One candidate has withdrawn and Erik Renström will be put forward to the Electoral College

By Johanna [dot] Sandahl [at] kommunikation [dot] lu [dot] se (Johanna Sandahl) - published 12 May 2026

Erik Renström is the candidate who will be put forward to the Electoral College. Anna Stenport has announced that she is no longer a candidate for the post of Vice-Chancellor.

The Recruitment Committee had decided to present two candidates for the post of Vice-Chancellor to the Electoral College – Erik Renström, professor and current Vice-Chancellor of Lund University and Anna Stenport, professor and dean at the University of Georgia, USA. Anna Stenport has now informed the Recruitment Committee that, after careful consideration, she is no longer a candidate for the post of Vice-Chancellor.

“The Recruitment Committee was planning to put forward two highly qualified candidates to the Electoral College. Unfortunately, one candidate is no longer available. This means that Erik Renström is the candidate who will be put forward to the Electoral College,” says Ingrid Petersson, chair of the Recruitment Committee.

The Electoral College will, following its consultation, submit its statement to the Recruitment Committee by 20 May at the latest. Following consultation with the Electoral College, the Recruitment Committee will propose a candidate for the post of Vice-Chanceller to the University Board, which at its meeting on 4-5 June, will decide on the proposal for the new Vice-Chancellor. It is then the Government that appoints the Vice-Chancellor.

Read more about the process to appoint a Vice-Chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor: Recruitment of Vice-Chancellor and deputy vice-chancellor 2025-2026

Short presentation of Erik Renström

Professor of experimental endocrinology and current Vice-Chancellor of Lund University

Erik Renström was born in 1963 in Gothenburg and lives in Landskrona. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1992 and worked in clinical healthcare before obtaining his doctoral degree in membrane physiology from the University of Gothenburg in 1997. He was appointed professor of experimental endocrinology at Lund University in 2009 and served as dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University from 2018 to 2020. Erik Renström is serving as Vice-Chancellor of Lund University for the period 2021 to 2026.

Erik Renström has conducted diabetes research in Lund and Gothenburg and spent time as a postdoctoral researcher in the UK. Erik Renström has, among other things, also worked as a researcher at the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk A/S in Copenhagen, as a coordinator for the government’s strategic research area in diabetes research, Exodiab, and was one of the founders of the SWElife strategic innovation programme in the life sciences.