Karin Ljung receives the Arvid Lindman medal from SLU (Photo: Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin)
Karin Ljung, group leader at UPSC and professor at SLU, has been awarded the Arvid Lindman medal for her “outstanding contribution to research, teaching and supervision in the fields of forest biotechnology and experimental plant biology”. The Arvid Lindman medal is an award that SLU has dedicated to excellence within forest research. It was officially awarded to Karin Ljung at SLU’s doctoral award ceremony last Saturday.
Karin Ljung has been a research group leader at UPSC since 2005 and was promoted to professor at SLU in 2015. Her research at UPSC has mainly revolved around investigating the roles of plant growth regulators or hormones in root development and the integrative coordination of above and below ground growth. Apart from her “outstanding contribution to research, teaching and supervision”, her “exceptional contribution to the high international ranking of both UPSC and SLU within plant science research” was also highlighted in the motivation for the award.
Karin Ljung has also developed advanced methods both for hormone profiling in plant tissues and the analysis of hormone distribution and metabolism at cellular and sub-cellular resolution. Her successful research has resulted in multiple publications in high-ranking journals and she has been included since 2014 on the Clarivate Analytics list of the world’s highest-cited researchers. Besides her significant scientific contributions, Karin Ljung has taken over several commitment of trusts within UPSC, at SLU’s Faculty of Forest Science and on national and international levels, for example as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the European Forest Institute.
Karin Ljung could not join the doctoral award ceremony last Saturday in Uppsala and was presented the Arvid Lindman medal in absentia. At this ceremony, new doctors who have defended their theses since the last ceremony as well as honorary and jubilee doctors are officially conferred and medals and awards given by SLU are presented. Even though Karin Ljung could not be present at SLU’s doctoral award ceremony in Uppsala last Saturday, UPSC was well-represented.
Two new doctors from the Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology who defended their PhD thesis before August 31st 2023 received their insignia, as well as honorary doctor Malcolm Bennett, professor at the University of Nottingham. He was nominated by the Faculty of Forest Science due to his important long-standing collaborations with researchers at UPSC. Furthermore, Stéphanie Robert, also group leader at UPSC and professor at SLU, was given the honour of holding the inspirational lecture to the new doctors at the ceremony and she presented her research on the regulation of plant cell shape.
New Honorary doctor Malcolm Bennett and Stéphanie Robert, invited honorary lecturer, after SLU's Doctoral Award Ceremony (photo: Rishikesh Bhalerao)
Stéphanie Robert was given the honour of holding the inspirational lecture at the beginning of SLU's Doctoral Award Ceremony (photo: Simon Andersson)
More information about the Arvid Lindman medal
Arvid Lindman was a former Swedish prime minister who in 1915 was the first chairman of the board of the Forestry College, which is now SLU’s Faculty of Forest Science. The SLU Board chooses the medal awardee based on the suggestion of the Faculty of Forest Sciences. The medal will be awarded whenever the Faculty Board thinks it is appropriate. It is a reward for particularly meritorious scientific achievements and is awarded in connection with the annual doctoral award ceremony in October.
More information about SLU’s Doctoral Award Ceremony:
https://www.slu.se/en/about-slu/academic-ceremonies/doctoral-award-ceremony-2023/
You can also find the live broadcast of the doctoral award ceremony 2023 and of the honorary doctor’s lectures there.
Additional information
An interview with Karin Ljung for the International Day for Women and Girls in Science
More information about Malcolm Bennett’s appointment as honorary doctor
Stéphanie Robert received last year a large project grant from the Wallenberg Foundation to study plant cell identity. Read more the project “Decoding cell fate with positional information” here.
Text: Siamsa Doyle & Anne Honsel