Honorary doctors at BTH

Honorary doctors at BTH

Below is a presentation of the persons who have been awarded honorary doctor at BTH and a brief background to their appointment

Helena Olá

Helena Olá was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2021.

[from the justification]
“Helena Olá is awarded for her commitment and support in building up BTH’s cutting-edge research in software engineering and computer science. Helena’s, and through her Ericsson’s, commitment to actively highlight the needs of the industry and contribute with a constructive vision for the future has greatly contributed to the successes that BTH has had over the past decade, especially in software technology engineering.

Martin Wallin

Martin Wallin was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2021.

[from the justification]
“Martin Wallin is awarded for his efforts and commitment to get industry and academia to collaborate in research in industrial large-scale software development, software engineering, computer science and
software-intensive products and services. The collaboration leads to more industry-relevant research of high quality and with new perspectives, which also has positive effects on companies’ software development.

Mikael Blomqvist

Mikael Blomqvist was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2019.

[from the justification]
“Mikael Blomqvist is an incurable curious optimist who is not afraid to experiment or test new technology. He has an ability to see what is to come, and one can say that most companies he has started have been a little ahead of his time. In 1990 he started the company Roxtec, whose specialty is flexible solutions for cable glands. With Roxtec he broke new ground, created new markets and soon became the world leader. BTH and Roxtec are currently collaborating in both research and education.
Another of Michael’s heart issues is education and supply of skills. He has a great commitment and a good understanding of BTH’s role for the region’s survival and growth. He has, through his previous role as a member of BTH’s board, contributed to the university’s development”.

Lars Angelin

Lars Angelin was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2017.

[from the justification]
“Lars Angelin is made Honorary Doctor for his efforts and passionate commitment to the collaboration between industry and academia, particularly within software engineering research. Lars’s active work to promote the cross-fertilisation between industry and academia provides new perspectives and impact on the software development of companies, and the research of higher education institutions, which in turn generate societal benefits.

Since the turn of the new millennium, Lars has promoted, and ensured, industry participation (particularly Ericsson) in collaborations with BTH in a number of different research initiatives involving externally employed doctoral students, research projects, contract research, staff mobility and traditional doctoral student collaborations. These initiatives have benefited both Ericsson and BTH.”

Göran Johnsson

Göran Johnsson was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2016.

[from the justification]
“Göran Johnsson has had a close relationship with BTH for many years. Already in the late 1980s, when Göran Johnsson was working at Volvo, he was a member of a regional R&D council, together with the vice-chancellor at the time, Per Eriksson, and Honorary Doctor at BTH, Ulf G Lindén.

Between 2009 and 2012, he was a member of the external council that existed at the School of Engineering at BTH. The council was composed of Swedish and international industry and public sector representatives. The purpose of the council was to provide valuable input to the study programmes in engineering.

Göran Johnsson has also been active in finding collaboration projects between BTH and IUC [industrial development centre] in Olofström, including a number of projects in water jet cutting, measuring and tool development. In 2010–2014, Göran Johnsson was the chair of the steering committee for the water jet cutting lab in Ronneby, which was initially run by BTH”.

Jeanette Blomberg

Jeanette Blomberg awarded made honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2011.

[from the justification]
“Jeanette Blomberg has a close relationship with BTH. Her research focuses on the field of applied IT and innovation, through participation in numerous development projects. This, combined with her large network of contacts, gives her very good conditions for contributing to BTH’s continued development. Jeanette Blomberg works with issues of major strategic significance to BTH and that relate to the activities of several departments and units. Particularly interesting is her work on innovation, service research, lean production and, more broadly, the social aspects of technology and its practical application”.

Kalluri Chenchi Reddy

Kalluri Chenchi Reddy awarded made honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2010.

[from the justification]
“Professor K.C. Reddy, India, is made Honorary Doctor at the Blekinge Institute of Technology. K.C. Reddy has overall responsibility for all higher education in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, and has made a significant contribution to enabling BTH’s current collaborations with different universities in Andhra Pradesh. The collaborations mainly involve the education sector, but other BTH projects also benefit greatly from the contacts with K.C. Reddy and his network. K.C. Reddy’s work has been, and continues to be, very valuable, and has established a solid foundation for the successful relationships BTH has today in India and especially in Andhra Pradesh.”

Gösta Blücher

Gösta Blücher was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2010.

[from the justification]
“Gösta Blücher, architect and former director general of Boverket [National Board of Housing Building and Planning], is made Honorary Doctor in connection with BTH’s annual academic ceremony. The title is awarded to him for his many years of working to support and develop planning-oriented education and research at BTH. Blücher’s efforts have made a crucial impact on BTH’s strong position with regard to the training of future planners. Since BTH’s inception, Gösta Blücher has played an important role in the development of research and education in spatial planning and regional development. As the director general of Boverket, he initiated the training of planners at the then newly established Blekinge Institute of Technology”.

Martin Walfisz

Martin Walfisz awarded made honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2009.

[from the justification]
“Martin Walfisz, founder and former CEO of the Massive Entertainment computer game company, is made Honorary Doctor at the Blekinge Institute of Technology.

With his creative and successful entrepreneurship within a new IT industry, he belongs to the first generation of students who inspired BTH to become an international leader in software engineering”.

Natalia Juristo

Natalia Juristo was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2009.

[from the justification]
“Natalia Juristo, Professor of Software Engineering at the Technical University of Madrid in Spain, is made Honorary Doctor at the Blekinge Institute of Technology. She has been a very important person to BTH. It was on her initiative that BTH was invited to participate in the EU-funded European Master in Software Engineering programme. For BTH, this participation has provided us with invaluable knowledge which we have disseminated internally at the institute. It has also strengthened BTH’s position in the field, both within and outside Europe.”

Ashok Jhunjhunwala

Ashok Jhunjhunwala was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2008.

[from the justification]
“Since 1990, Ashok Jhunjhunwala has been a professor of electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M) in Chennai, India. He is also a research leader for the TeNeT (Telecommunications and Computer Networks) Group, which is internationally famous for its research and development work in IT and sustainable rural development in India. BTH currently cooperates with TeNeT Group in a three-year R&D project funded by the Swedish Research Council and SIDA [the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency]. Jhunjhunwala represents an interdisciplinary research team that unites cutting-edge applied IT with explicit ambitions in sustainable growth and pragmatic entrepreneurship”.

Andreas Faludi

Andreas Faludi was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2008.

[from the justification]
“Since 2005, Andreas Faludi has been a professor of spatial policy systems at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. For the past two years, he has also been a visiting professor at BTH where he plays an important role as a lecturer and supervisor on the international Master’s programme in European spatial planning. Faludi’s efforts are largely what made the programme become the most successful in its field in Europe”.

Göran Carstedt

Göran Carstedt was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2007.

[from the justification]
“BTH’s justification for the award of this honorary doctorate emphasises how Göran Carstedt, in his work for a sustainable society, combines stringent logic and science with an exceptional understanding and sense of people’s inner needs and motivation. He has become a world-leading expert in leadership and the learning and change process of organisations, based on his fundamental view that a meaningful purpose is an unmatched driving force for creativity, job satisfaction and collaboration. This combination constitutes the very core of BTH’s successful Master’s programme in strategic leadership for sustainability. Göran Carstedt has been a key adviser in the development of this programme and, for a few days every year, he participates by teaching as a much appreciated visiting lecturer.

Carstedt’s international network of highly influential people is of great value to BTH, and he is an important ambassador for BTH and its sustainability profile”.

Leif Johansson

Leif Johansson was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2006.

[from the justification]
“Leif Johansson, CEO of Volvo since 1997 and one of the most influential people in Swedish industry, is made Honorary Doctor at BTH. Leif Johansson participates at BTH as a visiting lecturer and discussion partner in education and research in the areas of strategic leadership for sustainability, and sustainable product development. He has also expressed his firm support of BTH’s ambitions to take a leading role in systematically utilising the force for change that exists in education and research to promote the sustainable development of industry and society”.

Jay David Bolter

Jay David Bolter was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2004.

[from the justification]
“Jay David Bolter is a professor of new media and one of the world’s most well-known researchers in the field. He works at the School of Literature, Communication, and Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA.

Professor Bolter first came to BTH in 2000, to attend a symposium. Since then, he has been important in the development of the literature, culture and digital media programme at the institute, and his efforts are crucial to BTH’s research in new media. Bolter has also contributed to making the Georgia Institute of Technology a sister university of BTH, and he has become somewhat of an ambassador of BTH. Bolter has helped make BTH’s efforts in the field known, both nationally and internationally”.

Nils Rydbeck

Nils Rydbeck was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2000.

[from the justification]
“Through great knowledge and commitment, Nils Rydbeck has made outstanding research and development efforts for mobile telephony and communications over short distances. He is a prominent figure within Ericsson, who has been tremendously important to the research community and many other people, also outside the company. For many years, he has been a dedicated supporter of BTH and of the research team in signal processing in particular, by offering help and advice. His efforts also encompass the area software engineering, both at BTH and through the establishment of Ericsson operations in Blekinge. Nils Rydbeck has made invaluable contributions to the Blekinge Institute of Technology and to Blekinge as a region”.

Ulf G. Lindén

Ulf G. Lindén was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 2000.

[from the justification]
“Ulf G Lindén has served as the deputy chair of the Blekinge Research Foundation and of BTH’s council for industry and research, as well as the chair of the investment company, Blekingen AB. He had the foresight to realise the significance of BTH as a driving force for the development of Blekinge and, especially, how important it is for qualified research teams to establish themselves and cooperate with industry in research, development and education. He was one of the prime movers in several of BTH’s and Blekinge’s strategic and successful formations of research teams and companies. Ulf G Lindén, native of Karlskrona, has made invaluable contributions to the Blekinge Institute of Technology and to Blekinge as a region”.

Roland Andersson

Roland Andersson was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 1999.

“For 18 years, Roland Andersson was a social democratic city council member in Ronneby, and played an important role in the establishment of both the Blekinge Institute of Technology and the Soft Center business hotel in Ronneby”.

Stig Hagström

Stig Hagström was awarded honorary doctor at Blekinge Institute of Technology in 1999.

“Stig Hagström, Swedish physicist and former university chancellor employed at Stanford University in California, USA, studied at Uppsala University and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in 1957, a Master’s degree in 1958, a Licentiate degree in Physics and Chemistry in 1961, and a PhD in 1964. In 1983, Hagström became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, including as its chair between 1993 and 1996. In 1992 he also became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was made Honorary Doctor at Linköping University and at the Blekinge Institute of Technology”.

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