Lights from Lund!

The time just before summer is a time for graduation ceremonies and various forms of festivities. We began with our graduation ceremony in the main University building on 20 May, where more than 110 Bachelor’s and Master’s students in engineering and architecture received their diplomas. Several scholarships were also awarded for efforts that deserved special attention. The chair of the Lund University Board, Jonas Hafström, gave a ceremonial speech where he related some words of wisdom from his extensive career in diplomacy, not least as Sweden’s ambassador to Thailand during the tsunami disaster. As Dean, it’s always fun to attend the graduation ceremony!

A week later, on 27 May, we continued with the Doctoral Conferment Ceremony, where 63 doctoral students from LTH were conferred, along with three honorary doctorates: Takehiko Kitamori, Heike Riel and Keith Trigwell. Even though I have been in the procession quite a few times – I have always tried to be there for the conferment of my own doctoral students – walking into the crowded Lund Cathedral is always a powerful experience. Several hours of lectures in Latin might seem long, but it’s a great feeling – followed by a real party in the evening!

The day before the conferment ceremony, I also opened the architecture students’ spring exhibition, and then the School of Industrial Design’s exhibition one week later. It was great to see the exuberant creativity and the impressive work that had been done.These LTH students, who are now entering a new phase in their lives, are truly the lights from Lund!

As I have said many times, education is our most important assignment, and the knowledge transfer that takes place when a person leaves LTH for somewhere else, is both major and important. This applies at all levels of education, as well as for people who move between academia and industry in different capacities.
The most recent celebration – the inauguration of MAX IV, the world’s strongest light source – took place when the sun was at its highest point in the sky in Lund: 21 June at 13:08:55. It was a fantastic event. A new era has begun in Lund with the large research facilities – now MAX IV and in a few years ESS. This is another highly tangible and perhaps more literal “light” from Lund.

Viktor Öwall
Dean LTH

PS The title of the blogpost can be seen as paraphrasing the title of the old Nils Poppe movie “The Light from Lund” (1955).