On 19 February, Karolinska Institutet held a ceremony in the Nobel Forum for the recipients of the Diligence and Integrity in the Service of the Realm (NOR) award. The warm and festive evening of speeches, music and dining was dedicated to colleagues who have devoted 30 years of their working lives to KI's development and to Swedish public administration.
Colleagues and relatives gathered in the Nobel Forum on KI's Solna campus on 19 February to pay tribute to 25 of this year's 37 recipients of the Diligence and Integrity in the Service of the Realm (NOR) award. The individuals being rewarded for their contributions have been in state employ for 30 years, or 25 for those entering retirement.
The ceremony is a highly regarded tradition at Karolinska Institutet and an opportunity to pause and turn the spotlight on the decades of work that colleagues have devoted to KI and to public administration.
The ceremony opened with an address by University Director Veronika Sundström, followed by an historical overview of the work of the Nobel Forum by Ann-Mari Dumanski from the Nobel Office. KI president Annika Östman Wernerson then took to the podium to formally welcome this year's NOR awardees.
Contributed to continual improvements
In her address, Professor Östman Wernerson stressed how valuable their services to society and the development of KI have been:
"You've chosen to devote much of your working life to serving Karolinska Institutet and Sweden and to improving human health," she said.
Tying together past and present, the President recalled that many of this year's awardees began their service back in 1995, a year of significant change for both KI and Sweden. For example, Sweden joined the EU and KI acquired a clearer research profile with the launch of the biomedicine programme.
She then went on to acknowledge that KI has since grown, very much thanks to the efforts of these same colleagues:
"Your ideas and drive have helped to continually improve your work, and have made KI a better workplace and the leading medical university it is today," she said. "I like to say that KI is us. And this is exactly what I mean. That the sum total of everything we put in decides what comes out. What you, I - all of us - achieve."
Medals, music and masterpieces
The President's speech was followed by the medal ceremony proper. Musical entertainment was provided by the chamber music ensemble of the Medical Students' Association, and the participants were treated to a presentation of botanical masterpieces from the Hagströmer Library collections by curator of rare books and prints, Anna Lantz.
The evening concluded with a dinner in the Nobel Forum.
This year's recipients of the Diligence and Integrity in the Service of the Realm (NOR) award
Per Antonson, Lotta Arborelius, Velmurugesan Arulampalam, John Axelsson, Magnus Backheden, Louise Berg, Monika Berge‑Thelander, Camilla Björkegren, Mats Brenner, Lars E Eriksson, Li Felländer‑Tsai, Karin Garming Legert, Jacob Grünler, Pille Ann Härmat, Håkan Karlsson, Klas Karlsson, Therese Kindåker, Tiina Laas, Caroline Lindqvist, Mats Marshall Heyman, Susanne Maxeem, Ahmad Moshref, Cecilia Norrbrink, Anna Norrby‑Teglund, Magdalena Palmquist, Paolo Parini, Mia Pettersson, Fredrik Piehl, Mikael Rhen, Maud Rütting, Sophia Schedin Weiss, Jonas Sundbäck, Per Svenningsson, Linda Thörn, Lars Tjernberg, Danuta Wasserman and Rula Zain.
25 of the above attended the ceremony on 19 February.
