Sustainability Issue #3 November 2008

 Professor Emeritus Bengt Vessby has been awarded the 2008 honorary doctorate by the SLU Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. Vessby is one of the pioneers in clinical nutritional research and has brought Uppsala to prominence as a strong international research centre in the field of nutritional research.

 Professor Mark Stitt, a world authority in plant research, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Umeå University. Mark Stitt is director of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology at Golm, Germany. He has made a special study of how plants adapt to changes such as nutrient deficiency or temperature variations, and has made his expertise available to Umeå Plant Science Centre.

 Professor Krzysztof Edward Skóra, head of Hel Marine Station at Gdansk University, is this year's recipient of the Swedish Baltic Sea Water Award. In his research, Professor Skóra has studied the impact of invasive species and the effects of this on the fragile coastal ecosystems in Poland.

 Eric Granryd, professor at KTH, has received the "Peter Ritter von Rittinger International Heat Pump Award" for 2008. Granryd's most prominent contribution to research and the development of heat pump technology are his calculation methods for air coils and the optimisation of heat pump systems.

 Arthur Ragauskas, American professor of chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been appointed to the new Fulbright Chair in Alternative Energy at the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Chalmers. Ragauskas will work on fuels from bio-based raw materials. The aim of the chair is to create collaboration on environmental issues between USA and Sweden.

 Per Eriksson, Director General of Vinnova, has been appointed Vice Chancellor at Lund University from January 2009.

 From January 2009, Detlof von Winterfeldt will be the new director of IIASA, International Institute for Applied System Analysis. Until January Sten Nilsson is director.

 Jenny Karlsson, Head of Production at Skanska, has been elected Manager of the Year by the Centre for Management in the Construction Sector, CMB.

 Mats Ulmestrand, researcher at the Lysekil Marine Fisheries Laboratory of the Swedish Board of Fisheries, has received the 2008 award "Kungsfenan" in the category Sustainable Fishing Industry. Ulmestrand has received this distinction for his work on developing fishing tackle which sorts the fish by size and species at the time it is caught; this is the best method for preventing catches of prohibited species. The prize is worth KSEK 200.

 Maria Norrfalk, Governor of Dalarna, has been appointed head of the investigation into moose management by the Government. The investigation will suggest changes and simplifications for local management of the moose population and propose what data are needed for deciding how may moose can be shot.

 Lars-Erik Liljelund has relinquished his post as Director General of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and will now be dealing with environmental issues in the Swedish Cabinet Office in preparation for Sweden's assumption of the EU Presidency in 2009. Priority will be given to the issues of climate and the Baltic Sea.

 Mads Flarup Christensen has been appointed the new Secretary General of Greenpeace Nordic.

 Katarina Heikkilä, PhD in Building Services Engineering, has received the Association of Swedish Heating & Air Conditioning Engineers' 2008 high prize of KSEK 50 for her thesis "Environmental Assessment of Air Conditioning Systems".

 Sofie Björling is the new head of the Research department at Formas. Björling is PhD in Chemistry and Biophysics and has worked at US universities for 10 years.

 Marie Uhrwing, PhD in Political Sciences, is a new Senior Research Officer at Formas. Her sphere of responsibility will be research issues associated with social sciences.

 Marie Emanuelsson, Forestry Officer and PhD in Forest Vegetation Ecology is also a new Senior Research Officer at Formas. She will be engaged at Formas in the fields of terrestrial ecology, biodiversity, the ERA-Net Biodiversa and SCAR.

 Johanna Dernfalk, who has recently been awarded her doctorate in Anatomy and Cell Biology at SLU, is a new Senior Research Officer at Formas, with agriculture, animals and veterinary medicine as her sphere of responsibility.

 Björn Sellberg, Senior Research Officer at Formas, has been appointed Assistant Professor in Geosciences at Luleå University of Technology.

 Rolf Annerberg, Director General of Formas, has been named as the Swedish Government's special investigator for the national environmental objective system which has now been in existence for 10 years. His duties will be to analyse, develop and effectivise the environmental objective system, set up international links and involve the business sector to a greater degree than up to now. His task is due to be completed not later than September 2009.