Letter from the dean

Preparing to meet major societal challenges

The recent headlines about PFAS in pesticides, fast-growing chickens, inadequate preparedness and the impact of climate change on our ability to produce food show that there is important work to be done at SLU. The need to combine food production with measures that benefit biodiversity is another such challenge.

Ever since chemical pesticides and the large-scale use of mineral fertilisers became standard practice in the 1960s, agriculture has to some extent been able to disregard ecological considerations while still delivering Swedish food to our tables. That is no longer the case. New chemicals are no longer being introduced at the same pace, and their negative impact on ecosystems needs to be reduced. Agriculture must adapt both to cope with climate change and to help prevent it from getting worse. Animals need to contribute to ecosystem functions rather than simply being viewed as a raw material for food. This is where ecology becomes important!

Strategic initiatives to meet future challenges

But SLU is not standing still. The vice chancellor´s future initiative for associate senior lecturers is beginning to take shape, with talented young researchers being appointed to these positions. The hope is that these researchers will open up research areas that cut across disciplines and address major societal challenges. This spring, the Swedish Research Council recommended that the research programme Prepared for Food Crisis (BeReady) should receive funding as part of the government’s investment in strategic research areas. BeReady aims to establish food preparedness as an interdisciplinary field of research. Both of these initiatives, along with many other projects in the same spirit, have the potential to help achieve the strategic goal that SLU should “take a leading global position in resilient ecosystems, future sustainable crop production systems and One Health”.

Another SLU goal is to strengthen our digital infrastructure. I am therefore pleased to note that the programme for agricultural field research, in which we have brought together our infrastructures related to agricultural research, has got off to a good start. Among other things, this has given us the capacity to participate in major European consortia and compete for infrastructure funding through Horizon to develop and make better use of our agricultural experimental data with the help of, for example, AI. We are very hopeful that one of these applications will be successful.

Infrastructure that creates new opportunities

Another initiative linked to our infrastructures, and of great strategic importance, is SLU Northern Life Node (SLU Norra Livsnoden), where Marie Gidlund recently started her position as programme manager. The node will serve as a platform where academia and societal stakeholders can come together to develop solutions for sustainable food systems in northern climates. The initiative will involve both research and the development of the Röbäcksdalen research station in Umeå. Please do not hesitate to contact Marie if you have views on how the activities can be developed.

The initiatives described above are examples of how SLU is making conscious strategic choices to ensure that our research is not only innovative, but also relevant to society and resource-efficient. That feels good!

Finally, I would like to say how pleased I am that, during the past week, I have had the opportunity to give lectures to brand-new SLU students on the Biology and Environmental Science, Agronomy and Bioresource Systems (Master of Science in Engineering) programmes. I hope that they, like all our new and returning students, feel welcome at SLU!

Best wishes, Göran Bergkvist, Vice Dean