A Beginner’s Guide to Swedish Academia

The Young Academy of Sweden has developed a guide to help international researchers navigate the landscape of Swedish academia. The guide deals with topics such as qualifications and networks, but also discusses practical issues. SciLifeLab Fellow Lucie Delemotte is one of the authors to the guide.

“When I heard about the Dutch beginner’s guidebook to academia, I immediately thought that the Swedish equivalent would have been extremely valuable to have when I first joined Swedish academia as an assistant professor in 2016”, says Lucie Delemotte in a news article from Young Academy of Sweden.

“Indeed any academic system has a culture associated with it, and you mainly become familiar with it through personal connections and informal networks. For those coming from the outside, it can take a long time to get the same level of understanding as for people who have studied and began their academic career in that system. I was lucky enough to have a mentor who was very generous with their time and experience, and helped me understand many aspects of the system that are far from.

This guidebook is thus an opportunity for me to pay it forward, and to disseminate information to all interested in an open way. I hope this will facilitate the integration of foreign scholars in Sweden, thereby also strengthening the Swedish academic landscape, says Lucie Delemotte, Associate Professor of Biophysics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, one of the authors”, she continues.

Several members of the Young Academy of Sweden has been working on the guidebook together, each contributing with their own expertise and experiences. People with knowledge and insight into the research system has also acted as a reference group, providing ideas and comments.

The guide is available free online, but a limited printed edition will be released on October 19.

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