Sabina Braun appointed Head of the Agricultural Field Research Program

Sabina will take on a new role within the faculty as it launches this program, which consolidates the following activities:

• Lanna, Röbäcksdalen, and Lövsta field research stations conducting agricultural field trials,
• SLU Field Research, a collaborative organization between SLU and stakeholders in field research, focusing on quality assurance in field trial operations and data management,
• Coordination of SLU's Long-Term Agricultural Trials, comprising approximately 60 long-term agricultural experiments, functioning as a field laboratory for researchers across various disciplines,
• Variety Testing, a commissioned activity comparing new crop varieties to determine which ones have sufficiently favorable characteristics for cultivation in Sweden,
• The Climate Station at Ultuna, a meteorological station established in 1878, now featuring an extensive measurement program.

The overarching goal of the program is to strengthen applied agricultural research and enhance its societal impact. This includes implementing shared and quality-assured data management procedures, increasing coordination between the different components of the field research organization, boosting capacity for infrastructure grant applications, and improving the ability to keep up with technological, methodological, and competence developments.

The program's initial period will last for five years, after which an evaluation will be conducted before deciding on its continuation.

As program head, Sabina will collaborate with the directors of each unit and be supported by a steering group to achieve the program's objectives. Sabina sees great potential in establishing better and uniform data management routines and increasing the visibility of this unique infrastructure both within Sweden and internationally:

“Individually, our field stations and activities may seem small in an international context, but bringing them together under a single program highlights what an incredible resource we possess to tackle present and future challenges! Data management, in particular, is both a complex and vital issue to address. Equally important is ensuring that field work – establishing, managing, measuring, and harvesting field trials – is done efficiently and safely,” says Sabina Braun.

Vice Dean Göran Bergkvist, who led the planning of the program alongside researchers from several departments, views the program as an essential step in enhancing SLU's profile and unique position in agricultural research:

“No other actor in Sweden comes close to SLU’s capacity in applied agricultural research. This makes us a natural leader or partner in projects requiring data from ongoing or new agricultural trials.”

Outgoing Dean Torleif Härd regards the initiative as the culmination of a long period of efforts to strengthen applied agricultural research at SLU:

“We realized early in my term as dean that we needed to bolster this core part of SLU’s operations. The industry, for example, was concerned about SLU’s direction, but since then, collaboration with the industry has developed significantly, and we have progressively strengthened applied agricultural research.”

Torleif Härd notes that with the launch of the program, it can be said that “we have reached our goal” in this regard:

“What we need to continue working on is competence development. There lies a significant challenge in maintaining and building expertise in both fundamental and applied research and collaboration, while also safeguarding the capacity to teach in our excellent educational programs,” says Torleif Härd.