Summer greetings from the school management

Ann Lantz, Head of School

Looking back at the spring term 2025, what were the biggest challenges for EECS, and how were they solved?

The biggest challenges have been the finance function and its support in the departments and institutions. We have inventoried needs and have long been in dialogue with the head of finance and the group manager of our finance group, but it feels like we have now taken the step further than before. Hopefully, results are already visible, and we have also received new support through the management coordinators who have been hired and who have now started working in the organisation.

What have been the greatest joys of spring 2025 for you personally and for EECS as a school?

The school is doing very well. We are accepting many students and have more paying students than before. The research is fantastic, and we are getting more and more externally funded projects. In the school management team, we are working more fact- and data-based, and we are starting to be able to see events over time, which provides deeper knowledge of our activities. We have something we call the management report, which is a summary of the various parts of the school and gives us a picture of how we are moving forward and getting better.

A holiday is coming up soon, what are you most looking forward to during it?

My holiday starts right after midsummer, and then my husband and I will be travelling the wilderness route, which will be a fantastic nature and cultural experience.

Markus Hidell, Deputy Head of School and Head of Undergraduate Programmes

Looking back on the spring semester of 2025, what were the biggest challenges for EECS, and how were they solved?
One of the biggest challenges in terms of undergraduate education has probably been the dimensioning of education volumes in 2025. KTH has had to quickly change course, from asking the schools to increase the income from education in 2023-2024 to now reducing the volumes in 2025. We have limited possibilities to respond to this in the short term, but we have worked hard to set the wisest possible targets for the number of new entrants to our undergraduate and graduate programmes in the autumn. We have worked systematically both in KTH's undergraduate education committee and together with our programme managers at the school since the end of last year, and have now landed in proposals for admission numbers that we believe will work well for our programmes and at the same time contribute as well as possible to what is best for KTH as a whole.

What have been the greatest joys of spring 2025 for you personally and for EECS as a school?
One of the greatest joys from my perspective is the broad contact areas at KTH that you continuously work with as an undergraduate programme manager. This applies both at the KTH level and at the school level. I think we have a very well-functioning "GA group" (GA, UA and our deputy GA) at EECS, and I am very grateful for the good cooperation I have with my colleagues in this group. It is particularly pleasing to note this at a time when we are taking stock of the academic year 2024/2025.

A holiday is coming up soon, what are you most looking forward to during it?
I'm looking forward to a wonderful week in Skåne eventually and also to playing a lot of golf at home.

Joakim Lilliesköld, Deputy Head of School, specialising in change management

Looking back at the spring term 2025, what were the biggest challenges for EECS, and how have these been resolved?

The biggest challenges have to do with financial support, and that has been difficult to resolve. Crisis groups have been set up, and a lot of promises have been made that it will be resolved. But we have nevertheless continued to lose a lot of expertise in finance, and we have continued to have problems. We cannot say that anything has been resolved yet, but now we have at least got the new managers in finance to start meeting the organisation. They have learnt some of the managers' names, and there is at least a plan to meet all departments, and perhaps it can lead to a sustainable solution so that we get some peace and quiet around financial management.

Another challenge has been getting hold of data. We need facts to support the reorganisation, and they have been difficult to obtain. But together, with people like Markus Hidell, Joakim Jaldén, Goran Seradji and others, we have nevertheless obtained data that we can discuss.

What have been the greatest joys of spring 2025 for you personally and for EECS as a school?

I think the work on the school's faculty renewal plan and the space for faculty renewal was really good. We worked together with the school management and the school faculty board in a way that I think we need to do on many issues to develop a common direction, which was gratifying. 

Personally, I was very pleased that KTH's management, after many discussions, has now agreed that we will invest in our makerspace environments. It's an issue I've been involved in since I was a GA many years ago and there have been many bumps in the road, but now we have developed a proposal that KTH's management team agreed to, there is some funding so the environments will get some support and a structure will be created to develop KTH's makerspace environments.

A holiday is coming up soon, what are you most looking forward to during it?

"A bit of warmth and drinking my morning coffee on the pier, and a little trip with the family, we usually take a mini holiday in Sweden every year and go to a concert, this year it will be AC/DC at Ullevi.

Lina Bertling Tjernberg, Deputy Head of School with a focus on research prerequisites and impact

Looking back at the spring semester of 2025, what were the biggest challenges for EECS and how have these been solved?

In terms of challenges for EECS, I would like to highlight one major challenge, and that is administrative support and tools for managing finances. This has extensive consequences both in lost research funds and a deteriorating work environment. The school's management has on several occasions raised the issue as the most prioritised to KTH's management. We will continue to do this. What has happened during the year that has given a positive development is the recruitment of coordinators. 

What have been the greatest joys of spring 2025 for you personally and for EECS as a school?

The greatest joy has undoubtedly been the visits to the different departments of the school. Before the summer starts, I will have visited twelve of our current fifteen departments. Being out in the field and being able to listen and learn from the research that is taking place is a great source of inspiration and knowledge about the core activities of research in the School. Now, before the summer, I am putting the finishing touches to the programme for this year's Research & Impact Day on 19 August. Creating this programme is one of the highlights of the year, putting the spotlight on current research and highlighting a diversity of researchers from the School with some invited speakers, including from the Swedish Research Council, RISE and the National Infrastructure for Visualisation of data (InfraVis).

For me in my role as Professor of Electricity Networks, the unlikely event of a blackout in southern Europe on 28 April provided great opportunities for conversations both with the media as well as with experts in the world around reliability in electricity networks, which is precisely my core area, which is extremely inspiring as well as instructive. A milestone was the first research project, albeit modest in its amount, to study nuclear power as part of a future sustainable electricity grid.

A holiday is coming up soon, what are you most looking forward to during it?

Being together 24/7 with my family and quiet days near, on or in the water.

Henrik Artman, Deputy Head of School for Faculty Renewal

Looking back at the spring semester of 2025, what were the biggest challenges for EECS, and how were they solved?

The challenge has been to set up a new organisation for handling all recruitment matters. Many of us have worked together to solve it. Our teacher recruitment officers, Dilek Gür and Kerstin Lagerstedt, are invaluable in making it work, and we must be careful with them. The new Recruitment Committee has worked collectively and focused on results. The Faculty Board has familiarised itself with all the issues and made decisions for the future EECS. Faculty renewal is an important task in order to create a good working environment with good colleagues who take on the job as teachers and researchers.  

What have been the greatest joys of spring 2025 for you personally and for EECS as a school?

"I think it's great that we received so many well-thought-out proposals for our government capital investments in assistant lecturers. Soon, there will be new, exciting people. And it's always great to see how many talented people are promoted to lecturers and professors. Personally, I try to keep my spirits up for the little things in life. For the School, I see that the Faculty Board is working very well, and that is important.

A holiday is coming up soon, what are you most looking forward to during it?

Sun, hammock, renovations, nature experiences. Maybe seeing some of the Swedish animals I haven't seen yet.

Joakim Palestro, Head of Office

Looking back at the spring term 2025, what were the biggest challenges for EECS, and how have these been resolved?

By far, the most difficult situation we have had to deal with is getting the financial support for the school in order after the reorganisation of the operational support. It wasn't at its best before, but there were efforts to improve the conditions for the group to do the fantastic work they have the capacity to do, but unfortunately, the conditions have recently deteriorated. Now, however, things can only get better.

What have been the greatest joys of spring 2025 for you personally and for EECS as a school?

The fact that the school will have a new, appropriate institutional organisation in 2026. It's so important for the school's development that responsibility and authority for both education and research will finally be linked.

A holiday is coming up soon, what are you most looking forward to during it?

Being on the west coast with Cajsa and our dog Ebbe, and travelling to Locarno with two of my children.