Thesis defence coming up: Erik Brattström

After completing the doctoral education PhD student Erik Brattström will defend his thesis 13 April. Get a quick glimpse of his thesis, experiences and near future.

Hi, Erik! You are about to defend your thesis The Missing Link The implementation of priorities for research, development, and innovation. In short, what is your thesis about?

"My thesis explores what happens to political priorities for research, development, and innovation (RDI) once they are enacted into law by parliament. It does so by identifying how choices, actions, and motivations of actors at the ‘lower’ levels of decision-making in the science policy system (e.g. program officers in funding agencies, firm managers, and research leaders) enact, or carry out, the priorities, resulting in new conditions for RDI production. Such conditions can be understood as concretizations of the broader, prioritized themes for RDI and ways of organizing RDI within the themes. It's a compilation thesis consisting of four published papers."

In three words, how would you describe your years as a PhD student at LUSEM?

"FUN, ENLIGHTENING and INSPIRING because science/research policy is a fascinating research field, and I have worked with great people!" 

What are you up to now?

"I’m a consultant at Ramboll where I work with research and innovation policy evaluation and advice. I focus particularly on supporting funding agencies and R&I performers to implement transformative innovation policy, a term sometimes used interchangeably with mission-oriented policy or the third-generation innovation policy. For example, right now I work with Vinnova, Formas, the Swedish Energy Agencies to design and implement the launch of Impact Innovation – a high-volume, long-term funding scheme that aims to address grand societal challenges, or ‘wicked problems’."

Thank you, Erik! Wishing you all the best!