Our researchers in the media, 7 March – 18 June

Selection from the media 7 March 2025 – 18 June 2025.

Note that no links to material behind a paywall are provided. Instead, please use Retriever Research at the University Library (see Fact box below).

Sharp increase in conflicts and wars in 2024

The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) has released its annual statistics, which show that the number of armed conflicts in the world reached a record level in 2024, with 61 active conflicts involving at least one state. Despite slightly fewer deaths compared with previous years, targeted violence against civilians increased significantly. The news presented and discussed by peace and conflict researchers Shawn Davies, Therese Petersson and Magnus Öberg achieved wide global circulation.

UCDP: Sharp increase in conflicts and wars (Uppsala University news)

K-pop in Uppsala

K-pop has evolved from a music genre to a global cultural phenomenon with significant societal impact. In early June, Uppsala University, together with the Korean Cultural Center in Sweden, organised a symposium and conference on the theme of K-pop. Vetenskapsradion (Swedish Science Radio) visited the conference and talked to the organiser Tobias Plebuch, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Musicology, and others.

K-pop conference – researchers scrutinise Korean pop wave (Radio Sweden)

Ministers and their shareholdings

Johan Pehrson and Mats Persson (Liberal Party) and Maria Malmer Stenergard (Moderate Party) were reported to the Swedish Parliament’s Committee on the Constitution in the spring following revelations about their shareholdings. Olle Lundin, Professor of Administrative Law at the Department of Law, writes in the newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the government does not seem to take shareholdings and conflict of interest risks seriously enough. Daniel Stattin, Professor of Civil Law at the Department of Law, also talks about Johan Pehrsson’s shareholdings in several media outlets.

Ministers’ reporting of shareholdings questioned: “Clearly inadequate” (Dagens Nyheter)

Johan Pehrson broke the law – did not report shareholdings (Radio Sweden)

Adoption Commission completes inquiry

Anna Singer, Professor of Civil Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law, has chaired the Adoption Commission’s inquiry, which delivered its report to the government in early June. She was subsequently interviewed in a number of media outlets about the report, which proposes, among other things, an end to international adoptions, travel grants to the country of birth and a public apology from the Swedish state.

Inquiry chair wants to stop international adoptions (Aftonbladet)

Conflict between India and Pakistan

Sten Widmalm, Professor at the Department of Political Science, has talked about the conflict that has flared up between India and Pakistan in several major Swedish media outlets. Both the escalation and the sudden ceasefire are surprising, he tells Radio Sweden and others.

Expert surprised by sudden ceasefire in Kashmir (Radio Sweden)

Easter, student caps and National Day celebrations

Birgitta Meurling, Professor at the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology, has been widely quoted in the media this spring. She has talked about Easter, the student cap and Sweden’s National Day. According to Meurling, Norway would win the competition as to which of the two neighbouring countries celebrates most.

“Norway comes out on top in that competition. They are a bit more passionate about their country and nation than we Swedes,” says Meurling.

National Day competition – researcher: “Norwegians are a bit more passionate about their country” (SVT News)

The University, Israel and Gaza

How universities and their researchers should respond to Israel’s war against Hamas has been widely debated in the media. As reported by the newspaper Dagens Nyheter and others, Petter Hellström, a researcher at the Department of History of Science and Ideas, has started a petition against Swedish universities collaborating with Israeli state universities. Ylva Söderfeldt, Senior Lecturer in the History of Science and Ideas, writes an opinion piece in the research magazine Curie in which she argues that universities have to be able to collaborate with researchers in Israel. Matylda Jonas-Kowalik, a doctoral student at the Uppsala Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, replies that the calls for a boycott are about institutions, not individual researchers.

Researchers boycott Israel: “This is not activism” (Dagens Nyheter)

We have to be able to collaborate with researchers from Israel (Curie)

Reply: Boycott calls do not concern individual Israeli researchers (Curie)

Sandra Gunnarsson