The university board is a university’s highest decision-making body. Under the Higher Education Act, the board shall “supervise all of its [the university’s] operations and assume responsibility for the fulfilment of its mandate“.
Presentation of board members
Lars Haikola, former chancellor of the Swedish Higher Education Authority
He defended his doctoral thesis on Ludwig Wittgenstein in philosophy of religion in 1977.
Lars Haikola’s first managerial role was as head of the School of Theology at Lund University. Later he was appointed vice-chancellor of the Teacher Training College in Malmö and then as vice-chancellor at Blekinge Institute of Technology and Campus Helsingborg (Lund University).
He led the merger of Växjö University and the University of Kalmar, which today form Linnaeus University. Between 2010–2014, Lars Haikola was chancellor and head of the Swedish Higher Education Authority. Born in 1947.
Åke Ingerman is professor of science and technology education.
He has a Degree of Master of Science in Engineering Physics from Chalmers University of Technology. He obtained his PhD in physics with an education specialisation in 2002 and was appointed professor at the University of Gothenburg in 2011.
Åke Ingerman’s research focuses, among other things, on the relationship between teaching and learning in science, technology, and mathematics. The majority of the studies he has led have been practice-based classroom studies in collaboration with teachers, from primary school to university level, with an important aim of contributing concrete knowledge that can improve teaching.
His own teaching has recently been mainly at the doctoral level, but he has previously taught physics and mathematics – in teacher education and on courses in higher education pedagogy.
Between 2015 and 2024, Åke Ingerman was dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Gothenburg. He has been a visiting researcher at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Born in 1973.
Representatives of public interests
Jonas Albertson, CTO, Epiroc Group and CEO, Epiroc Rock Drills AB
Jonas Albertson has an MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology. A member of Epiroc’ group management since 2020, he has previously had several leading positions at Atlas Copco. Jonas Albertson lives in Örebro. Born in 1967.
Cissi Billgren Askwall is coordinator of a national platform for research news and communication at the Swedish Research Council. She was previously secretary general of VA (Public & Science Sweden), a non-profit membership organisation promoting dialogue and openness between researchers and the public, head of communications at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a news journalist.
Cissi Billgren Askwall is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry’s. She was born in 1966.
Photo: Gustaf Waesterberg
Lisa Månsson is director general of the Swedish Museum of Natural History.
The Swedish Museum of Natural History is a government authority under the Ministry of Culture and one of Sweden’s largest museums, with extensive research activities. Lisa Månsson is a researcher by training but has held leading positions in museum and science centre organisations for over a decade. From 2015 to 2020, she was museum director of the Vasa Museum – the most visited museum in Scandinavia. Between 2010 and 2015, she held various leadership roles at the science centre Tom Tits Experiment. Lisa Månsson serves on several boards, including the Swedish Museums Association and the European science museum network Ecsite.
Lisa Månsson holds a PhD in infection biology from Karolinska Institutet and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Photo: Bengt Olofsson
Sari Ponzer is professor of orthopaedic surgery at Karolinska Institutet and head of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Södersjukhuset Hospital, Stockholm. She is also the director of research, education, development and innovation at Södersjukhuset Hospital.
Sari Ponzer has been involved in the reform of both the undergraduate medical programme and the nursing programme at Karolinska Institutet. She has led a number of pedagogical projects and has worked as lecturer, supervisor and course director within undergraduate medical education. She has held various leading posts at Karolinska Institutet, among them head of school and dean of education.
Her research focuses orthopaedics, mainly trauma including osteoporosis injuries, but she also conducts research in medical pedagogics.
Sari Ponzer obtained her nursing degree in Helsinki in 1978, completed her undergraduate medical education in 1986, and was appointed professor of orthopaedic surgery at Karolinska Institutet in 2007. Born in 1956.
Oddrun Samdal, professor at the University of Bergen, Norway
Oddrun Samdal obtained her PhD in 1999 and since 2007, she is professor of health promotion and health psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway. Her research interests include school as pupils’ work environment, health promotion at school, and physical activity in children and adolescents. Born in 1967.
Photo: Eivind Senneset
Rickard Simonsson, CEO, Region Örebro County
Rickard Simonsson has been CEO of the regional health authority Region Örebro County since 2011. Prior to that, he held the position as chief financial officer at Örebro County Council. He has also worked for the investment company Kommuninvest and Örebro Municipality. Born in 1968.
Photo: Pavel Koubek
Mats Tysklind, professor of environmental chemistry at Umeå University
Mats Tysklind is professor at the Department of Chemistry at Umeå University. His research is focused on the environmental behaviour of both legacy and new pollutants. Special research interests include contamination of soil and water, and he also studies the transportation, transformation and biological uptake of environmental pollutants in various organisms. Born in 1956.
Photo: Mattias Pettersson
Faculty representatives
Erik Sjöstedt is lecturer at the School of Science and Technology. His academic focus is botany, plant physiology and zoology. He has been involved in developing the biology components of the Early Years and Primary Education Programmes as well as the Subject Teacher Education Programme in biology. Research-wise, Erik Sjöstedt is involved in a study on how students approach and view the subject of technology.
Eva Särndahl is professor of medicine with a specialisation in medical microbiology. Her research concerns inflammation as a natural process of keeping us healthy. It also looks at the link between dysregulated inflammation and the development of common diseases. She is the director of the research environment Inflammatory Response and Infection Susceptibility Center (iRiSC).
Daroon Yassin is senior lecturer in the Swedish language and part of the multidisciplinary research environment Centre for Research in the Humanities (CHF) at the School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Her academic focus is on writing and the development of writing skills in education, with a particular focus on teaching writing skills and pupil-produced texts in primary school. She mainly teaches on the teacher programme, including on courses on grammar, text analysis and the didactics of reading and writing. She is also co-coordinator of the Primary Education Programme.
Louise Pålsson has been the university director at Örebro University since September 2014. As university director, she reports directly to the vice-chancellor and is responsible for the university’s joint administration and support operations and their development. The university director is part of the university’s management team which consists of the vice-chancellor, the deputy vice-chancellor and the university director.
Åke Strid is acting deputy vice-chancellor at Örebro University, professor of biochemistry and research leader at the Molecular Biochemistry research group.
