How did you end up at the Faculty of Medicine in Lund?
– My wife was actually born right here in Lund, and her family are all Lund University alumni, so we have always had an eye on opportunities here. Then some years ago I met Professor Eva Ageberg through our research interests and she told me about a new lab they were planning here in Lund. For a few years I have been watching its development take place and when the opening for a director was posted, I felt like it as a great opportunity for me to help develop this important new infrastructure, and our family decided this was a great opportunity to try life in Sweden.
How has Sweden and the Medical Faculty welcomed you?
– Very, very well. I am in the Sports Science research group and my colleagues have been extremely kind and patient with me as I learn the ropes. The Faculty has also been very supportive and understanding of the challenges faced when moving into a new country and work environment.
– From the perspective of my director role, our new lab is up and running and attracting many new users. It is really exciting to see it being used for education, by municipalities looking into housing and sustainable development issues, by industry testing products and of course by other researchers from not only medicine, but other faculties as well.
Was it a culture shock coming here?
– Yes and no. I have been visiting Sweden on and off for about twenty years, so for the most part I knew what to expect. My son was even born in Malmö during a year I spent working at Copenhagen University. That meant I already had some friends in the area. It might seem funny, but knowing that I had some hockey buddies here and that I could get back on the ice and play gubbehockey (veteran hockey) was really important to me.
– Learning the administrative side of things, including how research is financed and supported both within and outside the University, is a feet. I am not starting from the beginning here, of course, but it is a big challenge to transition my work here. I have to remind myself that it is a process that will take some time.
Do you have any ideas for improvements in order to ease the lives of our foreign researchers?
– I think that having a more clear picture of the way workload, research funding and overhead interact and is administered within the University would have been very helpful, since it is quite different here in Sweden than I have experienced abroad. I have never experienced having to pay overhead on my own work, for example. When you grow up in that system, it is expected and you know how to navigate funding to offset it, but as a newcomer it was a bit of a shock.
Would you do it all over again?
– Yes.
Visit MoRe Lab in this article from Vetenskap & Hälsa (on Swedish)