Lund University Sees Surge in Global Recruitment Interest

The recruited researchers come from higher education institutions such as Harvard University, the University of Oxford, the Humbold University of Berlin, ETH Zürich and the University of Cambridge. The high number of applicants and quality of the applications means that Lund University has recruited significantly more researchers than planned.

"We chose to move forward with more than we originally planned as a response to the exceptionally strong field of applicants that included many high-quality applications and very interesting collaboration partners for Lund University," says Erik Renström, Vice-Chancellor of Lund University.

The initiative included both assistant professors and visiting professors. The budget for visiting professors has tripled - from the planned SEK 10 million to just over SEK 30 million.

In total, 32 visiting professors have been recruited, compared with the original plan of 10. In addition, 13 assistant professors have been recruited.

All told, the initiative means that 45 researchers will begin their assignments at Lund University in the spring of 2026.

"It's interesting to look more closely at what has attracted the researchers. Besides the University's good reputation, many regard Lund and Sweden as a model example of a well-functioning democracy with strong academic freedom and an open and equal society," says Erik Renström.

New initiative focuses on sustainability

There will be further calls for applications within the framework of the Lund University Programme for Global Excellence in the spring of 2026.

These will only cover assistant professors and focus on the faculties' strategically important cutting-edge areas, with a particular focus on sustainability.

"Lund University is ranked as best in the world in sustainability for 2026. That result is due to, among other things, the high quality of the University's own research and education in this area, which is a focus that will also clearly characterise the next initiative," says Erik Renström.

The 45 researchers

AI - Assistant Professors

• Sukrit Singh, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA
• Stig Strandbæk Nyman, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
• Lukas J. Meier, Harvard University, USA
• Haein Cho, Samsung Electronics, South Korea
• Eleni-Ira Panourgia, University of Copenhagen, Gustave Eiffel University, France
• Danqing Shi, University of Cambridge, UK
• Ye Hong, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Assistant Professors

• Linnéa Nordlander, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Jennifer Graham, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
• Kaizhen Li, University of Bern, Switzerland
• Adriano De Falco, University of Bologna, Italy
• Adam Koberinski, Western University, Canada
• Juliana Streva, Harvard University, USA

Visiting Professors

• Patrick MacDonald, University of Alberta, Canada
• Robert Cramer, PhD, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
• Sarah Rowland Jones, University of Oxford, UK
• Francisco Liñán, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
• Iuliana Ionita-Laza, Columbia University, USA
• J. David Hacker, University of Minnesota, USA
• Jørgen Modalsli, Oslo Business School at Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway
• Aynne Kokas, University of Virginia East Asia Center and University of Virginia, USA
• Edyta Roszko, Christian Michelsen Institute in Bergen, Norway
• Giovanni B. Bazzana, Harvard University, The Divinity School, USA
• Max Weiss, Princeton University, USA
• Morten Storm Overgaard, Aarhus University, Denmark
• Shelley Boulianne, Mount Royal University, Canada
• Dan Svantesson, Bond University, Australia
• Linda Gröning, University of Bergen, Norway
• Thérèse Murphy, School of Law at Queen's University, Belfast
• John Östh, Oslomet University, Norway
• Jonathan Scourfield, Cardiff University, UK
• Magdalena Nowicka, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
• Michael Hall, Massey University Business School, New Zealand
• Nadia Kaneva, University of Denver, USA
• Victoria Canning, Lancaster University, UK
• Zoe Robinson, Keele University, UK
• Anne Straube, University of Warwick, UK
• Chelsea Dvorak Specht, Cornell University, USA
• David Edwards, University of Cambridge, UK
• Johannes Lehmann, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor, USA
• Katerina Lipka, University of Wuppertal and DESY Hamburg, Germany
• Mike Jetten, Radboud University, The Netherlands
• Radu Laza, Stony Brook University, USA
• Yingda Cheng, Virginia Tech, USA
• One candidate will be formally appointed in spring 2026

Interviews with participating researchers