New board member reflects the breadth of the energy issue
Research advisor Erica Åkerberg from the Grants and Innovations Office at Karlstad University is the new board member of Glava Energy Center. She takes over from university colleague and professor of material physics Lars Johansson, who was bid farewell at Monday's association meeting.
– Glava Energy Center's interface with the university is broader now than when I started on the board. Even within the university, there has been broadening. The energy issue affects many research areas today; it is no longer solely a question of physics and technology, says Lars Johansson, professor of material physics and former head of the Department of Engineering and Physics at Karlstad University.
On Monday, May 6th, he was bid farewell with flowers and speeches by chairman Tommy Strömberg and CEO Magnus Nilsson, for his seven years of service as a board member of Glava Energy Center.
Wants to utilize research
But the university's presence on the board remains. During the association meeting, a new university representative was elected to the board: Erica Åkerberg, research advisor at the Grants and Innovations Office at Karlstad University.
– For Karlstad University, it is important that research is both grounded in and beneficial to the surrounding society. As a research advisor, I am passionate about that. I want to contribute to generating ideas through new collaborations between different competencies, says Erica Åkerberg.
Indeed, the collaboration between Glava Energy Center and Karlstad University has expanded. This is evident, among other things, in the LOKEN project, Local Energy Management Värmland, where Glava Energy Center and the university, along with around 30 companies, organizations, and public actors, will test smart energy solutions and create a new regional collaboration arena for energy issues. The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and Region Värmland, and the activities involve researchers from both the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Caption: Erica Åkerberg and Lars Johansson at the Energy Conference 2024, which took place at Glava Energy Center in Hillringsberg the day after the association meeting.
Association meeting and dinner at Glava Energy Center
About 40 people attended Monday's association meeting at Glava Energy Center in Hillringsberg, outside Arvika. After the meeting, the traditional member dinner took place at Hillringsberg Manor, which this year gathered nearly 70 people.
Want to know more? Read more about a membership at Glava Energy Center.