"A fantastic day" • Top Grades to Kunskap För Livet

"A perfect mix of activities with fantastic lecturers", "Well planned and prepared" and "Thank you for a fantastic day" are only a few comments after the premiere of the Faculty of Pharmacy's new arena Kunskap För Livet ("Knowledge for Life"), which this week filled Uppsala University’s Main Auditorium with more than 1,500 high school students, teachers and a selection of Sweden's foremost experts to identify the road to a sustainable lifestyle.

“We know that sleep, mental health, social media and all the other topics we highlighted are challenges to our entire society. Still, we were concerned that we perhaps aimed too high when booking the entire Main auditorium. Now, after meeting all these inspiring teens, dedicated teachers and incredible experts who so generously share their knowledge, our energy levels are on top. Together, they prove that it is entirely possible to make a positive difference, so Kunskap För Livet is without a doubt an arena we will return to, says Anja Sandström, moderator in the Main auditorium and Deputy dean at the Faculty of Pharmacy.

On site in the University Building were seven specially invited experts to give the students their best tips along the way to the future. Their commitment on stage was undisputable - according to Anja Sandström, everyone accepted without hesitating - and Jale Poljarevius, Head of intelligence in Police Region Mitt, started his presentation by stating that direct meetings with Uppsala's young people must remain a priority activity for the police. Between lectures, there was also opportunities for personal conversations in the University House foyer, meetings that were appreciated by young people and experts alike.

“To me, this is one of this years most important days at work. To get to talk about mental health and how we can protect ourselves with so many young people is an honor. My personal highlight was when a group of girls came forward and thanked us for helping their teachers understand how young people's brains work. That can't be beaten, and I take with me a fantastic experience filled with hope and belief in the future,” says Lotta Borg Skoglund, doctor at SMART Psychiatry.

A prioritized feature at the meeting was the teen's own reflections on their habits and future. Via an interactive app, they responded to questions with a direct connection to today's focus areas, giving the experts on stage the opportunity to immediately adapt their tips to the young people in the auditorium. Among many interesting numbers, almost every fifth student stated that they experience difficulties falling asleep every school night. 72 percent answered that they feel more or less addicted to their phones and 69 percent that they believe that their generation will face a negative future. On the other hand: On the final question, 79 percent were convinced that they will have practical use of everything they learned at Knowledge for Life.

“Sweden is a good country with high quality education, meaning that you may not think too much about the future. Instead, it feels more like "it will surely be fine later". So that we today get the opportunity to come here and meet, listen to and ask questions to people conducting research om all that is going on, means that we take these questions more seriously than when we watch educational videos or read about them in books, state students William and Nikita in SVT Nyheter’s report from University Building.

With the premiere of the new arena in hindsight, preparations for Knowledge for Life 2.0 are already in full swing. A large number of teachers and students that participated in the auditorium have returned with both valuable input on how to develop the format and - not least - requests to reserve seats as soon as possible for the next step along the way to a sustainable lifestyle.

“Knowledge for Life is our response to all alarm reports about young people's habits and health. We want to give students the tools to break habits they are better without. We are currently in dialogue with a number of schools about their interest in a continuation, and in fact we could already today fill the auditorium with 1,500 new students. Their amazing response provides inspiration, but above all confirms how important these questions are, so I cannot emphasize how much we look forward to meeting Uppsala's young people again,” says Mathias Hallberg, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy.

Text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt