New university director draws energy from collaboration

Therese Iveby Gardell is the new university director at the Swedish Defence University.

“Being part of a university that is seen as both necessary and important is a very strong position to build from. It feels somewhat unfamiliar,” she says.

Therese Iveby Gardell took up the post of University Director in February this year, having most recently served as University Director at Linnaeus University. Together with the Vice-Chancellor Robert Egnell, she took part in agency dialogue meetings with the Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Defence in April. This is one example, she says, of how the Swedish Defence University is treated differently: discussions with other government agencies tend to focus on how the university should carry out its work, rather than why.

“What strikes me here at the Swedish Defence University is the very clear sense of purpose throughout the organisation. I find myself using the word ‘important’ more and more often. Externally, too, there seems to be a strong sense that the mission matters, and that there is really no one questioning it,” says Therese Iveby Gardell.

A small university with a steep growth curve

She has extensive experience of developing higher education institutions. Before becoming University Director at Linnaeus University, she served as Deputy University Director at Uppsala University and as Head of Administration at the University College of Gotland in Visby.

Looking back on her career in the higher education sector, she feels that developments have accelerated across the sector in recent years. The pandemic, along with the war in Ukraine and the wider international situation, has made education, research and academic freedom even more important to society.

“During the pandemic in particular, it became clear just how vital research and international collaboration are for humanity. That is why I believe the international perspective will continue to be important for the higher education sector, to a far greater extent than in previous decades.”

The pandemic and the isolation it brought also made her personally aware of how much energy comes from people and collaboration:

“And of how much I enjoy solving problems together with others, rather than working alone behind closed doors.”