Nominate to Idéforum 2024: "Unexpected outside perspectives can be more important than a world-leading expert´s"

"It was exciting and rewarding! The moderators (Göran Bexell, Sven Strömqvist and Susanne Åkesson) did a fantastic job at moderating.”

"They also offered interesting and relevant presentations that I think all participants will benefit from. Per Mickwitz, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Sustainability and Campus Development, was also present and spoke about his journey and led discussions on how Lund University's interdisciplinary research can be further developed.”

"For me, the conference mainly meant new contacts that I believe will lead to cross-disciplinary research collaboration in the future and that I am better equipped to meet challenges in academia.”

"We listened to each other's presentations, discussed interdisciplinarity, the role of the university in society and key academic values. We also learned how a successful interdisciplinary research environment has been built and lessons learned from it.”

Take-aways from the conference?
"Sometimes it's good to raise your gaze. We have a fantastic university with a wide range of education and research, which is easy to forget in everyday life.”

"It was incredibly interesting. I didn't know what to expect after I was nominated, but I now realize that universities could use more of this type of forums.”

"I made a lot of new contacts. I come from an interdisciplinary research environment, but it is still linked to diagnostic imaging. To see how much good input you can get on basically medical research from archaeologists, economists and geologists is very exciting.”

"We discussed interdisciplinarity with eleven participants from different faculties and completely different research fields who presented their research, which was then discussed in groups. We also discussed and exchanged experiences on issues that are common to all researchers, and how we deal with them in different ways. There were also thought-provoking presentations from experienced researchers who shared their experiences of interdisciplinarity and leadership, and we had a great dialogue with Deputy Vice-Chancellor Per Mickwitz, who participated – very actively – as a representative of the University management.”

"I would also like to mention the very pleasant visit to Dag Hammarskjöld's scenic farm Backåkra, which was a nice break from the intensive schedule. There we also had the opportunity to see the chairman of the meeting and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Göran Bexell shine with a lecture on Dag Hammarskjöld's life and work.”

"The Idea forum has opened doors to many new fields and helped to make many unexpected contacts. Not least, it has also been a forum where people felt listened to in a very concrete way, and it already seems that the meeting will result in both measures from the University management and the LMK Foundation to promote both interdisciplinarity and research and the working climate in general at LU.”

Take-aways?
"If I were to name just one, it would be that another researcher's new and unexpected outside perspective on one's own research may be more important than that of a world-leading expert.”

How does one get the opportunity to participate?
“Be curious, open to new ideas and think outside the box. All university departments have the opportunity to nominate researchers, where the faculty then selects a few candidates for the LMK Foundation to sift through.”