Lunds universitet i Science Village

Originally published in Lunds universitets magasin (LUM) – in Swedish. This was also published on the Science Village-office blog. The Science Village-office has now been closed and thus the post is being published on the LU in Science Village-blog.

The university’s establishment in Science Village will be coordinated with the help of a new project office, coordinated by returnee Eva Åkesson, who recently left as Vice-Chancellor at Uppsala University.

The LTH and the Faculty of Science have together opened the office at Ingvar Kamprad Design Center, IKDC, on Sölvegatan. In the coming years, it is from here that the work with the establishment of the faculties in Science Village will be coordinated.

The office is open but not fully completed when LUM visits. Furniture will be brought in, workplaces will be fixed, computers and all technology are being put in place and two recruitments are on the doorstep.

Many questions

– This will be a meeting place for everyone who is curious and has questions, both those who are positive about the establishment and those who have concerns. It is noticeable that there is a pent-up need to talk about this, says Eva Åkesson, professor at the Department of Chemistry and with a past as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at LU.

Together with the Assistant Coordinator Carina Jarl, she will now ensure that the establishment takes place smoothly and step by step and that there is no duplication of work at the faculties. In five or six years, the move itself is expected to be fully completed.

Will develop the university

Both emphasize that in the end it is not just a matter of building one or more new houses and moving parts of the physical and chemical institutions from Sölvegatan to Science Village between MAX IV and ESS. Rather, it is about creating something completely new that develops the university that exists today, both in terms of research and undergraduate education. It is difficult to be more concrete than that, they say, because it is still unclear exactly which departments will be established in Science Village. It is clear, however, that those who are established in Science Village should not be divided in different places.

– Together with the faculties, we will create a cohesive environment for research and education and then of course the buildings will be important, but it is also about outdoor spaces. We still do not know if it will be best with one or more houses, says Eva Åkesson.

In a survey conducted in 2018, there were a lot of negative reactions to establishing parts of the two faculties in Science Village. Although there is still a concern among some, it is largely a passed stage, according to Carina Jarl.

– It is very noticeable. People see the potential in a completely different way. I definitely believe that the opportunities for collaborations and interdisciplinary projects will increase.

A shift towards Brunnshög

The establishment of LTH’s and the Faculty of Science’s in Science Village means a clear shift of the university’s activities to the Brunnshög area. MAX IV is already in place, the Medical Faculty’s animal house, CMU, is underway, as is Nanolab Science Village, and by 2023, ESS will be ready for use. And these are just a few examples.

There is an interest in other faculties too, but according to Carina Jarl, they want to wait and see what kind of intellectual environment is created in Science Village.

What could get more people to take the step and establish themselves in the area is if the new hospital is built in northeast Lund.

– Then it will be very interesting for, for example, the Faculty of Medicine.

This blog post was originally published on the Science Village-office blog. This blog post was originally published on the Science Village-office blog.

On Tuesday 21 September, the Science Village office invited Per-Erik Eriksson, Professor of industrial and sustainable construction at Luleå University of Technology, to give a lecture on procurement strategies for NanoLund and others with needs and interest in learning more about this subject.

Competition and collaboration should preferably be combined in order to achieve efficiency and lead to innovation, says Professor Per-Erik Eriksson for a successful procurement strategy in complex projects. The model fits into the form of cooperation that in various contexts is called “coopetition” because it combines cooperation and competition.

Procurement is a central and critical process in the university’s establishment in Science Village. Nanolab Science Village is the first to, with the support of LU Byggnad, procure a landlord for the new lab. This has resulted in extensive and valuable preparatory work that has also raised a number of new questions.

The lecture gave us listeners a good insight into how we as customers should think when we design the basis for the procurement. It is important that all issues are considered from a customer perspective but with insight into the competence and expertise of potential suppliers. In larger, complex construction projects, such analyzes often result in partnering and agreements arise. This means that suppliers and customers collaborate with both depth and breadth, which increases the probability that the end result will be sustainable in the long term.

Questions and discussions at the end of Per-Erik’s lecture also gave us insight into the fact that we need to learn more about how procurement of landlords is done at Lund University, which we hope to be able to offer more information on in the future. The question as to how external financing can be involved in the process in the best way also arose during the lecture.

Originally published on the Faculty of Science’s news site.

It is a catalyst that will modernise the Faculty of Science, both at Brunnshög and Sölvegatan. Dean Sven Lidin may have become “nearsighted, flabby and middle-aged” during his ten years in symbiosis with Science Village, but his future visions are more vital than ever.

It is one of those pale September mornings when there is one online meeting after another. But a few minutes after 11:00, the dean of the Faculty of Science, Sven Lidin, emerges from his office with his glasses on the tip of his nose and sits down in one the armchairs in the corridor. He is exhilarated, as we are going to talk about Science Village – the 18-hectare research hub that is to be built at Brunnshög between ESS and MAX IV. What Lidin doesn’t know about the project is not worth knowing. Ever since 2010, when he was recruited to Lund, he has worked in different roles on the establishment process. This work intensified when he became dean in 2017 and the chair of the University’s Science Village Group. Even though it will take 20-30 years before the eldorado for science is fully built, the basic idea is in place: Science Village is to be an attractive and high-tech node for research, education and innovation directly adjacent to ESS and MAX IV.

He sees the establishment of activities at Brunnshög as the grand finale of the University’s “snail-like” journey eastwards – a journey that began 60 years ago with what is now the Faculty of Engineering (LTH). The Faculty of Science was involved at an early stage when the plans for Science Village began to crystallise. And that certainly remains the case today. For the faculty, the first stage of the plan, which will be completed around 2025-2026, entails the transfer of NanoLab. The plans for stage two include setting up parts of the physics and chemistry departments at Brunnshög. The activities that will be involved after that point and the details of the funding model are yet to be determined. However, over the past year there have been major steps forward. Now, significantly more faculty employees are positive about getting on board the visionary-oriented Science Village train.

“It has been a long and exciting journey on which I have been able to work with many skilled exponents of change. We have a clear assignment from the government to ensure that all aspects of Sweden as a knowledge nation are represented at Brunnshög. We are to do that at the same as we must shape the activities based on our resources. Nothing is gained by overstretching”, he says.

Sven Lidin considers what is most important from a faculty perspective is to plan and set up activities in a responsible and sustainable way. Involving the organisational units is vital. Lidin emphasises how important it is that the departments that are not initially part of the move to Brunnshög see the opportunities that open up at Sölvegatan, rather than be concerned about sinkholes appearing in the Knowledge Highway.

In the summer, the Faculty of Science and LTH opened a joint project office focusing on overseeing campus development in Science Village. The office, headed by Eva Åkesson, previously deputy vice-chancellor of Lund University and former vice-chancellor of Uppsala University, will, according to Lidin, play an important role in the faculties’ and University’s establishment of activities at Brunnshög.

“The office provides a physical focal point. Purely in organisational terms, it is essential. We have spent many years planning what we want to do in Science Village. But progress needs coordination of the practical and intellectual construction project”, says Sven Lidin.

He looks forward to continuing to be a driving force in the faculty’s and University’s journey towards the north-east. Even though the work on establishing support has not always been a cushy job and Lidin during his ten years with Science Village has become “nearsighted, flabby and middle-aged”, he is filled with confidence, belief in the future and optimism about developments over the next few years and decades.

“I have learned a lot about how processes for establishing support and decision-making go hand in hand. And also that I work in an organisation that is full of wise heads”, says Sven Lidin.

It is time to drive to Science Village to take photographs. We park at MAX IV and walk out onto the overgrown pasture land that is soon to be developed. Finds from archaeological excavations show that humans were active here as far back as 5 800 years ago. Hopefully, Science Village will add to the continuing long chain of human activity at Brunnshög over the coming centuries. We get to the top of an embankment and look out over the tramway, windmill and the silver-coloured research facilities that tower like high-tech spaceships over the flat agrarian landscape.

What would you see here at Brunnshög in 2030?

“Paradise on earth. Ha, joking aside, we will see an extremely exciting city district in which the University and the major facilities constitute an important part. Quite simply a very attractive and modern knowledge and living environment.”

And looking even further ahead?

“From a glaciological perspective, ever since the University was founded it has moved snail-like towards the north-east. If the new hospital is built at Brunnshög, which is one of the alternatives, perhaps the snail will get a bike. But by 2050 I am sure that we will see the major part of the Faculty of Science’s activities brought together at Brunnshög.”

Text and photo: Johan Joelsson, press officer at the Faculty of Science

This blog was originally published on the Science Village office blog. The Science Village office has now been closed and thus the blog is now published in the LU in Science Village-blog.

Lund University’s work to establish itself in Science Village has been ongoing for several years. Important steps towards an establishment, ranging from preparing indoor plans to a joint vision, have already been taken. Efforts to successfully create a presence in central Science Village are now further concretized through a joint office for the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Engineering, LTH. The new project office will oversee the process and more specifically coordinate and implement decisions made by these faculties regarding the Science Village establishment.  

The office will work closely with all parts of the university, with special focus on the Faculty of Science and LTH, which will move parts of research and education to Science Village.  

Lund University hopes that the establishment will inspire and help enable further important research progress, create new education programs and study environments. It is also envisioned to continue building on the rich student life throughout the whole campus. The office will be important in helping to achieve these goals and set visions for the establishment. 

The office opened at Ingvar Kamprad Designcentrum (IKDC) on 1 July and is headed by Professor Eva Åkesson, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Lund University and former Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University, working alongside Carina Jarl, Project Manager.

An office open to everyone    
The office is an open space to everyone and offers everything from rotating workspaces for those working with the establishment to the possibility to just pass by with questions about Lund University in Science Village.

Exhibitions, public webinars and breakfast seminars are some of the activities that the office will offer this autumn.