Pear-shaped atomic nuclei can reveal clues as to why the Universe is made up of more matter than anti-matter. Professor of Physics Joakim Cederkäll’s research on this type of atomic nucleus has now made it onto the top 10 of breakthroughs in physics from 2013.
Just before Christmas, his department lost out on a top international researcher, an investment worth over SEK 100 million. A month later, his group reported a major breakthrough in pheromone research.
Professor Christer Löfstedt, head of the Department of Biology, one of the largest departments at Lund University, features in the first of a series of articles on day-to-day academic leadership – an existence that has its ups and downs.
How did the education system develop? Why did some countries choose to secularise schools completely, while others gave state support to private religious schools? Johannes Lindvall has conducted a survey of how Western schooling developed and had his article published in the world’s most prestigious political science journal.
Could green citizen journalism on social media be a way to solve China’s huge environmental problems?
“Perhaps. Citizen journalism forces change. However, the authorities still believe that experts and more control from above will solve the problem of climate change. They haven’t understood that the trend cannot be reversed without the involvement of a grassroots movement.”
Scholarships from the EU have also strongly favoured Lund University’s exchanges with the surrounding world. Thanks to EU scholarships, a total of close to 18 000 students, researchers and other staff have come to Lund University or travelled to countries within Europe and beyond in the past fourteen years. There has been more incoming than outgoing traffic, but in recent years Swedes have shown increasing interest in travelling abroad.
Attitudes to the EU are divided and uncertainty is great concerning the number of people who will vote in the EU parliamentary elections on 25 May. For Lund University, however, Sweden’s membership in the EU has brought substantial benefits. Lund is one of the Swedish universities that rake in most millions for research.
Jerker Lessing is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH) and has a burning interest in the subject of industrialised construction. Although his academic career is still in its early stages, he has already led two courses at Stanford University, California. And now, at the end of March, his latest students will visit Lund University to see how far Sweden has come in the field.
Industrialised construction gained momentum during the record years with the Million Program in the 1960s. Wall panels were constructed in factories and assembled on site, whereas the rest was mostly made artisanally.
For a researcher to be successful, he or she not only needs to produce good research – it also has to gain exposure. However, there is competition for space in scientific and popular science journals. This has led to the growth of a grey area with unprofessional journals that take payment from researchers who want their work to appear.
At the Academy of Music in Malmö, Peter Spissky from Czechoslovakia found an opportunity to develop his interest in baroque music – a genre that didn’t suit the political system in his homeland. Through his research on how gestures taken from speech, acting and dance can be compressed into the movement of the bow, he hopes to come closer to the lively, vibrant playing that is at the heart of the genre.
