“This was crucial. The costs plus the fact that everything indicated that if we had relocated first and second-cycle education there, it would have been difficult for students and teaching staff who would have had to travel back and forth between Sölvegatan and Science Village,” says Annika Mårtensson, assistant dean at the Faculty of Engineering (LTH) with responsibility for campus development.
Some parts might move
Further establishment in Science Village, in addition to NanoLab and LINXS, may still be considered. This spring, LTH and the Faculty of Science will investigate the issue and what is required to create a minimum “critical mass” that makes it worthwhile to move there. The investigators will look at how many people and which research specialisations may be relevant; an initial report on this work will be made in June.
At the moment, the focus is on NanoLab which is decided and scheduled to open in 2029. But other smaller research infrastructures may also be considered for establishment in Science Village, such as the Laser Centre.
“But merely establishing infrastructures is pointless; people are also needed who benefit from being in Science Village with its proximity to the major research facilities and companies that will be set up there. That’s what we’ll be looking at this spring,” says Annika Mårtensson.
Varying needs
The need to be in Science Village varies among physicists and chemists. While materials researchers and atomic physicists could benefit, the advantages are far less clear-cut for astronomers, for example.
Conditions for further establishment should therefore be based on the needs of the organisations and a long-term strategy for organisational development, according to Per Persson, dean of the Faculty of Science.
“Sure, organisational development has been looked at earlier in the process as well, but from the perspective of relocating the whole of physics and chemistry to Science Village. We will now analyse the needs and long-term development of the organisations without the precondition that all chemistry and physics should relocate to Science Village. There could be major benefits from closer collaboration between parts of chemistry and physics, but the conditions and forms for this need to be investigated,” says Per Persson, summarising:
Organisational development
“In accordance with the decisions of the faculty boards, the important thing now is to investigate which activities should complement the relocation of NanoLab, followed by the dimensioning, forms of collaboration and organisation of these. You can call it a minimum critical mass if you like. At the same time, we need to work on the organisational development of both chemistry and physics. And everything must be done within the financial frameworks we have today and those we believe we will have in the future.”
