Anna Qvarnström interviewed about a new forum for research infrastructure

2019-12-12

Relevant research infrastructure is crucial for being able to collect, process and access data. But advanced technology is expensive and then there is the question of who should bear the costs. “It’s an urgent issue," says Anna Qvarnström, Deputy Dean of Research for the Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology.

Research infrastructure means broadly everything from smaller databases to biobanks, large-scale computation tools, laboratories and research labs. During the autumn, the costs of future research infrastructure have been debated widely in the media and the issue was also raised in Uppsala University’s contribution to the Government of Sweden’s coming research bill.

Major national and international initiatives in particular lock in a significant proportion of today’s available research funding. Virtually half of the Swedish Research Council’s (VR) budget goes to infrastructure for research but the Swedish krona’s low exchange rate has meant that the cost of Sweden’s international commitments has increased, leaving reduced funds for new infrastructures. That is why we must put our heads together to make good decisions about the research infrastructures that the University needs," says Anna Qvarnström.   

“We need to make strategic decisions on what research infrastructures we ought to have, and what kinds of infrastructure we should perhaps allow some other university to have but which our researchers can still use. Unlike the case of a regular project grant, we need to think in national terms. In Sweden as a whole, how we going to have the infrastructure that our researchers need?”

Read the whole interview with Anna at the Faculty of Science and Technology website.

Nyheter från institutionen för ekologi och genetik

Last modified: 2022-04-30