Mistra´s Board took the decision at a meeting on 9 October 2006. The appointment is for six years, and Dr Engelmark will succeedMåns Lönnroth , who has held the post since 2000. ‘ Måns Lönnrothis now retiring, and the Board would like to thank him for his energetic commitment and the valuable contribution he has made to the Foundation, while at the same time wishing Ola a very warm welcome,´ says Anneli Hulthén, Chairman of the Mistra Board. Ola Engelmark will take up the position from the beginning of next year.‘This is presumably one of the most exciting jobs there is in the environmental field today,´ he says.
Dr Engelmark feels that Mistra already has a winning concept - although it is one that can be improved still further.
‘This is a highly successful organization, but obviously, in any undertaking, there´s always room for development.´
In particular, he mentions two areas in which further progress can be achieved:
‘First, I hope to see wider collaboration with industry, to ensure that environmental issues are turned into opportunities for development that will benefit not only the business sector, but the country as a whole. And second, I hope to further develop the role the social sciences and humanities can play in addressing environmental concerns.´
Ola Engelmark´s job at the Council for Sustainable Development has included the task, entrusted to the Council by the Government, of coordinating efforts by Sweden´s researchers, companies, local authorities and regions to make the transition to more sustainable development, production and consumption. Primary target groups have been strategic leaders and other key individuals.
Prior to that, from 1999 to 2004, Dr Engelmark held the post of Director of the Swedish Institute for Ecological Sustainability (IEH). His role was to build up the IEH as a central government agency under the Ministry of the Environment, charged with building bridges between researchers and practitioners, with a view to integrating new research results into sustainable development. He performed that role in the framework of the Government´s Local Investment Programmes initiative, and the Climate Investment Programmes which succeeded it.
Over the years, Ola Engelmark has acquired a good overall grasp of Sweden´s needs in terms of strategic environmental research. He has developed extensive networks in the environment and sustainable development sector, with representatives of the business and research communities, public agencies and policy makers at various levels, chiefly in Sweden but also internationally. He is a regular speaker at conferences on environment and sustainable development in Sweden, the EU and UN member states.
Ola Engelmark, who is aged 50, is a biologist and ecologist, and has a background in forest ecology research - including posts atUmeåUniversity , theSwedishUniversityof Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and the Université du Québec à Montréal ,Canada - with a focus on the natural and anthropogenic dynamics of forest ecosystems.
For further information, please contact:
Anneli Hulthén, Chairman of the Mistra Board, City Executive Board, Göteborg,
+46 31 61 25 37
Ola Engelmark, incoming Managing Director of Mistra, +46 70 643 33 66
Måns Lönnroth , outgoing Managing Director of Mistra, +46 8 791 10 24,
+46 70 592 01 01
A photograph of Ola Engelmark can be downloaded here:
Mistra, The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research
The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research - Mistra - supports research of strategic importance for a good living environment and sustainable development. It seeks to promote the development of strong research environments of the highest international class and of importance for Sweden´s future competitiveness. The research supported should be of significance in finding solutions to important environmental problems and promoting the sustainable development of society. Full use is to be made of opportunities to achieve industrial applications.
Mistra invests in research groups who, working alongside users, are able to play a part in tackling major environmental problems. It provides funding of some SEK 200 million a year and currently supports around twenty major research programmes, each extending over a period of between six and eight years.
Mistra´s aim is that research at the highest scientific level should find practical applications in companies, public agencies and non-governmental organizations and thereby help to solve environmental problems.
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