do to be even better at seeking external grants?

“I think that we need to have a little more open climate and take greater collegial responsibility by means of us older researchers helping the younger ones. My advice is to exploit the com-petence that exists in the organization in a better way. The management should use the researchers who are good at the trade more by giving them the time and resources to be able to help with large applications.”

allan eriksson

top researchers bring in the most money

The information is founded on analyses done by Internal Auditing of which researchers have brought in the most external grants over eight years, from June 30, 2002, to June 30 this year. the list consists of 2,550 names and the total sum is 9.2 billion crowns.

Lund and uppsala universities have 40 per cent externally financed activities while Gothenburg univer-sity has 30 per cent.

It is worth noting that while researchers that seek funding have roles as project leaders the money most often goes to an entire research group and covers salaries, overhead costs and other expenditures.

facts

1. Borén, Jan SA 148,2 2. Sterner, Thomas Handels 125,5 3. Säljö, Roger Utbild-fak 104,8 4. Johannesson, Kerstin nat-fak 85,8 5. Köhlin, Gunnar Handels 85,7 6. Smith, Ulf SA 84,1 7. Rothstein, Bo Sam-fak 75,6 8. Ericksson, Gudrun Utbild-fak 73,7 9. Holmgren, Jan SA 67,9 10. Hohmann, Stefan nat-fak 66,8 11. Hansson, Gunnar SA 63,9 12. Albertsson-Wikland, Kerstin SA 62,1 13. Klemedtsson, Leif nat-fak 60,7 14. nyström, Thomas nat-fak 58,2 15. Enerbäck, Sven SA 57,7 16. Campbell, Eleanor nat-fak 57,1 17. Lissner-Östlund, Lauren SA 50,6 18. Thomsen, Peter SA 50,6 19. Jensen, Arne Handels 49,3 20. Svennerholm, Ann-marie SA 47,1 21. Dickson, Suzanne SA 47,0 22. Bergö, martin SA 46,4 23. Aronsson Forssell, Eva SA 43,0 24. Ohlsson, Claes SA 42,3 25. Lötvall, Jan SA 42,2 26. Bäckhed, Fredrik SA 41,4 27. Torén, Kjell SA 40,9 28. Wold, Agnes SA 40,3 29. Hagberg, mats SA 40,0 30. Lycke, nils SA 39,8 31. Woxenius, Johan Handels 38,9 32. Hassellöv, martin nat-fak 38,9 33. Carlsson, Evert Handels 37,2 34. Stenlöf, Kaj SA 36,7 35. Stenman, Göran SA 36,5 36. Kristiansen, Kristian Hum-fak 36,1 37. Sarner, Ulf Konst-fak 36,0 38. neutze, Richard nat-fak 35,7 39. Ektröm, Karin Handels 31,4 40. Björnsson, Björn Thrandur nat-fak 30,3 41. Stigebrandt, Anders nat-fak 29,8 42. Petrusson, Ulf Handels 29,2 43. Johnsson, Jörgen nat-fak 29,1 44. Larsson, Joakim SA 28,8 45. Benson, mikael SA 28,1 46. Hellstrand, Kristoffer SA 27,4 47. Boholm, Åsa Sam-fak 27,2 48. Willander, magnus nat-fak 27,2 49. Eriksson, Elias SA 27,1 50. Jacobsson, Lars SA 26,9

51. Lindberg, Lagerquist mari SA 26,5 52. Skoog, Ingmar SA 26,4 53. malmgren, Sven-Göran Hum-fak 25,4 54. Engel, Jörgen SA 24,6 55. Blennow, Kaj SA 23,7 56. Anderson, Leif nat-fak 23,5 57. André, Carl nat-fak 23,3 58. Blomgren, Klas SA 22,6 59. Eriksson, Kristina SA 22,5 60. Olofsson, Sven Olof SA 22,5 61. Fagerberg, Björn SA 22,1 62. Carlsson, Ulla Sam-fak 21,6 63. Wallin, Anders SA 21,3 64. Cooper, Robin Hum-fak 21,1 65. Hjelm, Ulrika nat-fak 21,0 66. Pierre, Jon Sam-fak 20,8 67. Bigsten, Arne m Handels 20,6 68. Haraldsson, Börje SA 20,6 69. Hultborn, Ragnar SA 20,6 70. Gan, Li-ming SA 20,3 71. Hwang, Philip Sam-fak 20,3 72. Carlsson, Peter nat-fak 19,9 73. Eriksson, Anders Hum-fak 19,9 74. Pedersen, Karsten nat-fak 19,4 75. Funa, Keiko SA 19,0 76. Söderpalm, Bo SA 18,9 77. Schlyter, Ann Sam-fak 18,4 78. Lindahl, Anders SA 18,2 79. Hulth, Stefan nat-fak 18,2 80. Förlin, Lars nat-fak 18,1 81. Hammarsten, Ola SA 17,5 82. Åkerman, Johan nat-fak 17,3 83. Hallqvist, mattias nat-fak 17,3 84. Berglundh, Tord SA 17,3 85. Gustafsson, Jan-Eric Utbild-fak 17,2 86. Gillberg, Christopher SA 17,0 87. Komitov, Lachezar nat-fak 17,0 88. Abrahamsson, Katarina nat-fak 17,0 89. Rosengren, Annika SA 17,0 90. Granhag, Pär-Anders Sam-fak 17,0 91. Wiklund, Olof SA 16,9 92. Härenstam, Annika Utbild-fak 16,8 93. Helou, Khalil SA 16,7 94. Barregård, Lars SA 16,7 95. Uv, Anne SA 16,7 96. Gustavsson, Bengt Gustaf SA 16,4 97. Cajvert, Lilja Sam-fak 16,3 98. Hellström, Ann SA 16,1 99. Hall, Per nat-fak 15,8100. nilsson, Lennart Sam-fak 15,7

project leader           Faculty total (Rounded off to even millions with one decimal)

project leader           Faculty total (Rounded off to even millions with one decimal)

In the table, SA stands for Sahlgrenska Academy, nat-fak (Faculty for natural Sciences), Hum-fak (Humanities Faculty), Handels (School of Economics), Sam-fak (Faculty of the Social Sciences), Utbild-fak (Faculty of the Teaching Sciences) and Konst-fak (Arts Faculty).

top 100. These researchers have brought in the most money to Gothenburg University in the past eight years.

6 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

s w e d i s h Ta x Pay e r s should not subsidize for-eign students. That was the Government’s prime reason for introducing fees for students from other countries as of autumn 2011. The fees don’t apply to all, however.

Students from the EES area, including Switzerland, are excepted, as are students who come via some type of work agreement. The new rules are only valid for so called “free movers” who come here on their own initiative from other parts of the world. In the case of GU, this means about 1,000 persons who for the most part follow international Masters programs. But determining exactly which students will have to pay and which for different reasons will not have to is tricky.

“ i T h a s To d o for instance with what kind of residency permit you have,” explains Mats Edvardson, head of the students’ office. “Since we’ve never asked for money from individual students in this way, we need completely new administrative routines. Students will have to pay half the fee in advance, and then a certifi cation will be sent to the Migration Department. As the fee will be based on the national price, plus costs for administration, service and advertising, the education programs will be very expensive for individual students. Students who have to pay out of their own pockets won’t receive any spe-cial treatment, however,” he says. “A student is a student – the same rules apply to everybody. For example, we’re not going to give any special sup-port so that these students get through their study programs, like it is in some countries. We assume that adult people take responsibility for their own education. In addition to the tuition fee there will also be an application charge of about 1,000 crowns that will be managed by VHS.”

w h e n d e n m a r k sTa r T e d a similar system three years ago they lost about half of their non-European students. The Masters programs lost even more, about 80 per cent of these students. An investigation by the Swedish Institute indi-cates that something similar will happen here. It shows that only about 37 per cent of the non-European students here today think that they would have come if they had to pay.

However, just this year, according to VHS, there was a doubling of the number of appli-

an information nightmare! That’s what mats edvardson calls the administrative work necessary to manage the introduction of student fees next autumn. There’s no way of saying exactly what consequences this will have for gothenburg university.

at most schools in the country the fees will be approximately 90,000 crowns a year for the humanities and social sciences and about 140,000 for the natural sciences. medical studies are somewhat higher and art studies will be about 200,000 or more. the theatre program at Lund university, for example, will be 400,000.

facts

Minimum of 100 000 for one year in gothenburg

cants to international programs in the country. “It’s the last chance not to have to pay,”

explains Mats Edvardson, “the students who are already here will be able to complete their stud-ies without paying, even if it takes time. But the foreign students who apply to GU in the future will belong to very different groups than those who are here today.”

To c o m P e n s aT e f o r the drop in the number of students, the Government is reserving 30 mil-lion crowns for a new scholarship system for students from countries to which Sweden gives assistance. The Swedish Institute will manage these applications.

“Gothenburg University will also start schol-arships but not at all as many as the number of students who want to come. We’ll also work more actively with both the Erasmus Mundus program, aimed at developing countries, and with EU. GU estimates that it will lose about 60 per cent of the non-European students,” says Kristina Johansson, budget coordinator at the University’s administrative secretariat. “The new rules mean a great deal of extra work for the University. It’s our responsibility to set prices for all courses and programs on the undergradu-ate and graduate levels, even ones that foreign students are not likely to apply to. And that work has to be completed before Christmas since the prices have to be listed in the course catalogue. We’re assuming federal prices, which may be odd since they’re considered to be too low. We also have to establish services for receiving payment and improving our reception of students, maybe even providing international career counselling. Even though many of our teachers are used to an international environment, it’s possible that we’ll also have to offer more courses in English for those who want them. That would of course also be advan tageous for Swedish students.”

Lund University will give a housing guaran-tee for their foreign students, starting at the latest in 2013.

“Gothenburg University won’t do that since there simply aren’t enough apartments or rooms here,” explains Kristina Johansson. “But we’re working with Boplats Göteborg so we hope we’ll be able to solve these problems as far as we can.”

eVa lundgren

g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0 7

f e e s f o r f o r e i g n students will have a big effect on certain faculties and institutions. One example is the Institution for Global Studies.

“For the Institution in total this may not be so much,” says prefect Sylva Frisk. “But we think that our international Masters program will lose about 30 per cent of its students. This also means that an important quality aspect will be lost, particularly for the Masters program in glob-al studies. One of the thoughts in this program is exactly that stu-dents from different parts of the world, who live under completely different conditions even here in Sweden, will be able to meet and will be forced to meet with the prejudices that they might have about each other.

o n e way To compensate for the loss is to take in more students from the EES area.

“We’ve already noticed that more and more applicants are coming from Europe. We have more students from the rest of Sweden, too, which I think has to do with the Bologna system beginning to establish itself. Many of them want to continue to a higher level instead of per-haps taking another under-graduate course. But if we get students from Europe instead of Africa and Asia, it will lead to a different orientation in the pro-grams affected.”

“ f o r T h e i T fac u lT y, which has a PhD program and several Masters programs with many foreign students, the fees will

have noticeable effects,” accord-ing to faculty head Jan Smith.

“We don’t know exactly how many of our students will be affected, only that there will be many and that most of them prob-ably don’t have any possibility to pay. In all likelihood we’ll have a financial loss of several millions. But money isn’t everything. We’re also worried of course that the international environment that there is today will disappear.”

T wo m a sT e r s P r o g r a m s, soft-ware engineering and manage-ment and Master in communi-cation, are completely domi-nated by students from countries outside the EES.

“One measure we’ve already decided on is to coordinate the software program with corresponding programs at Chalmers. And we hope to get more European students, which is something we haven’t tried to do before since we haven’t had a problem filling our quota. We think that we have a lot to offer but, of course, the situation still feels pretty insecure.”

eVa lundgren

Minimum of 100 000 for one year in gothenburg

Fees a hard blow to several edu-cation programs“we don’t know yet how great the consequences will be, but they will be felt,” says Jan smith, head of the iT faculty. “several programs on the masters level are dominated by students from other parts of the world.”

The institution for global studies will also have fewer students on the masters level.

Jan Smith

ILLUSTRATIOn: mARIO BRAnCAGLIOnI

sTudy fee Per year comparison with other universities

humanities/social sciences natural sciences

Stockholms University 90 000 140 000Lunds University 100 000 140 000Uppsala University 80 000/100 000 120 000Linköpings University 95 000 140 000Gothenburg University 100 000 130 000

8 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

The university board has now given its support to the directive that will lead work toward a new organization. The preliminary time plan has been decided and an in-vestigation group has been formed with göran bexell as chairman.

i T ’s g o i n g To go quickly. A proposal will be presented in only a couple of months. A decision on the probably largest change in the University’s his-tory will be made in April next year.

“Yes, this is going fast,” says Rector Pam Fredman. “For me, it’s important to reach results as soon as possible so that employees don’t need to feel uncertain for an unnecessarily long time.”

Pam Fredman’s ambition is for the change to be carried out by the end of 2012. But that isn’t an absolute date; actually carrying it through may take longer.

“It can mean that it isn’t a hundred per cent ready then, we may have to make small adjustments after that point.”

T h e i n V e sT i g aT i o n group is led by Professor Göran Bexell, previously Rector of Lund University and cur-rently an investigator of Karolinska Institute’s organization. The group also includes Christina Rogestam, who has been head of administration at GU and chairman of the board of Sahlgrenska Academy. “Both are very familiar with the Academy and know what changes are taking place in the world around us,” says Pam Fredman.

“During September and October they’re holding interviews with about 60 employees on the basis of a list that the management has worked out. It has to do with leaders of research, managers on different levels and other key persons who will be asked to give their views of the University’s development. The most

new organization ready 2012 “We will be free of pressures”

T h e c o l l eg e o f sTag e and music has cele-brated its fifth birthday. On September 11, the

moving orchestra “100 meters of Young Artists” played while they moved through Brunnssparken, while students and teachers played jazz, chamber music and world music on three different stages in nordstan.

T h e a n n ua l i n T e r n aT i o n a l reception for foreign scholars in Gothenburg took place at Börsen, the City Hall,

on the 23rd of September. One hundred and twenty visiting re-searchers and doctoral students at the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology were welcomed to the city. Following a speech by Deputy mayor mrs. Ann Lundgren, the guests were invited to a buffet and took the opportunity to tour the beautiful building.

hsm five years old ! 120 in the city hall

important question is how academic collegiality will be protected, so that we stand free of financial and politi-cal pressures.

Pa m f r e d m a n maintains that there are especially three weaknesses that the re-organization will address.

“First, the broadness of the University isn’t being used to its full extent as a result of different admin-istrative obstacles. Second, the exten-sive decentralization has meant that there are great differences between faculties, which have made it difficult for the University to function as a united authority. Third, it’s observed in the directive that the three levels of institution, faculty and the activi-ties that are common to the whole University, are not clear, and this gives unnecessary “double work”.

The most important goal of the re-organization is to create better condi-tions for education and research and to stimulate cooperation across bor-ders. But there are also many exter-nal factors that have an impact. The demands of the world around us have never been greater – we have to con-tinuously evaluate and reconsider.”

why is the re-organization being done at this time?

“It doesn’t come like a bolt of lightning. These are questions that we’ve written about before, such as in the strategy for research and education. The time is right because we’re carry ing out a number of inves-tigations now, such as RED10 and BLUE11. We also want to use the free-dom that the Autonomy Investigation leads to, which comes into effect on January 1, 2011.”

a goal of the re-organization is to re-move the faculties and replace them with a maximum of five areas. isn’t it hard to change such a traditional structure as the university?

“Yes, it is. But the University has always changed, even if we didn’t think about it. The faculties we have today have not always existed and new subject areas crop up and old ones disappear. Our whole society is in constant change. Not even our home environment is static – the University has to be open to that.”

in what way will unnecessary double work be dealt with?

“This has to do with having the right competence on the right level and that responsibility and authority go hand in hand. We also have to act as a united authority. We can’t have different rules depending on where in the organization a person is. And we have to be better at exploiting the resources we have. If we put more responsibility on the institutions, the need for administration at the faculty level will decrease so that they can concentrate on the primary tasks

they actually have: research and edu-cation.”

why only five areas and not two or ten?“We’ve said that it will be about

five areas, but there’s nothing that’s carved in stone. But I think that two is too little and more than five would be difficult to manage.”

all the work will be done with open-ness and influence, but how exactly will this happen?

“The interviews that are being done now are very open and the group is free to interview whatever people it wants. There will be a hearing during the autumn to which all employees will be invited. But each manager also has responsibility for making sure that employees become involved. We haven’t decided yet how the views will be shared on the internet.”

allan eriksson & eVa lundgren

We have to act as a united authority. We can’t have different rules …

Pam Fredman

pho

ToG

ra

ph: J

oh

an

Win

Gb

or

G.

g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0 9

gl bal week to be hold soona week of international meetingsJan eliasson, britt-marie mattsson and sten rylander will be there.

hans blix, too.what is it? global week, of

course!

l ec T u r e s, s e m i n a r s, panel discus-sions and networking. Global Week, November 15-19, will offer a full pro-gram for everyone interested in inter-national contacts.

“It’s about giving information on the international activities we have at the University,” says Pernilla Danielsson, international coordinator at the University administrative sec-retariat. “The University already has many years of international exchange on different levels for students, teach-ers and TA personnel. What we want to do now is gather as many as pos-sible to show for one week how good Gothenburg University is.

The idea is to give teachers, administrators and students at Gothenburg University and our dif-ferent partner universities the pos-sibility to discuss common problems, learn from each other and mingle in a relaxed way for a few days. Guests can apply for Erasmus staff money to finance their visits.

“We also think that it can be easier for our employees to reserve days for international contacts than to take care of colleagues that come in a less planned way. It’s very possible that employees are busy with other things when they come.”

i n a d d i T i o n To common activities, the international guests will also be able to give their individual wishes. This could be for example a teacher from a partner university wanting to participate in a seminar.

“A person who works with student recruitment or international ques-tions might want to meet colleagues that do just about the same thing here,” explains Christina Kaspersen,

who works with international issues at the student office. “If so, we try to put together a program that’s adapted to what they want. Our goal is for our guests to learn as much as possible about Gothenburg University and how we work with internationali-zation so that they can talk about this at their own universities.”

T h e 1 8 T h o f n oV e m b e r is internation-al day for students at the fac-ulties.

“At the School of

Economics, like at several other faculties, we’ve had an International Day for a long time,” says Catharina Miklin, international coordinator at the School of Economics. “But that day won’t be a part of Global Week this year. We’ll give information about

n o V e m b e r 1 5 : rector Pam Fredman will open Global Week in the university auditorium.

n o V e m b e r 1 6 : The Challenge of Global Governance – a panel debate in the university auditorium with Hans blix, Jan eliasson, Annika Söder and Helena Lindhom Shulz. Speaker: britt-marie mattsson.

Panel debate about ranking lists with Geoffrey bolton.

World culture museum: Gothenburg Global Gala.

n o V e m b e r 1 7: Symposium on Zim-babwe with Ambassador Sten rylander.

International workshop on atomic energy issues at the School of econo-mics with Peter Faross, mats Ladeborn, Andrew orrel and tariq rauf.

notification of financing in the Global university Project.

World culture museum: travel exhibition and mingle.

Speeches by two of this year’s Gothen-burg prize-winners: Ken Sherman from the uS and public opinion maker randall Arauz from costa rica.

n o V e m b e r 1 8 : International Day at each faculty.

Shelf-life day for students.

Student exhibition on studying and working abroad.

Presentation of different countries’ systems for study fees.

World culture museum: A World in Motion, a lecture by Staffan Appelgren.

World culture museum: Foreign policy association looks at and discusses preju-dices about other cultures.

International symposium on Antibiotic resistance with Andreas Heddini.

Global evening with mingle and enter-tainment.

For more information: www.globalweek.gu.se

look for:

how to study at some of our partner universities, and Swedish and foreign students will talk about their experiences. We’ll also give out application

material and brochures.”The School of Economics

will offer open lectures and among their lecturers is Lars

Danielsson, consul general in Hong Kong and Macau.

T h e P r o g r a m a l s o has several debates about different issues such as cultural prejudices, atomic energy

and developments in Zimbabwe. On Thursday there will be a global even-ing at the World Culture Museum.

“What we want is for Global Week to be an annual event,” says Pernilla Danielsson. “This could work to strengthen Gothenburg University’s international profile and give employ-ees more knowledge about all the possibilities there are for travelling abroad. But we also think we should generate more interest in global ques-tions in general and start a debate about the importance of internation-alization, both inside and outside the University.”

From left: Jan Eliasson, Sten Rylander and Hans Blix.

all-in-one-card T h i s i s w h aT T h e new GU all-in-one card will look like. All employees and

students will get an internal ID card that they will be able to use as entrance cards, loan cards at UB and for printing and copying all over the University. The card can be picked up at any of the five service centers that will open during the year. The first one will be Humanisten, which opens in October. next is Vasagatan 33.

T h aT ’ s n o w T h e n u m b e r of pictures stored in GU’s picture

bank: www.gu.se/bild

1 0 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

h e P i c T u r e o n T h e computer has a mysterious pattern in white and pink. But what I’m looking at isn’t an abstract piece of art but a tissue sample from a muscle. Something in

the picture is strange. The research of Professor Anders Oldfors deals with understanding just what that is. He’s the prefect at the Institute of Biomedicine and does research on muscle diseases. These are genetically inherited and it means that whole families can be affected – for example, the healthy 27-year-old – what was wrong with him?

“When we looked at a tissue sample of his heart, we could see right away that the cells were abnormal and we understood that there must be something wrong with metabolism. But we found no known diseases that could be cou-pled with the pattern.”

a r e s e a r c h e r h a s to be a kind of detective sometimes. Further investigations showed that the convict had a name – glycogenin.”

“Muscles generally live on fats,” explains Anders Oldfors. “But extra physical effort also require sugar, which is stored by means of glyco-genin. However, when two changes take place in one gene, where the one was inherited from the male side and the other from the female, this didn’t work in this 27-year-old. The metabolism problem prevented the heart from beating.

Glycogenin is an important protein, in spite

of the fact that is surprisingly little investigated. That sudden heart failure can depend on glyco-geneicity is new knowledge. The discovery led to a publication in the famed New England Journal of Medicine. Another question however was how a person with such a serious disease can live such a completely normal life without noticing something strange before the heart stopping without warning one day.

“ T h e d e T ec T i V e sTo ry in the case of the 27-year-old went well. The bad guy was found and the victim didn’t die and now lives with a defibrillator operated into his heart. Things could have been tragic, however. An example is the discovery of a similar disease three years ago where a ten-year-old boy died of sudden heart failure that wasn’t cause by extreme physical effort on the school playground and where no one tried to help.

“The boy was looked at without the doctors being able to agree over what his medical prob-lem was,” says Anders Oldfors. “They found the answer in his younger brother. He came to us to be analysed for a suspected metabolic disorder that limited him in terms of exertion. They found that he and one other sibling lacked glycogen in their muscles. It was the same thing that had led to heart failure in his older brother. The siblings are now given beta blockers as pro-tection, but the example shows the importance of investigating all family members in the case of genetic diseases.”

A genealogist on the lookout for hidden weak points

Profiletext: eVa lundgren

PHoto: Johan wingborg

We found no known diseases that could be coupled with the pattern.

A 27-year-old man felt ill after exercising. His brother called for help. His heart suddenly stopped beating but the ambulance personnel had arrived before it was too late. They saved his life – but how can the heart of a healthy young man just stop?

A tissue sample gave the answer and marked the discovery of a completely new illness.

g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0 1 1

nyheter

“We don’t know how many young people there are who suffer some type of illness that can result in sudden heart failure,” says Anders Oldfors. “Most often it can’t be seen on an ordinary EKG and we just don’t have the resource to make car-diac investigation for example in every boy and girl that plays soccer. Luckily it has to do with rare dis-eases. One possibility would be to focus on families where one individual has been sick.”

o n e o f T h e m o r e pleasant parts of Anders Oldfors’ research is going to extended family meetings, drinking coffee and comparing family histories.

“Many patients become very involved. They find

distant relatives that they may not ever have met, ask older family members and help to put together a family tree. This can give exciting discoveries, both for the patient and for us researchers. About one Swede in a thousand has a muscle disease that’s more or less of a handicap.

But each individual disease is rare, which means that we researchers have to work internation-ally, create networks and compare results from different parts of the world. Because of the great strides in molecular biology in the last 25 years it has been possible to diagnose more and more dis-eases, which is fantastic of course. Good treatment requires an early diagnosis because when muscles

atrophy they can be gone forever. But successes in research also give ethics problems. Does a 20-year-old want to know that he’s going to get seriously ill when he’s 40?”

m a n y c o u n T r i e s P u T a lot more into muscle dis-ease research than Sweden does. For example, Anders Oldfors did his post-doctoral work in Paris in the 1980s since Gothenburg didn’t yet have any diagnostics. But even though there are more resources in other places in the world, work at Sahlgrenska Academy is special.

“Most laboratories have specialised themselves in a particular investigation method. Some look

In front of his horse Henke. Anders Oldfors has a great interest in breeding horses on his farm in Vallda. He has several Swedish half-breeds.

1 2 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

at samples in the microscope, others make gene analyses or examine chemical relationships. We do all of this in one package. We also have a clinical orientation and have contact with the patients. This means that the research is like extended diagnostics. And it’s important for me to meet the patient, see a face and understand who the person is behind the disease.”

a n d e r s o l d f o r s h a s done research on muscular diseases for 20 years, although there are no doctors in his family.

My father was a businessman and had inherited his fruit import company from his father. He prob-ably would have liked to do something else and he was careful not to force his own ambitions on his children. No one ever said I had to take over the family business. It was sold when he retired. My mother was a textile teacher at the Handicraft Association, which later became the School of Design and Crafts. She taught us to gather lichens during the summer to colour cloth and I have some mittens somewhere that I knitted from wool that I carded and spun myself.”

His aunt is Hjördis Oldfors and anyone who rec-ognises her name may have a vase or a bowl at home that she designed. She was a designer at Upsala-Ekeby in the 1950s.

b e s i d e h i s wo r k Anders Oldfors has another big interest – his farmhouse in Vallda.

“I like to work on short-term projects and build things. When we bought the farm 20 years ago it needed to be renovated. We found that the walls in

the main building were stuffed with seaweed. We had to tear down most of it, but we still have an old wood burning stove as a reminder of the house’s history.”

His interest in building also applies to the farm’s horses – about ten Swedish half-breeds that the fam-ily owns, breeds and, when a horse is suitable, com-petes with. His wife Ginger has been on the interna-tional team and daughter Natalie has won prizes.

“Dressage doesn’t attract the same public that jumping does but it’s very interesting to people who understand the difficulties,” Anders Oldfors explains. “The ambitions you have go hand in hand with the possibilities that the horses give. They have to be tested carefully so that you can understand what they’re able to do. Right now we have a very nice four-year-old, Henke, who especially Natalie gives a lot of extra time to.”

Next spring the family hopes that two new foals will be born.

“Horses have fascinated people all over the world in all times, not just because they are invaluable in farm work but also because they’re so beautiful,” says Anders Oldfors. “They are sensitive animals that break easily, at the same time that they can live long, up to 30 years. They often become members of the family. You don’t send your horse to slaughter and you don’t eat the meat from your own horses. Even though I don’t ride very much any more I love life on the farm, with the horses that have to be let out on the meadow every day, dogs that dodge around your legs and a cat or two in the stables.”

eVa lundgren

anders oldfors

Occupation: prefect of the institute of biomedicine, senior physician and profes-sor of pathology.

Family: Wife Ginger, children natalie and Jonas, about ten horses, four dogs and a few cats.

Home: a farm in Vallda.

Interests: Wanders for a week in the nor-wegian mountains each summer together with son Jonas, otherwise horses, tennis and sailing. Likes to live life in different projects.

What you didn’t know: anders oldfors can card, spin and knit, which he learned from his mother who was a textile teacher at the School of Design and Crafts.

Reads: Most things, most recently The Art of Being Kind by Stefan Einhorn.

Is proud of: My colleagues.

Worth protecting: Freedom, in Sweden, in life, at work.

Is upset by: preconceived ideas.

Becomes happy over: Surprises (for the most part).

Relaxes best: at sea.

The farm and all the animals involves the whole family: daughter Natalie, Anders, wife Ginger and son Jonas.

g u j o u r n a l e n 5 | 1 0 1 3

deBateMake a difference, make a statement! Please send your article to: gu-journalen@gu.se

the University needs a code of honoura r ec e n T i n V e sT i g aT i o n by the SOM Institute at GU for Science & the General Public (Vetenskap & Allmänhet) shows that researchers and universities/colleges still enjoy relatively great trust among the general public. At the same time, however, most of the respondents in the investigation are uncertain about whether Swedish researchers take ethics questions seriously. Only 21 per cent of the respondents thought that the statement “researchers do not take ethics questions seriously” is incorrect, while 7 per cent think that it is correct. The great majority (72 per cent) is thus uncertain.

There may be reason for this uncertainty. Not long ago, Pharma-ceutical World (Läke medels världen) came out with a report that prompts reflection. It described American pharmaceutical companies that pay researchers employed at universities for putting their names to articles on research that the pharmaceutical companies, and not the researchers, had carried out. The researchers gain credit and the company receives the medical journal’s stamp of quality for its products. The losers – apart from consumers of medical preparations – are science and the researchers that hold themselves to ethical rules. Norway is soon planning to deal with the problem by introducing rules about this kind of “ghost writing”.

a n oT h e r e x a m P l e was targeted by the medical journal Läkartidningen that made an investigation during the spring showing that “honorary authorship” is common in articles that are included in doctoral the-ses in medicine. This means that researchers who have not made any significant scientific contribution to the work are included as co-authors of articles. The so called Vancouver rules for co-authorship, which have existed for over 25 years, give three criteria. According to Läkartidningen, at least one of them is broken in some article included in every other doc-toral thesis in medicine. Even explicit rules for authorship thus function poorly as a control.

a T h i r d e x a m P l e of side-stepping ethics considerations in research was highlighted in a series of articles

in the middle of May by the daily newspaper Sydsvenska Dagbladet. A number of professors from Lund University had bought seemingly fine titles and awards which they used in their CVs in applications for promo-tions or research grants. American and British internet companies have these kinds of “vanity scams” as their business mission. This means that the companies “sell” prizes and awards, such as International Scientist of the Year, International Professional of the Year, 2000 Most Outstanding Intellectuals of the Year

ing a great deal of money in a system to check applying students’ foreign merits for examinations that have been “purchased” and already accept-ed students’ written work for plagia-rism. Has the time come to leave our collegial “honour system” and start to use similar internal controls of our colleagues’ reported merits and pub-lications? If there are further cases and forms of cheating about merits, it may go the way of our financial sys-tem: when internal checks are found to be insufficient, it is legitimate to raise demands for external control.

w e d o n oT generally believe in fur-ther controls but we do realise that measures should be taken when seri-ous cases of “merit abuse” are discov-ered. The control system is grounded after all on our sense of conscience about the merits we report. As mem-bers of the scientific community, we have to follow a code of honour when we report our merits and when we judge those of others. Of special importance is reliability in our teach-ing of our students and doctoral candidates. Teachers and researchers that try to take shortcuts to gaining merits, grants and employment are poor models. The “do what we say and not what we do” model is equally destructive in academics as it is in any other area.

Our field is thus an example of a “social dilemma” – a situation in which the interests and success of the collective require that each individual gives up his or her short term per-sonal goals and adheres to common

norms. As long as research resources – and soon also those of education – are distributed according to an ability to measure success and quality with easily quantifiable indicators, it will be tempting to a small number of people to take principles about merit honour too easily and thereby be able to gain success and recognition with-out true achievement.

i T i s o f T h e u T m o sT importance that the basis of our decisions on recruit-ment, promotions and distribution of research resources maintains high quality. Evaluations of applications for employment, promotions and research grants must thus be carried out as a sort of “handicraft” in terms of quality and not simply quantity. This is something in which we will all be winners – researchers, teachers, students and the general public.

sally boydproFESSor oF GEnEr aL LinGUiSTiCS

Åke sander, proFESSor oF ThE SCiEnCE

oF rELiGioUS bEhaVioUr

Sally Boyd and Åke Sander

The “do what we say and not what we do” model is equally destructive in academics as it is in any other area.

and International Book of Honour, sometimes for considerable amounts of money. Between 300 and 700 dol-lars is not unusual for a fake award or, more correctly, concrete evidence that a person has received an award (a diploma, a plaque or a book).

a q u e sT i o n i s how widespread it is that Swedish researchers are tempted by offers of this kind or see them as a shortcut to higher merits and research grants. It is very surpris-ing to us that the rector of Lund University did not take disciplinary measures against the professors that had purchased merits in this way. His explanation was that the titles and awards that had been bought prob-ably had little effect in terms of the grants or promotions these persons had received. We maintain that the negative publicity damages the cred-ibility of the scientific community both internally and externally.

h ow s h o u l d the University and the scientific community act to keep the trust that the general public has in us? The University is currently invest-

1 4 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

g u n i l l a b u r sT e dT i s Director of the film school at the University. GU Journal sent Indian exchange student Dhruv Ramnath to talk to her over coffee to find out exactly what is the nature of the collaboration between the film school at the University of Gothenburg and the International Centre for Film and Drama in Bangalore.

How did it start?“The School of Film Directing is a young

institution. We started 13 years ago. We’ve been busy developing our programmes and until recently only had contact with Nordic and some European film schools. Now is the right time for us to relate to other film schools outside Europe.”

Why this collaboration?“In our international policy plan for the

film school, we have a short term ambition to develop cooperation between students here in Sweden and students outside of Europe. In education, it is very important to discuss issues and work together to understand each other. When you travel away from your own country, you can also look at yourself, your culture and your tradition from a different angle. This is not only important for our students but for Indian students as well. I believe we have a lot to learn from each other. We want to connect with one film school to get a deeper relationship and continue coopera-tion in a long-term perspective on the basis of equality.”

What are the benefits?“The world is connected today and we

should benefit from that interconnected-ness. The film business is worldwide and

our students should learn to know film-makers from other parts of the world. Participation in international collabora-tions is also important for researchers and teachers. In many ways, internationaliza-tion is an important component in the University’s quality assurance work. We believe that by establishing collaboration we can exchange ideas by elevating our conversation. The goal is to strengthen each other and broaden our views.

Why Bangalore and not another city in India?

“It was a coincidence. The Region (Västra Götalandsregionen) contacted me to say that they would like us to explore collaboration with Bangalore. They have a four-year agreement for cultural exchanges called Linking Initiatives – with the state of Karnataka – and Bangalore is the capital. This was how it all began. In December of 2009 we visited the Film Academy in Bangalore and presented the School for

the Bangalore film business. Bangalore has a great art and film scene filled with aspir-ing directors and visual artists.

There we were lucky to meet Director Prakash Belawadi who has plans for a new film school for film directors similar to ours. It’s very stimulating and inspiring to meet film makers and artists from India and find that our views and thoughts are more similar than I could imagine.”

What is the vision?“We are interested in long-term coop-

eration. Looking forward a few years, this could be in the form of a student and teacher exchange, developing an inter-national Masters programme in the film school building and creating an under-standing of the film industry in a broader sense. Both our film schools focus only on directors, which is unusual. I look forward to discussing some of these issues with our colleagues in India, including diversity, gender equality, cultural heritage and our approach to production and distribution in the digital paradigm, because that has the potential to create a signi ficant impact on film production and distribution. We have a common aim to improve quality and increase the breadth of diversity in the entire domain of the moving image.”

How does the global university project at the University impact the collabora­tion?

“The University of Gothenburg has recently taken a further step towards becoming a ‘global university’. This is based on a well-thought out, long-term sustainable investment with a number of strategic partnerships consisting of uni-

Beyond BollywoodBollywood = Indian film?

Not necessarily. Small, independent house art movies are getting more and more popular. They’re rebelling against the conven tional description of what India is. Cooperation has started between Bangalore and the School of Film Directing at the University of Gothenburg.

Gunilla Burstedt Prakash Belawadi

We have a common aim to improve quality and increase the breadth of diver-sity in the entire domain of the moving image.

g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0 1 5

nyheter

versities and organi zations in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia. We wanted to be a part of this project and, after apply-ing for funds, received 50 000 SEK to continue the co-opera tion.

d h r u V r a m n aT h contacted Prakash Belawadi in Bangalore to find out about his school, his plans for the future and Indian cinema, among many other things. The school will be called the “Suchitra School of Cinema and Dramatic Arts”.

Why Gothenburg?“Simply because that was the

oppor tunity. A cultural dele gation from Västra Götaland visited Banga-lore a couple of years ago to look at ways to collaborate culturally – indi-vidually and institutionally. Several trips have been made between Bangalore and Gothenburg now, and we’ve talked about some of our cultural expressions. A broad cultural agree ment has even been achieved at the government level. This initiative is covered by this agree ment.”

Prakash belawadi is a writer and director for the stage, cinema and tele vision. His debut film Stumble won the national Award for best Feature Film english (2003).

examples of other famous films that can be described as different from the bollywood tradition.

Peepli Live by Anusha rizvi. It just released a few weeks ago. A large production with song. but it isn’t the typical kitschy and trashy bollywood film.

Fire by Deepa mehta. A film about homosexual relations. It was widely protested in 1996.

Road by Dev benegal. Independent film. See the trailer: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA-r7zrk5m8&feature=related

facts

What do your students gain by this collaboration?

“A crucial aspect of pedagogy is finding a sufficient displacement from our positions to gain perspec-tive. We need to find ways of look-ing at our experience, at what we feel and why we feel that way. Collaboration like this provides us with the opportunity to be intro spec-tive, to find an interior landscape for reflection and contemplation. I’d like to go one step further and say that collaboration like this, between two very particular cultures, helps us examine and question ideas and constructs outside the large, global market-driven cultural production.”

How do you see your school in five years time?

“I imagine it as a centre that attracts bright and committed young filmmakers and artists who believe that cinema is not merely making a product that is oriented to a con sumer market, but is a form and forum for personal, subjective expression – something that responds in an urgent way to the world mov-ing around us, but with skills and

informed approaches that are needed to make meaningful cinema. Our centre will work locally and respond globally.”

Do you think the West imposes its rules, obligations and identities on the East? With this collaboration, will India be able to preserve its cultural heritage, talent and true nature in cinema?

“I’m a bit tentative about this. My great worry is attitudes in India itself, perhaps due to a diffidence induced by its colonial past. There is a whole set of disturbing binaries in ‘traditional – modern’ or ‘traditional – progressive’, ‘folk – classical’, ‘com-mercial – artistic’ in cultural practice and production that have created an identity crisis. There are many com-peting claims on words like ‘native’ for instance – some mean geogra-phy, some language, race and caste. It’s natural for young people to feel that higher education should make them ‘useful’ and they opt for fields that have ‘scope’ in terms of career advancement or commercial enter-prise. When these ideas are brought to cultural practices and production,

they can create problems in purpose and articulation. One reason why the school proposed to be set up by the Centre for Film and Drama will focus on filmmakers at a post-graduate level is to get as free as possible of the obligation to produce graduates who will serve the ‘market’. The vision of the school is to enable its students with ideas and with openness so that they can make cinema they believe in, not make what they ‘ought to’.”

Why is it that Bollywood is per­ceived as pan­India when it actu­ally has little to do with ordinary life?

“Bollywood and its regional clones in Tamil, Telugu or Kannada cinema (and various other vernaculars) derive from and supply to the global ideas of market and production, cre-ating products that can be consumed. The purpose of this cinema is to take ideas and discourses of the times with out subjecting them to inter-rogation of any kind. The idea is not to affect or question taste but to make products to suit it. With distribution and exhibition oriented in the same way, Bollywood and its clone indus-tries have appropriated the space and marginalized personal or ‘auteur’ cinema.

dhruV ramnaTh

Still from the film Peepli Live, (2010). An Indian comic satire written and directed by Anusha Rizvi.

Stills from left: Peepli Live by Anusha Rizvi (1–3), Road by Dev Benegal (4–6), Stumble by Prakash Belawadi (7) and Fire by Deepa Mehta (8).

1 6 g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0

“Everything gets better and better,” says Gösta Walin, a recent honorary doctor of the University of Dundee. Poverty and diseases are decreasing, knowledge is being spread to more and more people, the air and water are becoming cleaner.

Then, what about climate threats and overpopulation?“Fear propaganda! Strangely enough, people want to

believe that the whole world will go under soon.”

The fossil fuels are a gift to mankind.

g ö sTa wa l i n h a s a lot of titles to choose between. He’s a civil engineer, doctor of theoretical physics, Professor Emeritus in oceanography and founder of the Leo prize, an award that goes to persons who dare to question generally accepted ideas. He became an honorary doctor primarily because of his research in flow mechan-ics but also because of his involvement in energy and environmental issues and his development of a technique for fighting oil spills at sea.

He has many exciting pictures from Scotland, where he’s ceremoniously being hit on the head with a staff and where he’s dressed with coat and hat in blue and gold.

“I was received really generously and honourably! My wife and I stayed at the finest hotel in the area, Old Course, in the golf paradise of St. Andrews. We had a car with a chauffeur so that we could go out sightseeing. The ceremony itself was impressive with a ten-minute speech in my honour.”

b u T g ö sTa wa l i n actually wants to talk about quite other things, for example over-population.

“Ever since the American researcher Paul Erlich published The Population Bomb in 1968 the established truth has been that there are too many people in the world and that this will lead to starvation and misery. Today we’re 6.7 billion people and fewer and fewer die of starvation and hardship. The truth is the opposite: that man himself is the greatest resource we have and that we are suc-ceeding in solving more and more prob-lems. The odd thing is that each time it’s

shown that Paul Erlich was wrong he gets another prize.”

g ö sTa wa l i n i s u s e d to being called a con-tradictory old man. It may have to do with cleaning nitrogen in the Baltic Sea, which he says in the best case is not dangerous, or with the general danger of cholesterol, which he doesn’t believe in.

He’s also against nuclear energy but in a way that makes him get ignored by people who don’t think the way he does and dis-liked by others who also don’t like nuclear energy.

“I think that the environmental move-ment does work for the opposition when they maintain that we have to tighten our buckles to be able to make it without nuclear energy. That’s the same as admit-ting that it’s actually needed. Instead we should raise electricity prices, which would give a better economy and lower use of electricity. We have plenty of electric-ity, which is something I discussed in The Energy Crisis – A Bluff? It came out in 1973 and happened to coincide with the first oil crisis, so the time wasn’t so well chosen. But what I wrote there is still mainly true.”

g ö sTa wa l i n s ays that we can continue to use oil and coal instead of nuclear energy.

“The fossil fuels are a gift to mankind. They are what has made possible the enor-mous strides we’ve made in the past 200 years.”

Gösta Walin isn’t worried by the fact that many environmental researchers say that greenhouses gases will lead to a warmer climate.

“The earth’s mean temperature has

risen by about a half a degree in 150 years for reasons that we don’t know, but may have to do with the greenhouse gases. If we in fact are getting a warmer climate it won’t mean more but fewer natural catas-trophes, since storms are often caused by temperature differences. A more even cli-mate is advantageous in many ways. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere means more vegetation,” Gösta Walin explains.

“A lot of carbon dioxide also allows plants to live with less water. It means larger harvests and shrinking deserts, not least in poor areas of the world.”

i f e V e ry T h i n g i s just getting better, then why do we constantly get news about how

against the cUrrent

environmental optimist in a fight against established truths

g u j o u r n a l 5 | 1 0 1 7

Gösta Walin doesn’t believe in researchers’ warnings about temperature increases and overpopulation.

pho

To: J

oh

an

Win

Gb

or

G

do you have a role model?

dennis Töllborgprofessor at the Gothenburg research institute

“If I were forced to choose it would be edward Said. every time I’m about to fall apart and can’t deal with this mediocre, corrupt, crippled country anymore and follow all the “friendly” advice of the value system’s parasites and give up and be like them, or at least kill myself, I read his book “the Intellectual Person’s responsibility” and I realise that if I want life to have been worth living when I do die, I have to keep on going.”

agnes woldprofessor of clinical bacteriology

“I’ve never had a personal role model, if you mean a person you look up to and want to be like. I don’t think you can change your personality — you are who you are. However, I’m sure that my view of how research should be done has been affected by my time as a doctoral student at Lars-Åke (nenne) Hanson’s institute. It was full of people who came and went, an open atmosphere free of hierarchies and everybody helped everybody else. I can see that openness and breadth as a model. It’s modern today to admire “excellence”, which tends to favour hierarchical and not infre-quently dead environments.

rangnar nilssonforskningsrådgivare på externa relationer

“many. the common thread is that it is people that I’ve learned useful things from, above all the art of managing people. one of my teachers in middle school, Sven bengtsson, could straighten out difficult students, make them quiet down and support them to dare to claim their own place, and positively motivate each one from their own level. my friend Anja is one of the straightest and clearest people I’ve ever met — she’s also unswervingly loyal, both in diffi-cult and wonderful situations.”

christopher kullenbergDoctoral student in scientific theory

“I don’t have role models, for ethical and aes-thetic reasons. only when we free ourselves from that simplistic identification with others can we think and make a difference beyond meaningless repetitions of the same thing.”

QUestionnaire

bad things are in the world?“I has partly to do with laziness. It

feels calming in some way when every-thing goes to pieces. It means that you can just as well lie on the couch. It’s also partly because fear propaganda is a good way of making a career. For example, Bert Bolin got to start a whole UN agency, the IPCC, because of his theories about dangerous temperature increases. But I think it also has to do with our politicians liking to use their power: if everything is working well, there’s no reason to control and regu-late. The “climate threat” is one of the strongest weapons in the EU bigwigs’ work for supranationality.”

The problems of overpopulation and the climate threat have one thing in common: it’s the poor parts of the world that are considered to need to limit their population and are expected to develop without the help of fossil fuels.

“The real consequence is that you stop these countries from moving for-ward,” according to Gösta Walin. “But in the end it’s doomed to failure. We can’t stop either India or China from using all the resources they have. And the same is true of course for other developing countries.”

eVa lundgren