UUniCORN inaugurated
On March 4, 2025, UUniCORN, Uppsala University COnflicting Objectives Research Nexus, was officially inaugurated by Vice-chancellor Anders Hagfeldt and Director Mats Målqvist. In front of the 200 invited guests, they tied together ribbons to symbolize the new institute's ambition to bring together researchers, societal actors and other stakeholders to jointly contribute to sustainable societal transition.
Panel conversation between Måns Nilsson, Pella Thiel and Karin Tegmark Wisell, moderated by the director Mats Målqvist
UUniCORN is the first of Uppsala University's six new future institutes. The other institutes are intended to focus on migration, precision health, green energy transition, AI and digitalization, and interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary science.
Invited speakers were Lisen Schultz from Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC) and Mikael Kurkiala from the Church of Sweden's research department. Lisen shared experiences and lessons learned from the development of SRC, and emphasized the need for long-term funding, a common place and an important social issue to gather around. In his speech, Mikael reflected on the impact of modernity on our approach to the world and the eternal, how the pursuit of progress and growth is a journey that we rush along without a real goal.
After the introductory speeches, the inauguration concluded with a panel discussion between Måns Nilsson from Stockholm Environment Institute, Karin Tegmark Wisell, Ambassador for Global Health, and Pella Thiel, author and opinion leader. The conversation revolved around the question of how we view the conflicts of goals that exist in sustainable societal transformation, if it is a question of implementation, that we just need to become better and more efficient at implementing the necessary changes, or if it is a challenge that requires us to change our way of thinking and relating.
The inauguration ended with a dinner for invited guests at Värmland's nation with speeches by Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt, UuniCORN's chair Marika Edoff and Uppsala's municipal manager Erik Pelling.
To fulfill our mission, to identify, analyze and navigate goal conflicts in the societal transition, not only to a sustainable society, but to a restorative and regenerative society, we need to work together (from the director's inauguration speech)