Strategic plan for the Department of Chemistry

Here is the web version of our strategic plan. 

If you need our strategic plan in PDF format, you can download it from the Department of Chemistry’s document library in Canvas, in Swedish only.

Strategic Plan - Department of Chemistry's document library in Canvas (login with Lucat-ID)

Contents of the page 

• Introduction
• Vision
• Activities
• Infrastructures
• Work environment and equal opportunities
• Premises
• Recruitment
• Organisation

Introduction

The present strategic plan has been approved by the department's board after being developed by the department management council. Feedback from division heads and organisations has been incorporated into the plan. The vision and operational description are intended as a long-term goal for the department, while other parts are more concrete and are expected to need annual updates by the department management council for decision by the board.

The personnel plan is based on subject-specific personnel plans. We have strived to keep the strategic plan short, concrete, and trackable. The strategic plan is continuously followed up with a timed action plan developed by the head of department in consultation with division heads and the department management council.

Vision

At KILU, we are guided by the fundamental idea that education and the systematic search of new knowledge, in its broadest sense, are central tasks for a university. This is manifested in our high-quality research and education in chemistry. The department is nationally and internationally renowned for its outstanding research and education in chemistry, and in several areas, it is considered one of Europe's leading chemistry departments. This attracts internationally and nationally prominent candidates for teaching positions as well as talented students.

The department is also attractive for external collaborations with industry and government agencies. KILU's excellent education at both undergraduate and doctoral levels elevates our students to their full potential, which is reflected in the fact that alumni are often found among leaders and innovators in academia and the surrounding society. 

Research at KILU tackles challenging problems leading to new breakthroughs in both basic and applied chemistry, which stimulates collaborations with industry, society and the international research community. We take advantage of the proximity of MAX IV and ESS and conduct research and education in close co-operation with these facilities.

Activities 

Undergraduate education 

Our undergraduate education is conducted at both the Faculty of Science (NF) and the Faculty of Engineering (LTH) within the framework of several broad educational programmes at both basic and advanced levels. Students meets research-active teachers in all courses throughout their education. The advanced education reflects the research, and master’s programmes and specialisations have research-oriented content and are attractive to both students and the job market.

The work to develop a master’s program in materials and sustainability together with the Department of Physics continues. We are also exploring the possibilities of contributing to a high school teacher education program in chemistry; this is crucial for continuing to attract the best students to the field of chemistry. Degree projects at the department are research-oriented. Students enjoy their time at KILU and in Lund and overall the programmes are attractive with high number of applicants and graduates are in turn attractive on the job market and as doctoral students.

Research 

We offer attractive research environments with good working conditions, which attract talented and creative individuals to our activities and encourage them to stay. The activities are characterised by intellectual generosity, where everyone contributes to their own environment as well as to the department, faculties, and the university. Teaching staff are active in undergraduate education, doctoral education, and research.

When teachers take on leadership roles (assignments within the department, faculty, university, research councils, academies, and similar), it benefits the department in the long term, and there are mechanisms in place to balance this workload.
KILU enables teachers to primarily focus on education or research for longer or shorter periods, while most teachers have a balanced distribution between these tasks. There are transparent and clear expectations for teachers to actively seek and obtain external funding for activities that also include junior staff (doctoral students and postdocs). These expectations are followed up annually during the staff appraisals. 

At KILU, collegial governance is clear and activities are based on trust, which - although there are high expectations - creates a sense of security in times of weak funding. This means that we aim for governance based on culture rather than rules. 
Newly recruited teachers are given a good opportunity to build up their research group with the help of external and internal startup packages. KILU strives in the long term to increase the amount of base funding per research group. This is done in harmony with other departments at our faculties.

Doctoral studies 

Doctoral students are offered high-quality doctoral studies, based on the good research conducted. All doctoral studies subjects provide a good intellectual environment and a reasonable range of courses. The good intellectual environment is partly based on a thriving seminar activity, in which both teachers and doctoral students actively participate. Doctoral students document this in their Individual Study Plan (ISP).

KILU joint courses are conducted within the framework of the QDETAILSS research school. To ensure redundancy, there are several teaching staff per subject, unless the environment and redundancy can be ensured through collaboration between related subjects. Subcritical environments are developed or phased out.

Support organisation 

There is a well-functioning support organisation that always prioritises the best interests of the core activities. Support functions within undergraduate education, doctoral education, finance, personnel issues, etc. are largely centralised at the department, while some administrative and technical support is handled at the division/unit level.

Infrastructures

Well-functioning infrastructures are of utmost importance to the department, and technical staff to maintain and develop infrastructures are therefore essential. To ensure the development of infrastructures, there are research groups with scientific expertise attached to them. Many infrastructures serve as entry environments for large facilities, and an aim is to keep them open to as many users as possible.

Work environment and equal opportunities

A good work environment is crucial for staff to thrive and stay in the organisation. Achieving a good gender balance is a priority and is always considered during recruitment. The department actively works on both the physical and psychosocial work environment, including regular safety rounds. Social activities to promote well-being are regularly organised both centrally at KILU and within the various units/divisions.

Premises

KILU has suitable premises but always strives to prioritise activities over premises. In a few years' time, we will move all activities in KC2 to KC3 to premises that PLE is evacuating, among others. In the longer term, KILU is very positive about co-locating with the Department of Physics to enable operational development in areas such as materials science. In this regard, it is of utmost importance that the premises and campus environment are suitable for both education and research and that the cost does not jeopardise the activities.

Recruitment

Recruiting outstanding teachers who contribute to renewal and the highest possible quality in research and education is the single most important strategic success factor in our activities. The quality of the research is always prioritised over its direction, and our teachers are given the freedom to develop research in the directions they deem most successful.

To enable high-quality research, research-active teachers should be given the opportunity to devote a large part of their working time to research and doctoral education. Good research is essential for good undergraduate and doctoral education and also for the external funding on which the activities depend. We view guest professors and adjunct teachers positively as part of increased mobility, internationalisation, and recruitment. In this regard, we also view it positively when KILU employees participate in international exchanges, such as sabbaticals.

i) Recruitment of teachers

In recruitment, we strive to have open recruitments but with a focus that creates sufficiently large, functioning research environments. We make trade-offs in our recruitments between renewal and building environments where many can collaborate and benefit from each other’s expertise. Experience also shows that successful, well-functioning environments make it easier to recruit the best. The competence needs of undergraduate and doctoral education are of great importance in the recruitment needs inventory, but support for local, national, and international infrastructures is also crucial. KILU has a special responsibility for the major infrastructures at the department.

Associate senior lecturer is our main recruitment channel, and announcements should always be followed by a startup package, including, for example, salary, funds for hiring junior researchers, or similar. Responsibility for this primarily falls on the recruiting cost center.

At KILU, strategic funds (up to 1% of the budget (budget 2024: 423 million SEK)) are allocated, mainly used to support new recruitments where other startup packages cannot be utilised for various reasons. As long as the funding agency allows, younger researchers should have the opportunity to apply for various types of establishment support. Promotions (from associate senior lecturer to senior lecturer and senior lecturer to professor) are conducted with transparent but high standards, where independence is particularly considered for promotion to senior lecturer, and demonstrated ability to lead and finance a research group is particularly considered for promotion to professor.

Recruitment needs in the short and medium term:

2024: Senior lecturer in Analytical Chemistry, Senior lecturer in Physical Chemistry, Associate senior lecturer in Materials Chemistry (Electrochemistry), Associate senior lecturer in Structural Biology.
2025: Associate senior lecturer in Organic Chemistry, Associate senior lecturer in Biophysical Chemistry with a focus on NMR Spectroscopy.
2026-2028: Biochemistry with a focus on Protein Design, Teacher with the competence to teach General Chemistry (may possibly be met internally), Computational Chemistry with a focus on Quantum Chemistry, Chemical Physics with a focus on Time-Resolved Spectroscopy and/or Microscopy. AI is an underdeveloped research area at KILU and should be a subject for recruitment, for example, within one of the KAW programmes.
2028-2030: In the longer term, there are additional recruitment needs in Biochemistry and Inorganic Chemistry.

ii) Technical and Administrative (TA) staff

For well-functioning administrative support, TA staff must be recruited and retained at a high level, which requires that they receive support and encouragement in their work and are given opportunities for professional development (possibly with financial support from KILU). The possibility of TA joint activities at KILU should be promoted but does not require central employment.

Organisation

The Department of Chemistry (KILU) is one of two departments at Kemicentrum (KC). The other is PLE (Department of Process and Life Science Engineering), which entirely belongs to the Faculty of Engineering (LTH). 

KILU, on the other hand, belongs to both LTH (30%) and the Faculty of Science (N-fak) (70%). The department is organised into three units based on subject areas. Additionally, there is a department-wide, and in some parts also a KC-wide, administrative unit with support and service functions (procurement, finance, IT, HR, communication, caretaking, work environment, construction coordination, and undergraduate education). KC also has a library, which is part of the Faculty of Science library. 

KILU's three units are as follows: Center for Molecular Protein Science (CMPS), Center for Analysis and Synthesis (CAS), and the Division of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry (EFTK), see Figure 1 below.

Some units are cross-faculty, while others are not. Within each unit, there are several research groups of various configurations. A research group can consist of a principal investigator (PI) and 5–6 people (doctoral students, postdocs, undergraduate students), but there are both larger and smaller groups. There are some larger constellations/research environments where several PIs collaborate closely on doctoral projects and advanced infrastructure. Each unit or division has extensive responsibility regarding personnel and finances. As indicated above, the organisation contains a certain degree of asymmetry, but there are currently no clear needs for reorganisation.

At KILU, the following doctoral education subjects are offered: Analytical Chemistry (NF), Computational Chemistry (NF), Biochemistry (NF), Biophysical Chemistry (LTH), Physical Chemistry (NF), Chemical Physics (NF), Materials Chemistry (LTH), Polymer Technology (LTH), Inorganic Chemistry (NF), Organic Chemistry (NF+LTH), Molecular Biophysics (NF) and Applied Biochemistry (LTH).