COLLABORATION. This year’s Almedalen Week is over. With more items on the official program than ever: 4,100 over seven days. Visitors chose anything from “Nordic initiative for vendor responsibility in Thailand” to “More vegan options at work – how I can veganize working hours”. And naturally the speeches from the party leaders. But regardless of this incredible scope, two areas stood out: health and medical care and sustainability.
Researchers from the Sahlgrenska Academy took part in many exciting seminars, panel debates and other events in both areas. As part of the seminars organized by the West Sweden Arena, that brings together the University of Gothenburg, Region Västra Götaland, the City of Gothenburg, Chalmers, the West Sweden Chamber of Commerce, the University of Borås, the University of Skövde, and University West. This year, the University of Gothenburg chose to present research from the interdisciplinary research initiative UGOT Challenges. AgeCap and CARe are two of the six research centers that make up UGOT Challenges.
At the seminar “Soon there will be more over 65s than under 16s – Crisis or opportunity?” researchers from AgeCap (Center for Aging and Health) discussed the issue with pensioner organizations, research councils, industry, the media, and politicians. There is a dramatic increase in the number of older people all over the world, and by 2020 there will be more over 65s than under 16s. Is society ready? Will the world be filled with infirm and demented old people, or will it be an advantage that more people have longer life experience? Watch the seminar on: gu.se/almedalen
CARe (Center for Antibiotic Resistance Research) held a seminar with the theme, “Our antibiotics in their water – emissions from pharmaceutical production and possible solutions”. Massive emissions from the manufacture of antibiotics risk furthering the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria, one of the biggest contemporary social challenges faced globally. How can Sweden act to reduce these emissions? Together with politicians, industry and the public, researchers discussed what we do, do not, and maybe should do. Watch the seminar on: gu.se/almedalen
Health and medical care
Another popular activity was Sahlgrenska Academy’s Life Science mingle, which was organized together with Swedish MedTech, the association for medical technology in Sweden. Around 60 participants were able to meet members of the Sahlgrenska Academy’s administration and discuss the current and future possibilities in Life Science. Johanna Adami, appointed investigator for regulating biobanks and President of Sophiahemmet University, and Lars GJ Hammarström, Strategic Relations Officer at SciLifeLab (national center for molecular biosciences with focus on health and environmental research) presented insights and reflections.
More about Sahlgrenska Academy’s participation on: sahlgrenska.gu.se/forskning/aktuellt)
The extensive Almedalen program included many exciting highlights for everyone interested in health care and welfare issues. A small selection. The Swedish Medical Association arranged a seminar on the theme “How can we re-set health care to meet future challenges”. The panel included the Heidi Stensmyren, president of the Swedish Medical Association, government investigator Anna Nergårdh and political representatives from several regions. One much discussed topic addressed how many administrative tasks health care can manage, and several parties stated that there must be harder screening so time is allocated to the right areas.
The seminar “Credit where credit’s due – doctoral students’ journey to independence” discussed the relationship between doctoral students and tutor advisers. The panel included Anna Ilar, Chair of the SULF’s Association of Doctoral Candidates (SDF) Board and Director General of the Swedish Research Council, Sven Stafström. Organized by Swedish Association of University Teachers and Researchers, SULF. The classic question is who takes credit for results – but the panel were generally in agreement that the issue is manageable, and the majority of doctoral students are extremely satisfied with their education. However, as Anna Ilar emphasized, it is important that higher education institutions pick up on tutor advisers who do not work seriously, and have good routines to discover and manage problems.
Misconduct and firmness
Uppsala University arranged a lecture on “Misconduct in research and ethical reviews – how the patient is protected” led by deans from Uppsala, Lund and Linköping University. It is a highly topical subject, not just in light of headlines of misconduct in medical research. SOU 2017:10 New procedures to promote good practice and deal with research misconduct is currently under consideration and universities have many thoughts on the proposal. Among other things, about the short period of limitation of two years, and the serious consequences met by researchers suspected of misconduct. The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Gothenburg, Pam Fredman, was one of the most active in the debate that followed. The university representatives agreed that more work is needed.
Pam Fredman was also a key panel member for the seminar “Who and what shall direct the higher education institution” organized by the Association of Swedish Higher Education, SUHF. Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Minister for Higher Education and Research who opened the seminar, commissioned Pam Fredman this spring on behalf of the government to review and propose a new control and resource allocation system for Sweden’s universities and higher education institutions. “Control for strong and responsible higher education institutions” will be presented in December 2018. Higher education institutions, the Ministry of Education and Research, the Riksdag and the Swedish National Union of Students (SFS) were represented on the panel. Hellmark Knutsson began by stating that “perhaps there is now too much control and measurement” and standardization. Discussions touched upon increased “programization” and focus on campus-based education – and consequently less focus on continuing professional development and lifelong learning. Combined direct government funding – how higher education institutions decide how to allocate the funding – was also a major discussion topic.
Region Skåne arranged the seminar, “Patient movement at any cost? What happens when the system is exploited?”. The chair and deputy chair of the Riksdag’s social committee debated with Members of the Regional Executive Board from Skåne. The Members of the Regional Executive Board raised the problem of how regions experience financial planning difficulties, as they do not know the level of payment to be made for health care in other EU countries. For example, there is a clinic in Denmark that actively advertises to Swedish patients. Among other things, the discussion addressed how much payment should go to a different country via the state.
Many program topics also discussed information and the problem with unscientific advice being spread so easily, for example about food and diets, or treating diseases. Here, the Academy has an important role to fill and we need to think about how we can become even better at reaching out with information and advice based on science. An exciting, but difficult task.
Our new Vice-Chancellor Eva Wiberg, and Pro Vice-Chancellor Mattias Goksör spent their first days as the new university management at Almedalen.
Read more on: http://www.gu.se/omuniversitetet/aktuellt/nyheter/detalj//rivstart-i-almedalen-for-nya-rektorn-eva-wiberg-.cid1484702
More about the University of Gothenburg’s activities at Almedalen: gu.se/almedalen
You can watch all seminars from the West Sweden Arena on: http://vastsvenskaarenan.se/vara-live-sandningar/
TEXT: ANNA von PORAT
