27 May 2024

This year’s Academic Celebration at Linköping University will take place on 31 May and 1 June. The Celebration will feature lectures by honorary doctors, including astronaut Marcus Wandt, an Academic Gala Concert with a children’s world theme and the ceremonial conferment of no less than 121 doctoral degrees.

Orchestra standing outside holding their instruments over the head
Linköping Academic Orchestra. Jenny Ahlgren

Friday 31 May will see the start of the Academic Celebration, with lectures by this year’s honorary doctors. Astronaut Marcus Wandt will reflect on his space journey, and quantum physicist and Nobel laureate Anton Zeilinger will talk about applications in his field. Indian principal Seetha Murty’s lecture is about building a sustainable society through common values in school education, and Professor of Paediatrics Cindy W. Christian will talk about how care practices in the care of abused children have developed over the last 100 years. All lectures are free of charge and open to the public.

The festivities will continue in the evening, with the traditional Academic Gala Concert at Linköping Konsert & Kongress. The Linköping Academic Orchestra and Linköping University Women’s Choir Linnea will open a window to the children’s world, featuring music from the film “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, and Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” arranged by Duke Ellington. The concert will be conducted by Merete Ellegaard, assistant director musices at Linköping University. This event is also free of charge, and everybody is welcome.

The conferment of doctoral degrees and the inauguration of professors will take place in Linköping on Saturday 1 June. 21 new professors will be inaugurated and 121 doctoral degrees will be conferred, which is an unusually high number. In addition to this, Associate Professor Helen Winzell will receive the teaching award Ingemars Lärarpris, and Professor Tino Ebbers will receive the Onkel Adam Prize for outstanding research at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Östergötland’s County Governor Carl Fredrik Graf, whose tenure will expire on 31 July, will receive Linköping University’s Medal of Merit.

Translation: Anneli Mosell


More about the Academic Celebration

More about the honorary doctors

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