Amelie Eriksson Karlström new Head of School at CBH

”It feels great! I am happy and proud of the confidence. This is going to be exciting!”

Why did you apply for the position?

“I think it is fun to be able to participate and influence the development. I have previously held several management roles at KTH and believe that I can contribute with my experience and my commitment. It is an exciting time at KTH, the President is implementing changes that will affect the operations in several ways,” says Amelie Eriksson Karlström.

What will you focus on during your time as Head of School?

“There are many issues that I think are important and am interested in working with. The CBH School is conducting very successful research and I would like to continue working for better conditions for our researchers and teachers. On the education side, I am involved in issues related to broadened recruitment and the possibility of making better use of our strong research environments in education.”

What has it been like to be acting Head of School during the first half of 2023?

“I knew many of the staff from before, from my work as Deputy Head of School at CBH, but now I have had the opportunity to get to know many more people at the school, which has been fun. It has been quite a lot to get used to, but I have definitely benefited from my previous experiences as a leader at KTH.

“I had a pretty good idea of ​​what the Head of School assignment entailed, but at the same time there was a lot of new things happening – above all with a new KTH President – which was difficult to prepare for.”

What challenges are the CBH School facing right now?

”In the near future, we will need to focus on the President’s goal of getting the finances in balance. We will have to work with resource distribution, local utilization and educational provision,” says Amelie Eriksson Karlström.

Text and image: Jon Lindhe

About Amelie Eriksson Karlström

Amelie Eriksson Karlström has been at KTH since 1999 and became Professor of Molecular Biotechnology 2011. She does research in protein modification, peptide synthesis and bio conjugation techniques, with medical applications in diagnostics and therapy. She received her doctorate at Stockholm University, Department of Neurochemistry and Neurotoxicology and was a postdoc at the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla in California between 1997 and 1999.

For four years (2014-2017), Amelie Eriksson Karlström was Head of School at the then School for biotechnology, where during the last year, on behalf of the President, she led the work of implementing a reorganization, where the three schools for biotechnology, chemical science, and technology and health were integrated to one school with a total of approximately 850 employees. From 2018 to 2022, Amelie held the role of first Deputy Head of School and FFA (responsible for faculty renewal) and from January to June 2023, she was acting Head of School at CBH.