Award winner with an interest in how people solve practical problems
14 May 2025
Jonas Roslund
Blood. Engineers. Housewives. The list of subjects Boel Berner, professor emerita at LiU, has taken an interest in is long and still growing. She is now awarded the Ingemar Ingemarsson interdisciplinarity prize for her research. The prize, which recognizes interdisciplinary achievements in research and education at Linköping University, is being awarded for the first time this year.
Pristagaren Boel Berner on a secret visit to Linköpings universitet.Photographer: Anna Nilsen
Boel Berner sneaks into Linköping University. Her being awarded a prize is still a secret so right now she wants to avoid bumping into any old colleagues. Although she has prepared some credible excuses for her presence, she would prefer not to use them.
We sit down on a secluded sofa. She shows her latest book. It is called Mat, misär och ett medicinskt mysterium (“Food, misery and a medical mystery”) and describes researchers’ fight against the now almost forgotten disease pellagra caused by vitamin deficiency. Medical history, quite simply. But no matter what she writes and researches, she thinks there is a common denominator.
“I’m curious about how people solve practical problems and challenges – even very tricky things. This could concern technology or what I’ve worked a lot with in recent years, medicine,” she says.
Professor emerita Boel Berner.Anna NilsenGrew up in an engineering office
Boel Berner was a professor at TEMAT (Technology and Social Change) at Linköping University between 1991 and 2012 when she retired. She is a sociologist but has also studied psychology, political science, literary studies and economics. Her doctoral thesis from 1981 was about the work and importance of engineers both historically and in the present.
If you want to find a personal connection, it is there. She literally grew up in an engineering office. Her father had a degree in engineering and his office was located in the family's villa in Jönköping. His title was Public Agricultural Engineer.
“There was one in each county. They were involved in draining or regulating lakes and rivers and getting dams for hydroelectric power stations built. I thought being an engineer was natural. In my world, all men were engineers.”
Boel Berner’s mother was a teacher, active in associations working to modernise Swedish homes. This would also provide inspiration for later research. Studying at university was also natural in her family, so Boel ended up at Lund. She had no specific plan. This was not necessary in the 1960s and 70s. You just studied any subject that seemed exciting and interesting and saw what happened, according to her.
Boel Berner with her latest book..Fotograf: Anna NilsenRevolutionary years
And a lot happened. In the 70s, Boel wrote books and articles. She worked in England and France. During the International Women’s Year in 1975, she was commissioned to write a report for the Swedish Higher Education Authority. The subject was women in science and technology, and this was probably the first report on the subject.
“At that time, people were just beginning to wonder why there were so few women in technology. I’ve often wanted to look at this the other way: Why are there so many men?”
These were revolutionary times when most things were questioned. She was involved in initiating the research topics of women’s studies and gender studies. She was the editor of several magazines. She participated in heated discussions about the design of the doctoral programme.
“We did a lot ourselves that the university couldn’t manage. You learned that changing and developing the programme wasn’t impossible.”
This was something she found useful when she left Lund University for Linköping in 1991. You were expected to take your own initiatives, organise large research projects and obtain funding. Here, she was also able to combine her interest in technology with all the other knowledge she had accumulated.
Fotograf: Anna Nilsen
Interdisciplinary science under attack
Boel Berner likes looking at things from many different perspectives and is interested in topics that lend themselves to this. Blood is one example. Housewives, technology and the modernisation of Swedish society are others. Mixing different types of scientific knowledge is necessary to capture several aspects. During her professional life, she has experienced how interdisciplinary science has become increasingly accepted.
“At Lund, I taught history of technology to technologists for many years. The course is voluntary, but there are always about one hundred students. I don’t think that would have been possible in the 1980s.”
The complex social challenges of today have probably also contributed to the growth of interdisciplinary science. It is simply not possible to tackle them without doing so from many aspects at the same time. That is why she finds the attacks on universities now taking place in the United States a major cause for concern.
“It’s a terrible attack on intellectual work. And much of that is interdisciplinary - such as public health research and climate research. If this is stopped, it’s very serious because we lose a lot of knowledge.”
The ceremony for the Ingemar Ingemarsson interdisciplinarity prize will be on 10 October 2025.
Translation: Anneli Mosell
In the jury's words:
With a background in social sciences and humanities, Boel Berner has throughout her research life allowed her questions to lead her where they will, without limiting herself to her original subject affiliation /…/ With her great expertise, she has managed to institutionalise her interdisciplinary approach in academia as well as become a highly respected voice in the public sphere.
Boel Berner
professor emerita
Born in 1945 in Helsingborg Lives in Lund Has published some 25 books. As an expert, she has sat on several committees and been consulted by the media. Co-created Tema Genus (gender studies) and the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research at LiU. Most proud of her doctoral students and the book series she helped publish.
