International Advisory Board

Uppsala University has an International Advisory Board consisting of eight members appointed for three years. The group was established in October 2025 and will provide strategic advice to the University Management on research, education, organisation and academic leadership.

Members

Meric Gertler (chair)

Meric Gertler is a Canadian researcher and university leader, serving as President of the University of Toronto from 2013 to 2025. His research area is urban development and economics in innovative regions, including the role of universities in stimulating local and national economic development. As a university leader, he has driven strategies for deeper global engagement, interdisciplinary education, innovation and interdisciplinarity. He is the former chair of Universities Canada, the U15 Group of Canada’s Leading Research Universities, and the U7+ Alliance of World Universities. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the British Academy.

Bertil Andersson

Bertil Andersson is a biochemist and former President of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. During his time at NTU, he helped the university climb in the rankings and become a world-leading research university. He was formerly Vice-Chancellor of Linköping University and Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation. As a researcher, Andersson is known for his work on photosynthesis and plant biochemistry.

Helén Andersson Svahn

Helén Andersson Svahn is an alumna of Uppsala University and Professor of Nanobiotechnology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Her research group develops micro- and nanofluidic systems for biomedical applications, such as single-use diagnostics and cell analysis. She works in both academia and business and is currently CEO of the start-up Picovitro AB and a board member of Mercedes-Benz. In 2003, she was selected as one of the MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35.

Liselotte Højgaard

Liselotte Højgaard is Clinical Professor at the University of Copenhagen. In recent years, she has focused on links between clinical physiology and diagnostic methods and disease monitoring. Recently, her research team has initiated AI for clinical use. She has held several prominent positions, including chairing the European Medical Research Councils and the Horizon 2020 Medical Scientific Advisory Group. She has also chaired the Danish National Research Foundation and been a member of the board of directors of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. She is currently Vice-President of the ERC Scientific Council.

Helge Jordheim

Helge Jordheim is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Oslo and researches conceptual history, temporal theory, and media and cultural history. In recent years, his research has focused on understandings and experiences of time, in projects with a global historical and increasingly interdisciplinary scope. He has led several interdisciplinary research projects, and is currently the director of LIFETIMES, a platform for a number of research projects. In 2023, he was awarded the Gad Rausing Prize for Outstanding Humanities Research. He currently leads the Centre for Global Sustainability.

Lise Korsten

Lise Korsten is Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, and Co-Director of the DSI/NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security. Her research focuses on food safety and quality in fresh produce, with a particular focus on sub-Saharan Africa. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Ghent University in 2025 for her contributions to food security and sustainable food supply systems. Korsten has played a leading role in developing national food control strategies and is actively involved in international expert panels on food safety and microbiological risk. She is currently President of the African Academy of Sciences.

Svante Pääbo

Svante Pääbo is a Swedish geneticist, alumnus of Uppsala University and Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2022 for his ground-breaking discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution. Pääbo has established palaeogenetics as a field of research and his latest work concerns how genes from extinct relatives affect modern human biology.

Rafael Reif

Rafael Reif is an electrical engineer and academic leader, who was President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2012 until the end of 2022. As President of MIT, he led the university’s focus on data science and artificial intelligence, innovation ecosystems and online learning. In October 2022, he received the Simon Ramo Founders Award from the US National Academy of Engineering for his leadership in higher education and technology