The recipients of the 2021 prize are Rikard Stymne at the IT unit of the Faculties of Humanities and Theology and project managers Jennie Paldanius and Maria Hedberg at LDC/AHU (Division for Higher Education Development).
With this award, the University Management wishes to recognise extraordinary contributions in administration throughout the University. The prize, which amounts to SEK 15,000 for professional development, will be awarded at the University’s annual academic ceremony in January 2021.
From the nominations
Project managers Jennie Paldanius and Maria Hedberg at LDC/AHU
“In 2020 the University’s terms and conditions for conducting physical education and research were altered due to the pandemic, and the entire organisation was forced to become digital in a manner and at a pace that no one believed possible.
One important factor was being able to offer teaching via a digital tool. The learning platform already available in Canvas came to have an almost vital importance. We are surely all impressed at how fast the transition was made to a digital provision of teaching, and we are convinced that the two nominees played a very important part in this transformation.”
Systems developer Rikard Stymne at the IT unit of the Faculties of Humanities and Theology
“A softly spoken and modest person himself, Rikard Stymne has an unusual ability to place the focus on the recipient. As a programmer and systems developer, he is what you could call bilingual – he is very skilled in programming and finding technical solutions, but he is also exceptionally good at understanding what those ‘on the other side’ think and need, and expressing himself in a way that we understand. This makes him a friendly and service-minded person at heart with considerable pedagogical ability. He does not work with technology just for the sake of it; he has a clear goal of making it easier for users.
It would be easy to say that Rikard is phenomenal at finding solutions, but that is not the whole truth.
In addition to finding solutions to problems, he also uncovers problems that no one else has even thought of – then solves those too.
This makes him not just a technician or service provider, but a co-creator, an inspector who commits to every possible level of detail and does not shy away from the most diverse challenges”.
