It gives me great pleasure to address the students at LUSEM, also in the format of Nådiga Lundtan. It has been soon six months since I took over as dean of school after Fredrik Andersson. I have been at the school since 2001, and I have my training in the social sciences at Lund University. I have also spent time at other universities, mostly in Sweden (Uppsala and KTH) but also abroad, with stints abroad as a guest professor at King’s College, London and through project collaborations with CBS in Copenhagen.

My main ambition is to solidify LUSEM’s reputation as an academically strong, and internationally open, environment in a vivid setting. But also for the school to be more daring and bold, by encouraging experiments with novelty and innovation in education and research. Let’s see how that will go!

What now? Even though we have been constrained by the pandemic, I have had numerous opportunities to interact with the students at LUSEM. I have been impressed by the industry and social engagement, that no pandemic has been able to curb. And now we look into the future. If the promising signs continue to prevail, the fall semester should be much more “normal” in the sense that we can actually meet and interact again. Some things will change, though, and hopefully we will make use of the best expressions of the forced digitalization – snappy meetings, interaction over long distances – while making the most of the physical meetings – more of tutorials and small group meetings, less of large gatherings in cramped rooms. Any which way, I very much look forward to shaping the future of LUSEM together with you, our current and future ambassadors of learning.