New honorary doctors 2026 at Uppsala University

This year’s recipients of honorary doctorates will receive their tokens of honour at the Winter Conferment Ceremony on 30 January 2026. Many of them will also give a lecture during their visit to the University.

The Conferment Ceremony is open to anyone interested and tickets can be booked online free of charge

New honorary doctors at the Faculty of Medicine

Elinor Karlsson is Associate Professor in Genomics and Computational Biology at UMass Chan Medical School and Director of Vertebrate Genomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Her research uses new technologies and the power of evolution to explore the genetic basis of disease and the origins of exceptional mammalian traits. She co-leads Zoonomia, an international collaboration comparing the genomes of more than 240 mammals to identify the most important segments of DNA. She also leads Darwin’s Ark, an open, community-science project engaging tens of thousands of pet owners to study how genetics and environment shape health and behaviour in dogs and cats.

Eva Nyström has made crucial contributions to the documentation and preservation of the history and cultural heritage of the Faculty of Medicine, of great value to both the Faculty and Uppsala University. As head of the Linnaeus Correspondence project, she has digitised Carl Linnaeus’s letters, thereby opening access to his correspondence with the scientific elite of his time, previously known only to a small circle. The letters are now openly available via Alvin, Uppsala University Library’s digital platform, and thus accessible to people around the world.

Hans Henri P. Kluge is a medical doctor and public health expert, currently serving his second term as WHO Regional Director for Europe. He focuses on strengthening health systems, preventing disease and promoting well-being, especially for vulnerable populations such as migrants. He has worked in conflict zones and prisons, among other settings, addressing serious health challenges. His leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing crises in Europe and the Middle East has been exemplary, emphasising preparedness, resilience and international collaboration.

New honorary doctor at the Faculty of Pharmacy

Peter Langguth is Professor in Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmaceutics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany. He has conducted research on various types of innovative and advanced dosage forms, with a focus on optimising drug delivery. He has served as Dean, received international awards and held key positions within Germany’s pharmaceutical community. Over the past decade, he has made major contributions to the development of lipid-based nanoparticles for mRNA delivery.

New honorary doctors at the Faculty of Law

Antje du Bois-Pedain is Professor of Criminal Law and Philosophy at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, Deputy Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Ethics at the Institute of Criminology, and a Fellow of Magdalene College. At the Faculty of Law, Professor du Bois-Pedain lectures Criminal Law and teaches a seminar course on Select Issues in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice.

Elina Pirjatanniemi is Professor of Constitutional Law and International Law at Åbo Akademi University and Director of the Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi University. Elina Pirjatanniemi is also an associate professor of criminal law at the University of Turku. Her research interests include human rights, migration law, criminal law, the relationship between national and international law, and the relationship between human rights and environmental considerations. She is a leading figure in the Nordic countries in the fields of human rights and migration.

New honorary doctors at The Faculty of Social Sciences

Erik Brynjolfsson is a leading authority on the economics of technology and AI. He is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), as well as Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. A pioneering voice in the economics of information, Brynjolfsson was among the first to quantify IT’s impact on productivity and to highlight the importance of intangibles such as organisational capital.

Duncan Ross is Professor of Economic and Social History, Dean of Learning and Teaching and Deputy Head of the College of Social Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He was educated at Glasgow and the London School of Economics. His PhD and early research was on banking and financial history, with a focus on the UK and, later, the emergence of banking clubs and consortia in Europe. He has also written on Foreign Direct Investment in Scotland. He has published in, among others, Economic History Review, Business History and Financial History Review.

New honorary doctor at the Faculty of Languages

Fredrik Logevall is one of the most prominent researchers in modern American history and American foreign policy. He is the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Professor of History at Harvard University. Logevall was born in Sweden in 1963, but emigrated in his teens with his family to British Columbia in Canada. In recent years, Logevall has developed an important collaboration with the Swedish Institute for North American Studies at the Faculty of Languages in Uppsala University.

New honorary doctors at the Faculty of Science and Technology

Andreas Kirschning has been a professor at the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Leibniz Universität Hannover since October 2000. He is internationally recognised for his work in synthetic organic chemistry, specialising in natural products as building blocks for active compounds. Applying techniques and methods from other disciplinary domains, such as life sciences and engineering, is a hallmark of his research.

Arjan Koning is a theoretical nuclear physicist and a world-leading expert in nuclear data, coordinating and conducting research and development in the field. He currently does this as head of the Nuclear Data Section at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Arjan Koning’s contributions to the international development of nuclear data span areas ranging from nuclear technology and astrophysics to medical applications.

Roxane Maranger is a limnologist and a leading figure in the study of how human impact and climate change affect water quality and greenhouse gas emissions in both inland and marine waters. She has served as president of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), the foremost international organisation for research on lake and ocean ecology. She is also a former visiting professor at Uppsala University and has a close collaboration with researchers at all levels, from doctoral students to professors at the University.

New honorary doctor at the Faculty of Theology

Jaana Hallamaa, professor in social ethics at the University of Helsinki, is honoured for her contributions to research in theology and her deep commitment to both academic and practical work on social ethics issues. Her research is internationally recognised and spans many areas – from theological and applied ethics to philosophical analyses of second-person phenomenology. Professor Hallamaa has completed a number of extensive projects including a project on the Ethical, cultural and religious conditions for sustainable stem cell research and another on Decision-making in healthcare. Professor Hallamaa’s current project deals with analysing the Implications of AI for moral agency.

New honorary doctor at the Faculty of Educational Sciences

Agnès van Zanten, Professor Emerita at the Centre for Research on Social Inequalities at SciencesPo/National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paris, France, is honoured for her significant contribution to the sociology of education through her research on social groups' educational strategies, the production of segregation and inequalities. van Zanten has made significant contributions to the sociology of education through research into how different social groups, especially elites, exploit educational systems.

Johan Ahlenius